Christian Dahl

Christian Dahl, who resides on section 18, Lincoln township, has made his home within the borders of Worth county for a third of a century and is widely recognized as one of its leading citizens and prosperous agriculturists, now owning six hundred and forty acres of rich and productive land. His birth occurred in Norway on the 14th of March, 1860, his parents being Samuel K. and Ingeborg A. (Nesbach) Dahl. The father died in that country in 1883, when he had reached the age of fifty-three years. In the year 1888 Christian Dahl of this review was joined by his mother in the United States and she made her home with him until called to her final rest in 1904.

It was in the common schools of his native land that Christian Dahl acquired his education. In 1880, when a young man of twenty years, he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, locating first at Brodhead, Wisconsin, where he worked by the month as a farm hand for three years, and then turned his atten­tion to carpentering. In the spring of 1884 he came to Worth county, Iowa, and took up his abode in Manly, where he continued work at the carpenter's trade, which claimed his time to some extent through the following fifteen years. In the fall of 1885 he came into possession of his first farm land, purchasing eighty acres of his present home place. Eight years later he bought another tract of eighty acres, comprising the other half of the southeast quarter of section 18, Lincoln township, so that his farm then embraced one hundred and sixty acres. In 1899 he purchased the northwest quarter of section 20, Lincoln township, adjoining his home place, and in 1912 he acquired the north half of section 14, Danville township, thus increasing his holdings in Worth county to six hundred and forty acres. His farms present a most neat and thrifty appearance and the well tilled fields annually yield golden harvests as a reward for the care and labor which he bestows upon them.

On the 29th of December, 1884, Mr. Dahl was united in marriage to Miss Anna Sjovold, a native of Norway and a daughter of Peter and Gurena (Nor­man) Sjovold. Her father is still living in Norway and has attained the age of eighty-six years, but her mother passed away in that country in 1897. Mrs. Dahl came to the United States in 1882 and spent about two and a half years in Brodhead, Wisconsin, after which she made her way to Worth county. Her marriage to Mr. Dahl, with whom she had been acquainted in Norway, was celebrated in Northwood, Iowa. They became the parents of six children, as follows: Dr. Sigurd P., a practicing physician and surgeon of Decorah, Iowa; George L, who operates his father's farm in Danville township; Augusta O., who is the wife of Reuben Tostenson, of Danville township; and Charlie A., Elvin O. and Alma C, all yet at home.

Mr. Dahl gives his political allegiance to the republican party, while his religious faith is that of the Norwegian Lutheran church, to which his wife and children also belong. His record is one which may well serve to inspire and encourage others. Coming to the new world a poor boy and being obliged to borrow money for his passage, he has worked his way steadily upward through unfaltering perseverance, indefatigable industry and capable business manage­ment, until today he is numbered among the substantial farmers and influential citizens of his adopted county.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Pages 637 & 638

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 8/18/2006