Gayhart Gabriel
Gayhart Gabriel, actively and successfully engaged in general farming in Grove township, Worth county, was born on the place where he now resides March 29, 1879. This is the old family homestead which was the property of his parents, Tennis and Gunlah (Kaldahl) Gabriel.
His father was born in Stavanger, Norway, February 10, 1833, while the mother's birth occurred in Osterland, Norway, near Christiania in January, 1841. In 1854, when a young man of twenty-one years. Tennis Gabriel left his native country for the United States and after a voyage of eleven weeks in one of the sailing vessels of that period landed at New York. He continued his journey westward by way of the Great lakes to Chicago, Illinois and then on to Wisconsin, taking up his abode in Beloit, where he was later married. In the spring of 1863 he came with his family to worth county, Iowa, settling in Hartland township, where he remained for two years. He afterward removed to Grove township, where the residue of his days were passed and he became one to the enterprising and progressive farmers of the community, accumulating three hundred and twenty acres of land. He prospered as the year went by and his life record proved what may be accomplished through determination and energy, for he was a poor man when he arrived in the new world. He died July 25, 1912 at the age of seventy-nine years, having in the meantime become the processor of a substantial property that enabled him to leave his family in comfortable financial circumstances. His wife had come with her parents to the United States when but three years of age, the Kaldahl family home having been established at Long Prairie, Illinois where her father purchased forty acres of land and resided thereon for twelve years. Her mother died in Illinois, after which Mr. Kaldahl removed west to Hartland township, Worth county, Iowa, and took up a section of government land. It was while Mr. Gabriel was living in Beloit that he married Gunlah Kaldahl and they became the parents of eight children: Gabriel, who died in 1909; Ole, who died May 28, 1916; Theodore and Henry, both of whom died in infancy, only a day apart; Thelma, now Mrs. Martin Skjeveland; Gena, who died in 1912; Henry, second of the name; and Gayhart.
The last named spent his boyhood days upon the home farm of his father and acquired a district school education, pursuing his studies through the winter, months, while in the summer seasons he assisted in the work of the fields. He has spent his entire life upon this farm and has always given his attention to general agricultural pursuits, being now ranked with the leading and representative farmers of Grove township.
In 1903 Mr. Gabriel was married to Miss Lethia Seuser, a daughter of Philip and Mary E. (Hunter) Seuser. She was born in Grove township, while her father is a native of Lowell, Dodge county, Wisconsin, born in 1855, and her mother's birth occurred in Newhaven, Minnesota, in 1860. Mr. Seuser spent his boyhood in Wisconsin and after his marriage at Rochester, Minnesota, on February 16, 1880, became a resident of Grove township, Worth county, Iowa, where he cultivated a farm for several years. He removed to Freeborn county, Minnesota, settling near Glenville, where for three years he carried on general agricultural pursuits. He then returned to Worth county, establishing his home north of Northwood, where he devoted his attention to general farming for twenty-two years. On the expiration of that period he became a, resident of Hill county, Montana, where he now makes his home. To Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel have been born two children, Bernice and Marjorie.
SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Pages 43 & 44
Transcribed by Gordon Felland, January 5, 2006