Hon. Gilbert N. Haugen

Hon. Gilbert N. Haugen is one of the substantial business men and leading citizens of Worth county. He is now president of the First National Bank of Northwood and is a member of congress, representing the fourth district of Iowa in the national hall of legislation. To many positions of public trust he has been called, in all of which he has proven his loyalty and fidelity to the best interest of the community at large, ever subordinating personal aggrandizement or individual interests to the public good.

Wisconsin claims him as a native son, for his birth occurred in Plymouth township, Rock county, near Orfordville, April 21, 1859, his parents being Nels and Carrie Haugen, both of whom were natives of Norway, where the father followed the occupation of farming until 1844. He then crossed the Atlantic to the United States on a sailing vessel which was sixteen weeks in making the voyage. By way of the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes he proceeded westward to Milwaukee and thence traveled with ox teams overland to Orfordville, Wisconsin, where he invested in two hundred acres of farm land which he at once began to cultivate and improve. He remained upon that farm until his death, which occurred in 1860, and his wife has also passed away. They were consistent and devoted members of the Norwegian Lutheran church.

Gilbert N. Haugen spent his youthful days upon his father's farm in Wisconsin to the age of fourteen years, when he went to Janesville, that county, in order to supplement his early education by study in the schools of that city. He afterward continued his education in Decorah, Iowa, and later was employed at farm work in Winneshiek county, this state. He has been closely identified with the interests of Worth county since 1877, in which year he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Kensett township. With characteristic energy he began its development and improvement and continued its operation with excellent success for a number of years. He afterward turned his attention to the implement and furniture business and also became a dealer in live stock, being thus engaged until 1888, when he sold his business interests. In that year he was elected treasurer of Worth county and removed to Northwood, Iowa, in order to enter upon the duties of his position. He has never ceased to be the owner, however, of farm property and is today in possession of several valuable tracts of land, the cultivation of which he personally supervises. He has became a large real estate owner and his property holdings include a beautiful home in Northwood which is modern in every detail and is supplied with every convenience and accessory that makes life worth living. Each room is finished in a different kind of wood and the whole is most artistic. Aside from his real estate holdings Mr. Haugen is well known in financial circles as president of the First National Bank of Northwood, as president of the Kensett Bank and as president of the Forest City National Bank of Forest City, Iowa. His business discernment is keen, his judgment sound and his enterprise unfaltering. He has readily recognized and utilized opportunities that others have passed heedlessly by and each forward step in his career has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities.

In 1885 Mr. Haugen was united in marriage to Miss Elsie Everson, a daughter of John and Catharine (Anderson) Everson. She was born in Winneshiek county, Iowa, while her parents were natives of Norway, coming to the United States in early life and settling in Winneshiek county, Iowa, their marriage being the first celebrated in that county. The father died in Winneshiek county and the mother afterward passed away at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Haugen, who by their marriage have become the parents of two children: Norma, the wife of J. C. E. Johnson, who is assistant cashier of the First National Bank; and Lieutenant Laurity Haugen, who is a member of the United States Aviation Corps.

Mr. Haugen has figured prominently in connection with public interests as a supporter of the republican party, being recognized as one of the leaders in its ranks. As previously stated, he was elected treasurer of Worth county in 1888, and was reelected in 1889 and again in 1891, serving until 1894. Still higher political honors came to him, for he was chosen to represent his district in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth general assemblies of Iowa, and was later elected to the fifty-sixth, fifty-seventh, fifty-eighth, fifty-ninth, sixtieth, sixty-first, sixty-second, sixty-third, sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth congresses of the United States, serving at the present time in this office, and the confidence reposed in him by his constituents is indicated by his frequent reelections. As a member of congress he gives thoughtful and earnest consideration to the various vital problems which come up for consideration and the weight of his influence has had much to do with furthering progressive measures. He ever subordinates partisanship to the public welfare and his fidelity to the high trust reposed in him is unquestioned.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; PAGES 171-173

On entering Congress in 1899 Col. D. B. Henderson had just reached the speakership and Mr. Haugen was given membership on the Committee on Agriculture and Committee on War Claims. The membership on the Committee on Agriculture he retained throughout the seventeen congresses, and when the Republicans regained control in the House in 1919 he became chairman of that committee, only to relinquish it when the Democrats regained the majority in the House in 1931. Mr. Haugen was the joint author with Senator McNary of the famous Mc-Nary-Haugen bill, and was the author of more legislation relative to agriculture than any otlier one man in Congress during his time. He was highly regarded by the membership of the House regardless of party lines. When Mr. Haugen was in the office of county treasurer at Northwood he became interested in banking and for years was president of banks at Northwood and Kensett. He also added largely to his land properties both in northern Iowa and in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Gilbert Haugen died on July 18, 1933 in Northwood, Iowa.

SOURCE: ANALS OF IOWA, 1933.

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 9/21/2006
Information added on 4/22/2015 by Gordon Felland