Peter A. Helgesen, M. D.

HELGESEN, DAKKEN, THOMAS

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/27/2010 at 04:47:37

PETER A. HELGESEN, M. D.

Dr. Peter A. Helgesen is discharging his duties as mayor of Lake Mills with marked capability and is also taking care of his large and representative practice as physician and surgeon. He was born in Iowa county, Wisconsin, August 29, 1868, of the marriage of John and Ingebor (Dakken) Helgesen, natives of Norway, who located in Iowa county, Wisconsin, on their emigration to the United States. There at the time of the Civil war the father enlisted in the Fifteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and was at the front for four years, thus proving the quality of his allegiance to his adopted country. At the close of the war he returned to Wisconsin and farmed there until his death in December, 1895, when he was sixty-six years old. The mother died in January, 1905, at the age of fifty-three years.

Peter A. Helgesen grew to manhood upon the home farm and received his early education in the district schools. Later he took a course in the Northwestern Business College and Academy at Madison, Wisconsin, and in 1887 he entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, Illinois. Subsequently he became a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, from which he was graduated in March, 1891. He soon afterward opened an office in Lake Mills, where he has since remained, and his skill as a physician and surgeon is recognized by both the general public and his professional colleagues. He is also a registered pharmacist and from 1900 to 1905 was interested in a drug store in Lake Mills. He still owns stock in the Farmers Elevator Company, in the Lake Mills Lumber Company and in the Mutual^ Telephone Company.

Dr. Helgesen was married in 1889 to Miss Anna Dakken, who passed away in 1911 after an illness of fifteen years' duration. To them were born two children, as follows: Walter, a jeweler residing in Lake Mills; and Russell, who is a junior in the Lake Mills high school and has enlisted in Company D,Iowa National Guard. In August, 1912, Dr. Helgesen was married to Miss Maude E. Thomas, a graduate of the Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls and a holder of the M. D. I. degree. For several years she was principal of the Lake Mills schools, was later teacher of Latin and English in the Waterloo (Iowa) high school and principal of the Waukon (Iowa) public schools. She has one son, Harold I., three years old. Dr. Helgesen is one of the leaders in local republican circles, was from 1912 to 1914 chairman of the county republican central committee and has many times been called to public office. For two years he was county coroner and during the greater part of the time since 1898 has been mayor, which office he is now filling. He understands well the interests of the city and has been very efficient in devising and carrying out plans for the advancement of its interests, while at all times his devotion to the public good has been above question. In his religious belief he is a Lutheran and fraternally he belongs to the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. In addition to his large private practice he is surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and his professional connections include membership in the Winnebago County and the Iowa State Medical Societies and in the American Medical Association.

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. 101-102.