Anna Marie (Hanson) OLESON

OLESON, HANSON, DONALDSON, JACOBSON, DAVIS, BEINHAUER, CARPENTER, THUE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/28/2006 at 15:30:32

WRIGHT COUNTY REPORTER
Dows, Wright County, Iowa, Thursday, February 9, 1928, Page 8, Column 1 & 2
Source: Laura Pruden

MRS. OLE L. OLESON
In these days of hustle and bustle when crime is rampant and the world seems topsy-turvy, it is good to indulge in retrospection and take stock of things as they were and still might be. Thoughtlessness and selfishness seem to playing too important a part in the every day events of life so when one is permitted to intimately know a good Christian character, who makes the “Golden Rule” a guiding star, it is but natural that words are inadequate to express the innermost thoughts of a full heart. An intimate acquaintance and relationship of twenty-five years, permits one to view the innermost thoughts and the sterling qualities of character inherent in one who was a living exemplar of the teachings of the Nazarene. Leaving a humble home at a tender age, my ideal of womanhood and motherhood came to the new world to carve a place for herself. She was married early in life and with her husband settled in Southern Wisconsin undergoing the hardships of pioneer life unflinchingly. In 1872 she, with her husband and then small family, moved to Iowa where she reared her family and willingly and conscientiously faced the battles of life. Her home was her first consideration and, how well she inculcated the teachings of honest and upright living in the minds of her family, is best attested to by the fine men and women she brought into the world and who by their mindful ministrations, were a comfort in her declining years. For sixty odd years – the time of her married life –she gave her all for her home, family, neighbors and friends and the cares incident to rearing a large family and necessary to the accumulation of a competency never prevented her from extending a helping hand to a person in need. A woman of keen intellect, she kept deeply religious she was ever mindful of the teachings of the Holy Scripture and in every day life made practical use of her knowledge. It has been said of her that she was a good wife, a good mother, a good neighbor, and gave freely to church benevolences, but what must not be left unsaid is that she was as nearly a perfect Christian woman as it is possible for erring human flesh to be. Hers was a full life and in her declining years her comfort came from her faith in the life Beyond. She fearlessly faced death as she had fearlessly faced the problems of life, because she could honestly say “The Lord is My Shepherd.”

Anna Marie Hanson was born near Oslo, Norway on March 17, 1850 and died at her home in Oakland township, Franklin county Iowa February 5, 1928 from an attack of the flu, being 77 years, 10 months and 18 days old at the time of her demise. At the age of 16, she ventured from home, coming to America, landed in Montreal and thence went to Wiota, Lafayette county, Wisconsin, where she lived with an uncle until her marriage to Ole L. Oleson of that place on December 24, 1866. The first six years of her married life was spent in this locality. In 1872 she, her husband, and three children started for Iowa in a covered wagon and settled in Oakland township, Franklin county, where she spent the balance of her life.

There were born to this union seven girls and six boys, one child, Laura, dying in infancy and Nellie Donaldson, the oldest, dying in 1922. There remain to mourn her loss her husband, Ole L., and eleven children: Mary Jacobson of Dows, Mrs. S. Davis (Mandy) of Clarence, Lars L., Oscar, Henry L., Lewis F., and Andrew L., all of Dows, Ole A. Oleson of Rhame, North Dakota, Martha Beinhauer of Des Moines, Caroline Thue of Stanton, North Dakota, Tillie Carpenter of Webster, South Dakota, twenty-seven grandchildren, eight great grandchildren and a host of friends as it proved by the beautiful floral offerings sent as tokens of respect. This records the passing of a good and great Christian character.

Mrs. Ole L. Oleson's funeral in the country Lutheran church was attended by a large audience of relatives, neighbors and friends. Beautiful flowers decorated the church, male quartette composed of McComb, Dr. Lekwa, Harry Lekwa and Fay Peterson sang three numbers, Walking With God, Wonderful Peace and Some Sweet Day. Funeral was in charge of her Pastor Rev. Edward Duca who preached the sermon on Luke 12:35 “Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning.” “Be ye therefore ready also; for the son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”

Mrs. Oleson was buried** in the cemetery by the church.

**Actual article said “burned”