Peter N. Brones

BRONES, OLSON, ELEFSON, HOLST, THOMPSON, FELLEND, ANDERSON, HALVORSON

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/17/2010 at 07:37:50

PETER N. BRONES

Peter N. Brones, deceased, was one of the pioneers of Winnebago county and contributed in substantial measure to the early development as well as the later improvement of this section of the state. He was born in Modom, Norway, on the 29th of June, 1847, and in his childhood came with his parents to the United States, the family home being established at Primrose, Dane county, Wisconsin. He was a youth of eighteen years when in 1865 a removal was made to Winnebago county, Iowa, where his parents resided until called to their final rest.

Peter. N. Brones was reared under the parental roof and acquired his education in the public schools. On reaching young manhood he put aside his textbooks and worked as a farm hand in the employ of neighboring farmers. In 1864, however, he put aside all business and personal considerations in order to respond to the country's call for troops and enlisted as a member of Company I, Forty-third Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until honorably discharged on the 24th of June, 1865. In the fall of that year he came to Winnebago county, whither his parents had removed in the previous spring. He then resided in Forest City until the spring of 1866, when the family purchased a farm in Mount Valley township. Peter N. Brones continued to assist in the development and improvement of the old homestead up to the time of his marriage, which occurred on the 7th of January, 1871, the lady of his choice being Miss Hattie Peters, a daughter of Peter and Tena (Olson) Elefson. The mother died in Wisconsin and the father came to Winnebago county in 1873.

Following his marriage Mr. Brones took up his abode on a farm of eighty acres in Mount Valley township, which he had previously purchased, and after the death of his parents he bought two hundred acres of the old home place, which adjoined his eighty-acre farm. In 1907, on account of ill health, he left the farm and removed to Forest City, where he passed away on the 1st of September, 1910, after having been an invalid for ten years, during which he suffered much, and during the last two years of his life he sat in a chair day and night.

In his passing his family lost a devoted husband and father. To Mr. and Mrs. Brones were born five children, as follows: Mary, who is the wife of John Hoist, of Mount Valley township, Winnebago county, and has four children, Phillis, Mabel, James and Alvin; Carrie, who gave her hand in marriage to Ole Thompson, of Mount Valley township, Winnebago county, and had three children, Horace, Laura and Mabel, deceased; Nathan, an agriculturist of Mount Valley township, who married Molena Fellend, their children being Gladys, Archie, deceased, Liel, Palmer, Alpha, Stanley and Myrtle; Clifford, who follows farming in Pine county, Minnesota, and who married Jennie Anderson, by whom he has two children, Harriet and Peter; and Ellsworth, a farmer of Center township, Winnebago county, who married Ida Halvorson and has four children, Lloyd, Richard, Eleanor and Helen. Mrs. Brones still makes her home in Forest City, where she is widely and favorably known, and of the Methodist Episcopal church she is a devoted member.

Mr. Brones gave stanch support to the republican party and for many years filled various township offices, the duties of which he discharged with promptness and fidelity. He was for many years a member of the school board and was also its president. He held membership in the Grand Army of the Republic post at Forest City and the funeral was in charge of that organization. He was one of the most highly esteemed men of his part of the state. He gave most liberally of his abundance to the poor and needy, and it is said that no person who sought food or shelter at his door was ever turned away. He was a member of the Masonic lodge for more than forty years, and ever followed in his life its teachings concerning the brotherhood of man and the obligations thereby imposed. A modern philosopher has said: "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us, is the measure of our success;" and judged by this standard Mr. Brones was a most successful man, for many benefited by his immediate aid, others by his counsel and advice, and all who knew him by the inspiration of his life of nobility and worth.

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. 448-451.

Winnebago Biographies maintained by Cheryl Siebrass.
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