Enger, Lauritz M. 1856 - 1920

ENGER, OVERBY, NELSON, MYRAN

Posted By: Bill Waters (email)
Date: 2/20/2014 at 11:15:24

Hon. LAURITZ M. ENGER

Among the men of Decorah who have by their own efforts risen from a comparatively humble position to a place among men of marked ability and substantial worth in Winneshiek county is numbered Hon. Lauritz M. Enger, representative of his district in the state legislature. He is, moreover, classed among the prominent business men of his city, where he is in control of an important and growing insurance concern. He was horn in Norway, November 3, 1856, and is a son of Magnus and Anna P. (Overby) Enger, also natives of that country, the former of whom engaged in farming there during his entire active life and never came to America. He died in and was survived by his wife until 1903.

Lauritz M. Enger attended public school in his native country until he was fifteen years of age, but during the last two years of this period was obliged to gain his own livelihood. At the age of fifteen he borrowed enough money to pay his passage to the United States and afterward worked at farm labor in order to pay his debt. When this was discharged he continued at his former occupation, working as a farm hand daring the summer months and attending district school in the winters. He later became a student at Breckenridge Institute in Decorah and upon leaving that institution secured a position as a clerk in a general store in this city, retaining it for six years thereafter. At the end of that time he rented a farm but after operating it for two years returned to Decorah, where he purchased a shoe store, turning his attention to mercantile pursuits. For nine years he continued to conduct this enterprise and during a portion of this time was employed also in the Decorah postoffice as mailing clerk. He then accepted a position in the office of the Decorah Postal, beginning in the mailing department and rising until he had full charge of same and later assisted in the editorial and business departments. He also did a great deal of illustrating and he remained connected with the paper for sixteen years, during which time he also established himself in the insurance business. In this line of work he has since been active and is now in control of a large and representative patronage and is numbered among the substantial business men of the city

Mr. Enger was elected to the state legislature in 1910, was reelected in 1912 and is now serving, his record as a member of that body being most creditable and honorable. In the thirty-fifth general assembly he was chairman of the committee on public health and was a member of the committees on appropriations, on elections, on printing and constitutional amendments. He belonged also to the committees on federal relations, on the conservation of resources and on state educational institutions and he left the impress of his political ability, his energy and high standards upon the legislative history of the state. He still continues active in the conduct of his business interests in Decorah and these are proving exceedingly profitable, a fact which indicates his sound judgment and clear business discernment.

On the 10th of February. 1880. Mr. Enger was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Myran, a daughter of Ashley and Astri (Nelson) Myran, natives of Norway. The father came to America in 1849 and located in Muskego. Wisconsin, where he worked in the lead mines until 1853. He then came as a pioneer to Winneshiek county. Iowa, and took up government land. He remained, however, only a short time and then returned to Norway, where his marriage occurred. In 1855 he returned to Winneshiek county and. having shot enough deer to pay for forty acres of land, purchased a tract of this size in Madison township and set about the work of its improvement and development. He remained active in agricultural pursuits upon his property during the remainder of his life, dying in 1894. His wife survived him some years, passing away in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Enger have become the parents of three children: Melvin, aged thirty-two, who is a professor in the University of Illinois; Norval, aged thirty, county engineer of Grant county. Washington; and Arthur, assistant engineer at the experiment station of the Stale University at Tucson. Arizona. He is an expert on road construction and travels all over the state in this capacity.

Mr. Enger is a devout member of the Lutheran church and gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He is a member of the Norske Selskab Club and the Symra Club and is well known in social circles at Decorah. He is a man of varied interests but all are along lines of progress and improvement. While in business affairs he has achieved a gratifying measure of prosperity, he has at the same time wrought along lines of the greatest good to the greatest number, his activities in political and business fields proving of benefit to the community at large.

Source: History of Winneshiek County, Iowa Vol. II Chicago the S. J. Clark publishing Company 1913

Madison Lutheran Cemetery gravestone,
 

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