MARIUS KNUDSEN.
One of the best known and most enterprising of the younger farmers of Hamlin township, Audubon county, Iowa, is Marius Knudsen, now in the very prime of life and usefulness. His influence as an honorable upright citizen is very marked in the community where he lives, and his life has been very wholesome as an influence upon all with whom he has come into contact. His past successes give assurances of many things yet to come, and Mr. Knudsen is evidently destined to continue as a potent factor for substantial good for many years to come. He owns an excellent farm in Hamlin township, which he operates in a manner that stamps him as a man who is fully abreast of the times.
Marius Knudsen was born on January 15, 1875, in Fyn, Denmark. He is the son of Knudt W. and Elenore (Hart) Knudsen, who were also born in Fyn. The father was a merchant in the old country, but on coming to the United States in August, 1884, with his family, took up farming. They lived in Atlantic, Cass county, for about a month and then moved to Marne, where they lived for two months. In November, 1884, they moved to a farm four miles northwest of Exira, where the father purchased eighty acres of land of a man by the name of Winchell. The land had a good house, barn and some fences and cost twenty-five dollars an acre. There was a great deal of sod and prairie land upon this farm to break and most of it was done with oxen, five yoke having been used with each plow. Oxen not only were better for this kind of work, but they were much cheaper than horses. At this time one could purchase an ox for about twenty-five or thirty dollars and horses cost a hundred and twenty-five to a hundred and seventy-five dollars each.
Knudt W. Knudsen lived upon this farm until 1891 when he retired and moved to Marne again, where he lived for a few years and then moved to Rohrbek, Iowa, where he lived until his death. He was the father of ten children, eight of whom lived to maturity, as follow: Albert C., Elizabeth Christensen, Rasmus, Abraham, Marius, Lena Jensen, Rikke Christensen and Bessie.
Marius Knudsen attended school until fourteen years of age, and then worked for his father for a year or so and after that commenced working out by the month, finally renting a farm for two years in Cass county, Iowa. In 1904 he purchased his present farm of a hundred and twenty acres in section 25 of Hamlin township. The farm was fairly well improved at that time, but Mr. Knudsen has added to it in the way of improvements. He had the first hydraulic ram installed in Audubon county. This device pumps the water for his stock and home.
On February 14, 1900, Mr. Knudsen was married to Mae Wolf, who was born on August 12, 1877, in Schleswig, Germany, and who is the daughter of Peter and Anna M. (Petersen) Wolf. They were also born in Schleswig when it was a part of Denmark. They were farmers and came to the United States in 1883, locating in Audubon county. When the Wolfs first came to Audubon county, there were but few school buildings and Mrs. Knudsen, their daughter, attended, as the rest of them did, at a subscription school which was held in a private home.
Mr. and Mrs. Marius Knudsen are the parents of seven children, all of whom are living. They are as follow: Marguerite, born on November 20, 1902; Alvin, May 13, 1904; Viola, April 29, 1906; Glenn, July 17, 1908; Ruby, July 23, 1909; Joy, January 10, 1911, and Robert, June 14, 1914.
Fraternally, Mr. Knudsen is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons. He is a Republican in politics and served as school director for seven years. During his entire life Mr. Knudsen has been especially interested in educational affairs. All the members of the family are identified with the Danish Lutheran church. Mr. Knudsen is a stockholder in the Exira Creamery Company and also in the Audubon County Mutual Telephone Company. Marius Knudsen is a progressive, enterprising and wellknown citizen of Audubon county, where he is held in universal esteem by all his neighbors.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 761-763.
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