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Gilbert Olson

OLSON, HELLICKSON, QUAM, JOHAN, HAUGEN

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/10/2010 at 08:04:15

GILBERT OLSON

Gilbert Olson, now successfully engaged in farming on section 30, Center township, has been a resident of Winnebago county since 1876, but his early home was on the other side of the Atlantic, for he was born in Norway on the 29th of August, 1848. His parents, Ole and Karie (Hellickson) Olson, were likewise natives of Norway, in which country the father followed farming until called to his final rest in 1851. The mother subsequently came to the new world and lived with her children until she too passed away in 1899.

In the land of the midnight sun Gilbert Olson grew to manhood with the usual educational advantages of a farmer boy in that country and was twenty years of age when he determined to try his fortune in America, where he believed that better opportunities were afforded ambitious young men. On arriving here in 1868 he located in Wisconsin, where he worked as a farm hand for a few years, but in 1876 he came to Winnebago county, Iowa, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 23, Newton township, which he at once began to improve and cultivate. To this tract he later added eighty acres and continued to operate that farm until the spring of 1917, when he rented the place and removed to Center township, having purchased the old Holland farm of eighty acres on section 30. Upon this place is one of the oldest log cabins in Winnebago county, it standing as a monument of pioneer days.

On the 8th of March, 1888, occurred the marriage of Mr. Olson and Miss Betsy Quam, a daughter of John and Betsy (Johan) Quam, natives of Norway, who came to the United States about 1867 and first located in Goodyear county, Minnesota, but afterward became early settlers of Newton township, Winnebago county, Iowa. Mr. Quam is deceased and his widow is living in Mount Valley township, Winnebago county, with her daughter, Mrs. John Haugen. To Mr. and Mrs. Olson have been born thirteen children, but Bertine died February 10, 1895, at the age of a year and a half. Those living are Otto, John, Carl, Bent, Mary, Genhart, Clara, Melvin, Tena, Albert, Elmer and Selma.

In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Olson are Lutherans and in politics he is a stanch supporter of the republican party. He has been called to fill the offices of justice of the peace and trustee of Newton township, was also elected the first assessor of that township and served in that capacity for two terms. For the long period of twenty years he was also treasurer of his school district. He is a stockholder in the Lake Mills Creamery Company and the Leland Creamery Company and is a man in whom the people of the community have the utmost confidence.

Source: History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II. Pioneer Publishing Company (Chicago), 1917. pp. 348-349.


 

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