Arthur and Alice, Bertram and Edward were born in Decorah. The parents and youngest children moved to Chicago on 8 Nov 1904, the day Teddy Roosevelt was elected president. They lived with the Rochne family a short time. Ole and Mrs. Rochne worked at John Anderson Publishing House, publisher of Skandinavin, a Norwegian newspaper, with Ole as manager of the book department.

The family had a rhyme to remember all the names in order sung to “Twinkle Little Star!” Theodore, Henry, Clarence, Fred—Robert, Arthur, Alice—Bert-and Ed.

Corrine Arneson Hawthorne, daughter of Alice (Hamre) Arneson, was given a silver sugar and creamer that Ole and Inger had received for their silver wedding anniversary.

Inger died 28 Apr 1917. The family gathered, a photo was taken, and then Ole died 5 Jun 1917. They are buried at Mount Olive Cemetery in Chicago. (See separate article on each child. The above mentioned photo is with Ed’s article.)

Arneson, Robert and Elise (Wiley)

(Alice (Hamre) Arneson)

Robert Ingman Arneson was the fifth son of Ole Tolef and Inger (Tobiason) Arneson and the first born after the family moved back to Decorah. Robert was born 24 May 1888 and died in Portland, OR after 1973. He married Elise Wiley (daughter of Col. William Wiley) born 13 Jun 1888 in Baltimore and died 15 Dec 1971 in Portland. They had 2 daughters, Elise and Margaret. Elise was born Nov 1913 in Oklahoma City and died 3 Dec 1972 in Portland. She married Frederick H. Torp, a lawyer, and had 3 children: Elise Margaret (b. Jun 1944), Frederick Robert (b. Mar 1949) and Jonathan Walter (b. Mar 1951). Margaret A. was born in 1916 in Chicago, married Robert L. Pulliam, M.D. and had 5 children: Margaret Elise (Mar 1944-Jan 1957), Robert Lee III (b. May 1947), Andrew Richard (b. 1951?), Ann-Marie (b. Jul 1956) and Thomas Jackson (b. Mar 1958). The Pulliams live in Longview, WA.

When the family moved to Chicago in 1904, Robert stayed in Decorah with the Lees to finish Breckenridge Collegiate Institute. He studied business and German. The graduation speaker was Jane Addams, founder of Hull House in Chicago and co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. He went to Chicago in the summer of 1905. The family was moving. He recognized the furniture in a moving van and followed it to the new address. Bob was a student all his life: night courses in French, correspondence courses in business and salesmanship, some law, Spanish from a local and years later a course in foreign trade. He worked for the sugar company in Holly, CO. Back in Chicago he stayed with John Anderson (the publisher) who personally took Bob to get a job with merchandise brokers. “Classic example of traffic congestion, with nothing but horse-propelled trucks driven by hard-boiled teamsters. This was my first contact with the old-time wholesale grocery trade.”

In 1907 Bob joined Clarence near Moosejaw, Sask. and “stayed with him in his shack for a while.” Bob got a job in the accounting office of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. When the weather got cold, a letter came from Arthur Enger (from Decorah) from Mobridge, SD, where they were building a bridge across the Missouri River, saying Bob could have his job as clerk at the Milwaukee Railroad. Bob went. The weather got cold in South Dakota, also. A friend at Holly Sugar Company said Bob could get a job there. Bob left. In Holly, CO, Bob met Col. William Wiley and became secretary and assistant to the sales manager, then clerk to a man who became president of another large sugar company. He met Elise Wiley! In 1911 he helped Holly Sugar Company build a new plant in Huntington Beach, CA. Bob and Elise decided to marry. Col. Wiley did not want family in the company and got Bob a job in Oklahoma City with Meinrath Brokerage Company. Bob and Elise were married Christmas Day 1912 in Brooklyn and went to Oklahoma City to live. In 1914 they were transferred to Chicago. Mrs. Wiley sold her home in Brooklyn and moved in with Bob, Elise and baby Harriet Elise. While at Meinrath Bob became impressed with the enthusiasm of the food processors from Oregon and Washington. The fall of 1918 they moved to Salem, OR, then Seattle where he studied foreign trade, which helped him develop overseas business. The Seattle office closed.

Five brothers in Decorah. Henry '82, Theodore 79, Clarence '84, Fred '86, Bob ’88 Arneson.

He formed his own business - Robert Arneson, Sales Agent - and did all right even in 1932-1933. When some northwest packers decided to work together and to open a joint sales office, Robert Arneson was appointed their sales agent. In 1934 Bob went with a friend who was an