JOHN A. GULLICKSON
An excellent farm property of two hundred and sixty-two acres situated on section 8, Kensett township, Worth county, pays tribute to the care and cultivation of the owner, John A. Gullickson, who is accounted one of the representative agriculturists of his community. He was born in what is now Grove township, Worth county, on the 13th of March, 1866, and is a son of Aslag and Ingeborg (Severson) Gullickson, both of whom were natives of Norway, the former born in the year 1818 and the latter in 1830. They came to the United States about 1856 and after two years passed in Cook county, Illinois, came to Worth county, Iowa, being among the first settlers within the borders of the county. Mr. Gullickson took up his abode in Grove township, where he resided to the time of his death, which occurred in 1902, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-four years. His widow is still living at the age of eighty-eight years, making her home with a daughter, Mrs. C. G. Kittelson, in Grove township. They reside upon the old Gullickson homestead.
John A. Gullickson was reared upon the home farm and acquired a common school education, which was supplemented by study in the Decorah Institute at Decorah, Iowa. On reaching early manhood he became an active assistant in the work of the home farm, for his father had reached an advanced age and needed the services of his son. He continued to further develop and improve that property until 1897, when he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, constituting a part of his present home farm. He then started out independently and in 1910 he extended the boundaries of his place by purchasing one hundred and two acres of land lying just across the road from his first tract, so that his holdings are now two hundred and sixty-two acres. This land is arable and owing to the excellent improvements which have been placed upon it, Mr. Gullickson has converted it into a most valuable property from which he annually gathers rich and abundant harvests.
On the 16th of July, 1897, Mr. Gullickson was united in marriage to Miss Albertina Anderson Heggestad, a daughter of Johannes Heggestad, of Hartland township, Worth county, who came to the United States in 1859 and took up his abode in Worth county, Iowa, in 1861. To Mr. and Mrs. Gullickson have been born seven children: Clarissa D., Gladys I., Alyce L., Joseph A., Evelyn C, C. Donald and M. Arlene. All of the children are still at home.
Mr. Gullickson and his family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church. He has never been an active factor in politics, preferring to devote his undivided time and attention to his business affairs, and he is now a stockholder in the Northwood Manufacturing Company, also a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company and the Farmers Creamery Company of Northwood. His business judgment is sound, his enterprise unfaltering and his sagacity keen. What he undertakes he accomplishes. In his vocabulary there is no such word as fail. He reaches his desired goal by reason of his unfaltering purpose and his indefatigable energy, and he is now gathering the well deserved fruits of earnest toil.
SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Page 521
Transcribed by Gordon Felland, August 14, 2006