Jens P. Eide

EIDE

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 10/2/2005 at 21:48:56

Jens P. Eide is a resident farmer of Fertile township, his home being on section 23. There he has a valuable property of two hundred and thirty acres, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation and which is the visible evidence of his life of well directed energy and thrift. Like many of his fellow citizens in this locality, Mr. Eide is a native of Norway and America acknowledges her indebtedness to that country for a very substantial quota of valued citizens. Mr. Eide was born September 27, 1884, his parents being Peter and Jeskine (Jacobson) Eide, both of whom lived and died in Norway.

Their son was reared and educated in that country and in 1882, when a young man of twenty-eight years, he came to the United States, settling in Worth county. He had a brother Peter living in Fertile township with whom he made his home up to the time of his marriage and worked on the farm with his brother. It was on October 28, 1890, that Mr. Eide was united in marriage to Miss Julia Abrahamson, a native of Norway but at that time a resident of Fertile township. Following their marriage the young couple began their domestic life upon the present home farm, which now comprises two hundred and thirty acres of rich and productive land, one hundred and sixty acres of which Mr. Eide had purchased prior to his marriage. That the years have brought him substantial success as the reward for his earnest and persistent efforts is indicated in the fact that at the time of his arrival his entire capital was but five dollars. He possessed however, a determination to do something for himself and make a home for his family. The results that he has accomplished as the years have gone by have been most gratifying. He endured the privations and hardships of early pioneer times and his resolute spirit enabled him to face these bravely. When he purchased his farm there was no house or barn upon the place, neither was there a tree nor a fence, and only about thirty acres had been reclaimed from the virgin prairie. Today his farm is one of the best improved properties of the township. There are large and substantial buildings affording ample shelter for grain and stock and there is a comfortable residence, together with all modern equipments, including the latest improved machinery with which to facilitate the work of the fields.

To Mr. and Mrs. Eide has been born a daughter, Ida, now the wife of Sivert Furness, who is operating the farm of his father-in-law. Mrs. Eide died November 14, 1911, and was buried in the Fertile cemetery.

Mr. Eide has always been a republican in his political views since becoming a naturalized American citizen and thus gaining the right of franchise. He served for several years as a member of the school board and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. He belongs to the Norwegian Lutheran church and his faith has guided him in all of life's relations, making him an honorable and upright man, respected by all with whom he has been brought in contact. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world. Severing home ties, he started out to try his fortune in America when twenty-eight years of age and as time has passed he has prospered in his undertakings and is today one of the leading and successful agriculturists of Fertile township.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, page 433.