Ole O. Gordon was a valued and progressive farmer of Deer Creek township, Worth county, and was numbered among the venerable citizens of this part of the state when death called him in 1915, when he had reached the age of nearly eighty-six years. He was born in, Norway, March 1, 1830, a son of Ole and Kari (Harmundstad) Gordon. His parents were also natives of the land of the midnight sun, where the father followed farming, remaining in Norway until 1853, when he, came to the. United States on the sailing ship Columbus, which was eleven weeks in making the voyage to Quebec. He proceeded by way of the lakes to Buffalo and on to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from which point he drove across the country with ox teams, settling near Madison, in Spring Prairie township. He was not long permitted to enjoy his new home, his death occurring eight weeks after his arrival. His wife has also long since passed away.

     Ole O. Gordon spent the period of his boyhood and youth in Norway, where he was educated, and for four years herded reindeer on the mountains, remaining there not only throughout the short summers but also through the long winters of Norway. It was a very lonely occupation. With his parents he came to the United States in 1853, when a young man of twenty-three years, settling with his father in Wisconsin, where he resided for six years. He then left that state for Otranto township, Mitchell county, Iowa, where he cultivated land for six years, and on the expiration of that period he purchased the farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Deer Creek township upon which he long resided. He built a log, cabin there and improved the farm in every possible way. Later frame buildings were erected, but the old log house is also standing, a mute reminder of the changes which have occurred and of the conditions which existed in pioneer times. Upon that farm Mr. Gordon continued to make his home until his death, while his wife passed away there in 1902. In his political views he was a stalwart Republican and both he and his wife were members of the Norwegian Lutheran church.

     It was in Wisconsin that Mr. Gordon married Miss Berit Svien, a native of Norway. They had no children of their own, but their niece, Miss Gunderina Gordon, resided with them, and at his death Mr. Gordon deeded the farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 36, Deer Creek township, to her. In 1912 she became the wife of Nils Lunde, a son of Peter and Ragnhild E. (Holien) Lunde. He was born in Norway and came to the United States in 1905, settling in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he lived for a short time, after which he removed to Mitchell county, taking up his abode near Carpenter, Iowa. Later he became a resident of Worth county and was married here to Miss Gordon. They now occupy the old homestead of her uncle and are among the highly respected farming people of the community. They hold membership in the Norwegian Lutheran church and guide their lives according to its teachings. Their many sterling traits of character have gained for them warm regard and they have a circle of friends almost equal to the circle of their acquaintance in Worth county.

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Transcribed by Gordon Felland, June 2002