FRANK OSCAR NIKLASON.
The history of a county or state as well as that of a nation, is chiefly a chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor and dignity upon society. The world judges the character of a community by those of its representative citizens, and yields its tribute of admiration and respect to those whose words and actions constitute the record of a community's prosperity and pride. Among the prominent citizens of this county, who are known because of their success in its affairs, and the part they have taken in the civic life of Audubon county, is Frank Oscar Niklason, who is a well-known horse dealer and real-estate man of Audubon.
Frank Oscar Niklason was born on June 13, 1869, in Gullspong, Sweden, the son of Niklas and Matilda (Hajlund) Niklason, who were farmers in their native land. Niklas Niklason was a dealer in live stock, also, and was a very well-to-do man, owning a fine estate in Sweden.
Frank Oscar Niklason was educated in the schools of his native land, and when a little past fifteen years of age came to America, where he joined his uncle, John Swansen. After arriving in this country he was engaged in farm labor for one year on his uncle's farm, and also worked for two years for a man by the name of Yaggy. Mr. Niklason began farming for himself in Douglas township, this county, where he rented land for two years, after which he purchased two hundred acres of land at twenty dollars an acre, and operated this land for fourteen years, at the end of which period he bought one hundred and twenty acres east of Audubon, in Leroy township, where he lived for one year. After owning this latter farm for two years he disposed of it and in the fall of 1903 purchased six hundred acres of land in Douglas township. In the spring of 1914 he bought a tract of eighty acres located east of Audubon, in a good farming community, and now owns altogether six hundred and eighty acres of well-improved land.
Frank O. Niklason moved to Audubon in the spring of 1905, and has been engaged in buying and selling horses for the past ten years. He ships annually something like one thousand head, which amounts practically to a carload of horses weekly. Mr. Niklason purchased a fine modern house, and has lived in this home since the fall of 1911.
On February 15, 1893, Frank O. Niklason was married to Martha Stetzel, the daughter of George Stetzel, an early settler in Douglas township, this county, who is now deceased, to which union three children have been born: Clarence Raymond, now a student at Leland Stanford University, in California, and Harold Franklin and Donald Niklas, students in the Audubon high school.
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Mr. Niklason is identified with the Republican party and has served in the city council of Audubon for two terms, but with that exception has not been especially prominent in politics. The career of Mr. Niklason shows what may be accomplished by a young man of upright habits and strong determination. Having come to this country from a foreign land with no resources, Mr. Niklason is now one of the wealthy and substantial men of Audubon county, and has accumulated all of his property within a comparatively few years. Mr. and Mrs. Niklason and family are members of the Evangelical church, and Mr. Niklason is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and of the Modern Woodmen of America.
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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. 384-385.
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