Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/1036

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

894 HISTOEY OF GOODHUE COUNTY dren: Irvin, Eva, Obert, Edward, Clifford, Anna and Rudolph, all of whom are at home. The family faith is that of the Lutheran church. Iver and Bretha (Earager) Haugen, parents of Ole I. Haugen, were born iu Norway and came to America in 1857, locating in Holden township where they purchased 160 acres of wild land, which they broke and cleared, and built a comfortable home, following general farming until November 11, 1885, when the father died. The mother is still living on the old homestead. Edward Oredalen, editor of the Wanamingo Progress, a newsy little paper which has for its purpose the relating of the news of the neighborhood and the booming of the village as a commercial center., is a native born son of the county, having first seen the light of day in Cherry Grove township, June 30, 1880, son of Mr. and Mrs. G. 0. Oredalen, natives of Norway, who came to America in 1873 and located in Cherry Grove town- ship. To their first purchase of forty acres they soon added eighty more, and upon these 120 acres they have since continued to carry on general farming. They have raised a goodly family of children, being the parents of Emma, Ole, Guri, Turina, Mary, Edward, Nels, Olena and Julia, all of whom except Nels are living. Edward received his education in the schools of his native township, and took a course in the Red AVing Business College. He then studied two years in the Minnesota Normal School and Business College, in Minneapolis, and for several months after graduation was an instructor in the commercial department of that institution. He subsequent ly became book- keeper and stenographer for the Central Fuel and Transfer Com- pany of Minneapolis, afterward returning to Cherry Grove town- ship where, in company with his brother, he purchased 160 acres adjoining the old homestead. He still spends his spare time in assisting his brother on this farm. In April, 1909, yielding to the entreaties of his fellow citizens, who deemed him the man most suited to start the enterprise, he established the "Wanamingo Progress, which he has since conducted with discretion and abil- ity. Editor Oredalen is a fine example of a self-made young man. He worked his own way through college and acquired his educa- tion by dint of hard work. Being a deep thinker on all political questions, he has refused to follow the dictates of any party leader, and votes independently. In religion he is a believer in the faith of the Norwegian Lutheran church. He is still a young man, and his friends predict for him and his paper a brilliant future. Sam J. Swenson was born in Wanamingo township, where he still resides, November 15, 1864, son of John and Anna Swenson. He received his education in the school of Wanamingo, and in 1904 went to Yellow Medicine county, where in 1896 he pur-