N. P. Swanson
The business interests of Crawford county have many worthy representatives who have won their way to responsible positions in the community by intelligent application and a zeal which never yielded to difficulties. Among the men who thus deserve mention is N. P. Swanson, a well known and highly respected citizen of Kiron.
He is a native of Sweden, born September 27, 1865, and a son of Nels and Tora Swanson, both of whom were born in Sweden. They came to America in 1871 and located on a farm in Crawford county. Iowa, continuing here during the remainder of their lives. There were eight children in their family, four of whom are now living, namely: Matilda, the wife of N. E. Larson, of Crawford county, a record of whom appears elsewhere in this work; Celia. now Mrs. Adolph Linberg, of Omaha, Nebraska; P., the subject of this review; and Samuel, of Woodbury county, Iowa.
N. P. Swanson came to Iowa with his parents when six years of age and received his early education in the schools of Crawford county. He assisted his father upon the home farm until he arrived at the age of seventeen and then, desiring to begin farming for himself, rented the homestead which he cultivated with a success that gave bright promise as to his future. Subsequently he purchased the farm on which the village of Kiron now stands and as the years passed he prospered greatly in his work, so that he is now the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of good land in Crawford county and five hundred and twenty acres in Woodbury county. He engages extensively in buying, selling and shipping stock of all kinds, and as he is a good judge of animals and a man of large experience in the business, he has attained a gratifying measure of success. Aside from his other lines of activity, he is a member of the board of directors of the Farmers Telephone Company.
In 1887 Mr. Swanson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Olson, a native of Sweden and a daughter of Peter and Anna Olson, both of whom are deceased.
Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Swanson, namely: Emma E., the wife of Oscar Larson, of Sioux City, Iowa; and Mabel, Roy, Edna, Judith, Elmer, Leslie, Evelyn and Teddie M., all of whom are at home.
Politically Mr. Swanson votes the republican ticket, and although he has not sought the emoluments of office, he has served most acceptably as a member of the town council of Kiron. Fraternally he is identified with the camp of the Modern Woodmen of America at Schleswig, Iowa. He is a public-spirited man and is ever ready to assist in any movement that sincerely aims to lift the burdens from shoulders unable to bear them. He and his estimable wife are at the head of a large and promising family and they have endeavored to install into their children the principles of industry and self-respect so important in the accomplishment of any worthy object in life.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.