Ole Halvorson Brekke

BREKKE, JOHNSDATTER, TULLOCKSON, TORESDATTER, LINTVET, JENCER, BRANSTAD, TVETEN, BRONES, HARUNG

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/20/2010 at 04:13:01

OLE HALVORSON BREKKE

Ole Halvorson Brekke, a retired farmer of Lake Mills, is a native of Norway and has manifested the excellent qualities characteristic of his race. He was born November 19, 1843, of the marriage of Halvor Olson and Helge (Johnsdatter) Brekke, who passed their entire lives in Norway, where the father engaged in farming.

Ole H. Brekke, who is the fourth child and the oldest of four sons, obtained a common school education in Norway and devoted some time to military training. He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in Norway until he was twenty-six years of age, when he emigrated to America alone, crossing the Atlantic on a sailing vessel and landing at Quebec, Canada. He at once went to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he worked as a carpenter for a year, but in 1870 he went by way of the Milwaukee Railroad to Clear Lake, which was then the terminus of the road, and from that point by ox team to Forest City, Winnebago county, Iowa. For one year he was employed as a farm hand and then invested his savings in one hundred and sixty acres on section 35, Center township. For forty-one years his time and attention were taken up with the cultivation of that place, which he made one of the model farms of his locality, and his hard work, progressive spirit and good management made him in time financially independent. In 1911 he retired from active life and built a fine home in Lake Mills, where he has since resided. He was a director of the Lake Mills Stock Yards for some time and also of the Lake Mills Creamery Company.

On the 5th of September, 1870, Mr. Brekke was united in marriage to Miss Liv Tullockson, a daughter of Tullock and Ture (Toresdatter) Tullockson, who passed their entire lives in Norway. Mrs. Brekke came to the United States with a brother. She has become the mother of seven children, namely: Helene, the wife of Lawrence Lintvet, of Becker county, Minnesota; Anna S., who is the widow of Herman Jencer and resides in Becker county, Minnesota; Gunild T., the wife of Andrew Branstad, of Forest City; Susanna O., who married Knudt K. Tveten, of Comstock, Clay county, Iowa; Gunild Andrea, the wife of Ellsworth P. Brones, residing near Leland, Winnebago county; Hannah, at home; and Emma, the wife of Conrad Oscar Harung, of Kensett, Worth county.

Mr. Brekke supports the democratic party where national issues are at stake, but otherwise votes for the man. He served on the school board a number of years and was also for some time township trustee and gave to the discharge of his official duties the same careful attention that characterized his management of his farming interests. He holds membership in the United Lutheran church, to the support of which he contributes generously. The success which he has gained is doubly creditable in that he began his independent career without capital or influential friends and has at all times relied entirely upon his own efforts to win advancement.

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. 225-226.