Haugen, Nels O. 1855 – 1939
HAUGEN, PETERSON, TOLLEFSON, CLAUSON
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 3/21/2015 at 12:52:00
NELS O. HAUGEN.
Since 1884 Nels O. Haugen has lived upon the farm which he now occupies, on section 35, Madison township, and his practical and progressive methods have brought it to a high state of cultivation, making it one of the finest agricultural properties in this vicinity. He was born in Norway on the 20th of May, 1855, and is a son of Ole and Mary (Peterson) Haugen, also natives of that country. The father came to America, settling in Winneshiek county, Iowa, in 1865, and three years later he purchased forty acres of land in Madison township, improving this for a number of years. Eventually he added to it a quarter section of land adjoining and later an additional eighty acres, all lying in Madison township. They are now owned by a brother of the subject of this review. The father operated his extensive holdings during the remainder of his life, becoming known as a prosperous, progressive and substantial agriculturist. He died in 1899 and is survived by his wife, who makes her home with her daughter, who resides near Freeport, Iowa.
Nels O. Haugen was ten years of age when he came with his parents to America and the greater part of his education was acquired in the district schools of Winneshiek county. In 1884 he married and bought eighty acres of land on section 35, Madison township, to which he later added thirty-six acres adjoining, this constituting his present farm. The years have brought him prosperity and success, for his methods have always been practical and his energy untiring, and the farm today reflects his careful supervision in its neat and attractive appearance.
On November 6, 1884, Mr. Haugen was united in marriage to Miss Mary Tollefson, a daughter of Ole and Berit Tollefson, natives of Norway, who came to America at an early date, the father engaging in farming in Springfield township, Winneshiek county, for a number of years and meeting death through asphyxiation in a cistern in 1883. His wife survives him. Mr. and Mrs. Haugen are the parents of six children: Ole, aged twenty-seven; Bertha, who is twenty-five years of age and who married Julius Clauson, a farmer in this county; Lottie, aged twenty-three; Inga, twenty-two; Theodore, nineteen; and Peter, aged sixteen.
Mr. Haugen is a member of the Lutheran church and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Creamery Company and the Farmers Cooperative Hog Buying Company of Decorah and his ability is widely recognized in business circles. He is a man of many sterling traits of character, industrious, progressive and enterprising, and is well entitled to classification with the township's most substantial and able farmers.
Source: History of Winneshiek County, Iowa Vol. II Chicago the S. J. Clark Publishing Company 1913
Decorah Lutheran Cemetery gravestone
Winneshiek Biographies maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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