Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/1075

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY !••>; of McKinley Post, No. 96, G. A. R., for many years past. Polit- ically he has not desired to be conspicuous, but has consented to serve as school treasurer eight years and town treasurer two years. As the result of a lifelong consideration of the problems confronting the nation, Mr. Clifford has become a Prohibitionist and looks for the ultimate victory of the principles of that party. He is interested in church matters also, and has taken a prominent part in the growth of the Congregational demonination of this vicinity. November 28, 1860, Mr. Clifford was married to Sarah E. Ellis, of Grinnell, Iowa. This union has been blessed with two children: Minnie E., the wife of Dr. Wilbur Morrell, and Frank F., a physician in West Concord, Minn. Jonathan L. and Susan B. (French) Clifford, parents of A. T. Clifford, were natives of Maine, where the father was a merchant and farmer. They came to Stanton township in the early days and continued to add to their original quarter-section until they owned 500 acres. In later life they retired and are both now deceased. It is worthy of note that the Cliffords arrived in Red Wing October 10, 1855, and haA r e since that date been residents of this county. Sever S. Hommedahl, of Wanamingo township, was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, December 4, 1853. His parents w r ere Sever T. and Ingeborg (Selje) Hommedahl, natives of Norway, who came to the United States in 1852, locating in Dane county, AVisconsin, where the father was engaged at his trade of shoe- maker until 1855, when he came to Goodhue county, bought land in Leon township and engaged in farming until his death, in 1897. The mother died in 1907, at the good old age of eighty-three years. They experienced all the hardships of the early settlers, .hauling all their products to Red Wing by ox team, cultivating their land without any of the conveniences of our time. Sever S. received his education in the public schools of the county, after- ward taking a course at Augsborg Seminary, after which he returned to the farm and later engaged in farming for himself, purchasing 170 acres of land in Wanamingo. In 1883 he was married to Mary Loven, daughter of Thor and Guri (Finberg) Loven, old settlers of this county, who farmed in Wanamingo until their death. Mr. and Mrs. Hommedahl are the parents of seven children : Selmar, Ida Thorwald, Hilda, Susie, Esther and Herman, all of whom live at home. Mr. Hommedahl has besides his own farm, 100 acres in Leon township, also eighty acres near Houston, Tex. For many years he carried on general farming, but has now retired and rents his farm. In 1906 he bought the Falls House, at Cannon Falls. Mr. Hommedahl is Republican and has held the offices of assessor of Wanamingo, justice of the peace, and clerk of the school board for a number of years. He and his family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church.