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O. N. REFSELL, attorney and banker of Emmet
County, is a resident of Esterville and descended from one of
the sturdy early Norwegian families in this section of Iowa.
His grandparents, Ole and Mary (Paulson) Refsell came from
Norway shortly after the close of the Civil war, and arrived
in Emmet County just in time to secure the last tract of land
still available from the public lands owned by the Government.
This land had been filed on, but the first claimant had not
completed the necessary improvements and it was a
relinquishment when the Refsells secured it. Ole Refsell
adapted himself to the circumstances of a new country, made a
good record as an industrious farmer, and he and his wife
enjoyed the respect and esteem of a large circle of
acquaintances in Emmet County. He died March 2, 1895, and his
wife in October, 1900. They were Lutherans in Iowa, as they
had been in Norway. Their four children were: O. O., of Emmet
County; Peter O., who died on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1930;
James; and I. S., who died in Emmet County in March, 1930.
James Refsell, father of the Esterville attorney, was six
years of age when brought to America. He was born in Norway
July 31, 1860. He was sixty-six years old when he died, April
19, 1926, and no citizen of Emmet County left behind him a
record showing more enterprise in a business way, and more
hearty public spirit and generosity in his relationships as a
citizen and community builder. He grew up in Emmet County, had
the advantages of the common schools, and for a number of
years devoted all his personal attention to his farming. When
he left the farm, in 1915, he moved to the Village of
Wallingford in Emmet County, where he helped organize and
became the first president of the Farmers Savings Bank. He was
president of the bank when he died, and also president of the
Farmers Elevator Company, was a director in the creamery
company and telephone company. When he moved to town he did
not dispose of his farming property and at his death he owned
one farm of 280 acres, another of 188 acres and also the
twenty acres in the home place at Wallingford. His bank was
the only one in that section of Iowa which did not close
during the epidemic of bank failures. The integrity of the
bank was in keeping with the integrity of its president. Mrs.
James Refsell lives at Wallingford and the only daughter, Miss
Emma, is also a member of the household there. James Refsell
married, in 1886, Annie Osher. She was born in Dane County,
Wisconsin, daughter of Neis and Ingeborg (Nordheim) Osher. Her
parents came from Norway and settled in Wisconsin in 1850 and
in 1870 moved to Emmet County, Iowa.
O. N. Refsell, only son of his parents, was born and reared in
Emmet County, graduated form the Lutheran College at Red Wing,
Minnesota, and later attended the University of Wisconsin and
the University of Chicago. For a time he was an instructor in
the Lutheran College at Jewell, Iowa. Leaving school work, he
took up the study of law at the University of Wisconsin and
University of Iowa and was admitted to the bar while with the
colors during the World war. He enlisted April 29, 1918, was
commissioned a second lieutenant in the Nineteenth Division
and was stationed at Camp Dodge until discharged, November 30,
1918. Mr. Refsell for a few months worked in the office of E.
A. Morling, of Emmetsburg, now chief justice of the Iowa
Supreme Court, and then established himself at Estherville,
where he has enjoyed a successful general law practice. Since
the death of his father he has also been president of the bank
at Wallingford and since the organization of the Iowa Trust &
Savings Bank at Estherville, in 1926, he has been its vice
president. Mr. Refsell is a Republican and a member of the
Lutheran Church, the American Legion, Chamber of Commerce. He
was county attorney from January 1, 1925, to January 1, 1929,
and in 1930 was candidate for representative in the State
Legislature.
He married, April 29, 1919, just one year after his
enlistment, Miss Josephine Peterson who attended the
University of Nebraska and the University of Minnesota. She
was born in Nebraska. They have two daughters, Helen Ann, born
July 25, 1922; and Eunice, born February 3, 1927. |
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~ source: A Narrative History of The People
of Iowa, Edgar Rubey
Harlan, LL. B., A. M.,
Chicago and New York, 1931
~ transcribed and contributed by: Debbie Clough
Gerischer, Iowa History
Project |
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