Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/1127

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COV.Yn !i;; and lived for a time in Chicago and La Crosse. Then they came up the river to what was then the little village of Red Wing, and in 1858 came to Leon township and took up a claim, where they erected a log cabin, and started breaking the tough prairie glebe. They were hard at work developing the place when came the outbreak of the Civil War. Filled with love for his adopted country, John Banks enlisted August 21, 1862, as a private, and later was promoted to corporal. Company D, 10th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, in which he served, was stationed at frontier posts until June, 1863. when ordered on the Indian expedition. It engaged with the Indians July 26 and 28, 1863, and w r as ordered to St. Louis. Mo., October, 1863, thence to Columbus, Ky., April, 1864; thence to Memphis, Tenn., June, 1864, and as- signed to the 16th Army Corps, in which it did valiant service until the close of the war. being discharged at Fort Snelling August 19, 1865. Mr. Banks then returned to the old homestead, and after a few years took entire charge of the place, making a home for his parents until the time of their death. On this place he has made many improvements, and a neat house and comfortable barns take the place of the original log cabin. Mr. Banks was married in 1867 to Anna Anderson, daughter of Andrew Anderson, a farmer of Cannon Falls, now deceased. This union was blessed with eleven children, of whom eight are alive, namely: Charles, Hannah, Thelda, Julius, Henry, James, George and Frank. The dead are : Jennie, Mary and Bernhardt. Al- though a consistent Republican, Mr. Banks has not cared to seek political preferment, but being the father of a large family and interested in education, he has served several terms as a member of the school board. R. P. Brandvold, for the past twenty-one years secretary of the Leon Mutual Fire Insurance Company, was born in Norway June 24, 1859, and came to America with his parents, P. R. and Kirste A. Brandvold, in 1 1873, when but fourteen years of age. The family settled at once in Leon township, section 19, where they pur- chased sixty acres of land, which later passed into the hands of the son, R. P., the subject of this sketch, who in their latter years cared for his father and mother until their deaths, in 1893 and 1894, respectively. In the family there were six children : Guri died in 1901 ; Annie lives in Polk county, near Crookston, Minn. ; Petra married Iver Monson, a farmer in Wanamingo township ; R. P. was the fourth child ; Albert .is a merchat in Clay county, Minnesota, and Carrie died when young. R. P. Brandvold was brought up on the farm and lived on the home place until about ten years ago, when he sold the homestead and moved to a place about one mile away, where he has ten acres, upon which he does a little general farming, chicken raising and