Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/1046

 904 HISTOEY OF GOODHUE COUNTY v died in California, where he had gone for his health, February 5, 1901. To this union were born, in Peatherstone township, tbree children: Lydia L. is the wife of Charles Kress, of North Da- kota; George B. Bluhm is a farmer of North Dakota, and Harvey AY. Bluhm lives at home. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bang by their present marriage. I; is worthy of note, in connection with this sketchy that Mrs. Bang was the first white child born in Belvidere township, while her father, Claus Hoist, is honored ;is one of the pioneer Germans of this county. Gustav Larson, of Peatherstone township, is a fine example of a self-educated, self-made man. In addition to acquiring his presenl tine property, he also Pound time to serve the town as supervisor sixteen years, and as a member of the school board for several terms, lie was born in Sweden. November 5, 1849, and came to America as. a boy of eleven years with his parents, -ii^in and Carrie (Johnson) Larson, in 1860, locating in Wash- ington county, Minnesota, near Stillwater, until 1867, when they took up their residence in Vasa township, hater they cj i<> Peatherstone and lived until about eighty years of age. in a home built purposely Tor them by their son. Gustav attended the public schools, bu1 has received the greater pari of his educa- tion from reading and observation. He is ;i deep thinker and has ;i retentive memory, so thai his mind is ;i storehouse of gen- eral information obtained by himself, lie subscribes to numerous newspapers and magazines, ami keep- well abreasl of the limes by perusing the latesl books. When he came to his presenl farm of 160 acres, in L872, the land was so wild that it was impossible to gel with a team into whal is now the front yard. The place is now in ;i high state of cultivation and is well mlapted to the general farming operations which .Mr. Larson conducts. Among the improvements on the farm is a gasoline engine which is used to supply the motive power needed iii pumping water, sawing wood and grinding feed. Mr. Larson was married in 1873, to Martha Anderson, daughter of E. M. and Louise Anderson, born in New York state where they stopped for a short lime after coming to this country from Sweden. They settled in Vasa in the early days and carried on farming. The mother is now deceased, but the father still lives on the old homestead at the good old age of seventy-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Larson have five children: Richard is employed by the Tri-State Telephone Company, at Minneapolis; Edna is the wife of P. J. Engberg, cashier id' the First National Bank, of Braham, Minn.; Esther is a teacher in a Minneapolis business college; Alice is the wife of Delmar Brynildson, a merchant of V;is;i village, and Ernest 0. is at home. The family worships at the Swedish Lutheran Evangelical church.