Nels E. Brudvig

BRUDVIG, HELLE

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/21/2010 at 04:35:25

NELS E. BRUDVIG

Nels E. Brudvig, whose home is on section 13, Logan township, Winnebago county, has there resided since 1910 and the neat and thrifty appearance of his place is the visible evidence of his active life, which is fraught with good results. In all his farm work he is practical and progressive and thereby wins a fair measure of prosperity. Wisconsin numbers him among her native sons, for he was born in Columbia county, December 4, 1870. His parents were Erick and Martha Brudvig, natives of Norway, who came to the United States in early manhood and womanhood and were married in Wisconsin, where they resided for three years. They then came to Winnebago county and Mr. Brudvig purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 14, Norway township. It was entirely undeveloped and unimproved, but with characteristic energy be began the work of converting it into a modern farm. He cleared the land, placed it under the plow and in course of time was gathering substantial harvests. He furthered the work of improvement in every way and farmed thereon until his death in 1899, when his remains were interred in the Lime Creek cemetery. His widow still survives and yet occupies the old homestead. In their family were nine children, of whom three died in infancy, while those yet living are: John E., who is upon the home farm with his mother; Nels E.; Andrew, living in Norway township, Winnebago county; and Dorthea, Anna and Martin, all yet at home.

Nels E. Brudvig was reared amid the wild scenes and environments of frontier life, for northern Iowa was still a largely undeveloped and unsettled district when the family home was established in Winnebago county. He was a pupil in the pioneer schools of Norway township, thus pursuing his education until he reached the age of sixteen years, after which he devoted four years to assisting his father on the old homestead. Later he spent three years as a farm hand in Columbia county, Wisconsin, and during the following two years rented a farm there. Returning west, of the Mississippi, he took up his abode in Freeborn county, Minnesota, where he purchased land, which he owned and cultivated for five years. He then sold that property and bought a farm in Newton township, Winnebago county, which he occupied for seven years. When he disposed of that place he bought the northwest quarter of section 13, Logan township, and has made his home thereon since 1910; his labors resulting in making this an excellent farm with modern equipments, his highly cultivated fields indicating the practical and progressive methods which he follows in all of his farm work.

Mr. Brudvig was married when twenty-six years of age to Miss Madel Helle, a daughter of Mons N. and Katrina Helle, who were early settlers of Norway township. To this union have been born seven children, Minnie, Clara, Erick, Annette, Myrtle, Katharine and Gladys.

The parents are members of the Synod Lutheran church and are people of the highest respectability, enjoying the goodwill and friendship of all who know them. Mr. Brudvig votes with the republican party, which he has long supported. He is a self-made man, being both the architect and builder of his own fortunes, lie has planned and worked for his success and has ever continued in the line of labor to which he was reared, so that long experience has furthered his knowledge and made him most efficient in all that he does.

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. 561-562.