Ansten, T. H. 1857 -

ANSTEN, KAPSON, JACOBSON, SKARE

Posted By: Bill Waters (email)
Date: 4/16/2014 at 09:22:34

One of the successful farmers and stock-raisers and progressive business men of Madison Township is T. H. Ansten, who is living on section 11. There he owns and cultivates a fine farm of one hundred and ninety-five acres which is constantly increasing in value because of the care and labor he bestows upon it. He is a native of this township and county, born September 27, 1857, his parents being Herbrand and Engric (Kapson) Ansten, natives of Norway. The father came to America and after remaining for a short time in Wisconsin, where he first located, came to Winneshiek County, Iowa. He bought a tract of timber land in Madison Township and with characteristic energy turned his attention to clearing and developing this property, making it before his death, in 1890, a well improved and valuable farm. His wife survived him some years, dying in 1900.

T. H. Ansten was reared and educated in Madison Township and before his father's death bought the homestead, which he has since developed and improved. It contains one hundred and ninety-five acres of valuable land on sections 2, 11 and 14, Madison Township, and upon it he has made substantial improvements, erecting modern barns and outbuildings and installing the necessary equipment. Mr. Ansten is a stockholder in the Farmers Creamery Company and the Farmers Hog Buying Company of Decorah, and his ability is widely recognized in business circles.

In October, 1886, Mr. Ansten was united in marriage to Mary Jacobson Skare, a daughter of Jacob and Aase Skare, natives of Norway, who never came to America. Mr. and Mrs. Ansten have a son, Henry I., who was born January 3, 1889.

Mr. Ansten is a devout member of the Lutheran church and he guides his honorable and upright life by its doctrines. A stanch republican, he has never sought to figure prominently in public life, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, and as the years have passed he has won a creditable measure of success, his diligence constituting an important element in his prosperity.

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