An excellent farm property of two hundred and forty acres pays tribute to the care and labor bestowed upon it by the owner, Gerhard B. Burtness. His place is situated in Fertile Township, on section 11, and in addition to tilling the soil he is engaged extensively in the raising of cattle and hogs. He is also identified with banking interests in the county and has other business connections. In a word he is leading an active and useful life and the community in which he lives numbers him among its representative citizens.

His birth occurred September 29, 1880, in the house which he yet occupies, his parents being Guttorm O. and Bereth (Kieland) Burtness, both of whom were natives of Norway. The father came to the United States in young manhood, being about twenty-three years of age when he arrived in America in 1866 and made his way to Minnesota.

His wife was brought to the new world by her parents when a little maiden of six summers in the year 1852, the Kieland home being established in Houston county, Minnesota, where Mr. Burtness also took up his abode in later years. Having reached adult age, these young people were married in Spring Grove, Houston County, Minnesota, and in 1873 they removed to Worth County, Iowa, where Mr. Burtness purchased eighty acres of land in Fertile township. Subsequently he added to his possessions from time to time as his financial resources permitted until he had acquired three hundred and sixty acres of rich and productive land in Fertile township and was therefore numbered among the substantial and valued farmers of his community.

He died on the 13th of August, 1897, and for more than a decade was survived by his wife, who passed away July 11, 1908. They were highly steamed people of the community and left behind them a large circle of warm friends.

Gerhard B. Burtness was educated in the district schools and also in the Luther Academy at Albert Lea, Minnesota, while subsequently he attended the Breckenridge Business College in Decorah, Iowa. At the early age of nineteen years he began farming on his own account by renting a portion of the old homestead, which he continued to cultivate and further develop as the years passed by. Following his mother's death he acquired by inheritance and purchase two hundred acres of the old home farm and subsequently bought forty acres adjoining, so that his present place comprises two hundred and forty acres of rich and valuable land, the fertility being attested by the excellent crops which he raises. He also makes a specialty of raising Holstein cattle and Chester White hogs, handling nothing but registered and high-grade stock. Both branches of his business are proving profitable owing to his careful management and sound business judgment.

He is also a stockholder in the Farmers' Bank of Hanlontown ,and a stockholder and member of the board of directors of the Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Company of Hanlontown. He is likewise a stockholder in the Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Company of Joice, a stockholder in the Farmers' Cooperative Creamery Company of Hanlontown and has other substantial business interests which constitute factors in advancing the material prosperity of the district as well as promoting his individual success.

On the 4th of March, 1903, Mr. Burtness was united in marriage to Miss Isabelle Holman, of Edmund, Wisconsin, a daughter of Christ and Julia (Thompson) Holman, who still reside in Edmund. Mr. and Mrs. Burtness have become parents of four children: Gladys, Gerald, Lester and Dorothy.

In politics Mr. Burtness is a republican but is not an office seeker, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs, which have been most intelligently directed, sound judgment and keen sagacity supplementing his unfaltering industry and perseverance and thus gaining for him a place among the men of affluence in Fertile township.

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HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, Page 453

Transcribed by Gordon Felland, Oct. 2003