Brown County MN Archives Biographies.....Mo, Hans 1850 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 26, 2014, 11:26 pm

Source: See Below
Author: L. A. Fritsche

HANS MO.

    Hans Mo, the veteran president of the State Bank of Sleepy Eye, in the
thriving little city of that name in this county, and one of the most
enterprising, progressive and energetic citizens of Brown county, is a native of
the kingdom of Norway, having been born in the village of Vaage, Gudbraudsdalen,
March 17, 1850, son of Einar and Ingeborg (Paulsdatter) Mo, natives of that same
district.

    Einer Mo was the son of John and Thore (Olsdatter) Johnson, residents of
that same district in Norway, both of whom lived to advanced ages, and his wife
was the daughter of Paul Haugen and wife, neighbors of the Johnsons. He received
an excellent education in his youth and at the age of sixteen began teaching
school in his home village and was thus engaged until the time of his death, a
period of fifty years, during which time he exerted a most profound influence
for good upon the common life of that community. For forty years he also was
postmaster of the village, his first year's salary in that public capacity
having been nine dollars. Einar Mo died in 1897, at the age of sixty-eight
years. His widow survived until 1910, she having been seventy-two years of age
at the time of her death. Both were stanch Lutherans and their children were
reared in that faith. There were six of these children, namely: Knud E., of
Minneapolis, this state; Hans, the subject of this sketch; Ragnald E., wife of
J. O. Holen, of Stillwater, this state; Ingeborg, who died in 1914, after having
been for twenty-five years actively connected with the State Bank of Sleepy Eye;
Mary, wife of Engebrecht Uldalen, of Otta Station, Norway, and Thor, of Byron,
this state.

     Hans Mo received an excellent education in the schools of his native town
and became a bookkeeper and deputy in the office of the sheriff, which position
he held for four years. He served for one year as deputy postmaster in the
postoffice in Sell and also served for one year in the roads department of the
department of the interior, under the supervision of Hans Gragh. In 1872, he
then being twenty-two years of age, Hans Mo came to the United States and upon
landing on the shores of this country proceeded immediately to Minnesota,
stopping at Byron, where for a short time he was employed on the railroad
section. He then secured employment as clerk in a store at Byron and was thus
engaged until 1877, in which year he moved to Sleepy Eye, in this county, where
for three or four years he was employed as a clerk in a store. He then received
the appointment as postmaster of Sleepy Eye and served in that office for four
years, at the end of which term of service his services were engaged by the bank
of Sleepy Eye and he was put in charge of the real-estate loans department of
that concern. At that time the bank of Sleepy Eye was a private concern owned by
E. H. Dyckman. Mr. Mo proved a valuable assistant to the latter, retaining his
connection with the bank as a clerk until 1888, in which year he and O. W. Hagen
each bought a one-third interest in the bank with Mr. Dyckman, after which the
concern was conducted as a partnership until 1891, in which year it was
incorporated under the laws of the state as the State Bank of Sleepy Eye, with a
capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, and has since then been operated
as a state bank and is regarded as one of the soundest financial institutions in
this part of the state. The bank has a surplus of fifteen thousand dollars and
its present officers are as follow: President, Hans Mo; vice-president, Edward
F. Berkner; cashier, J. A. Herzog; assistant cashier, E. P. Schmitz; directors,
Arnold Hillesheim, Prank F. Romberg, P. D. Raverty, Joseph Seifert, Edward F.
Berkner, George J. Vollmer and Hans Mo.

     On August 23, 1877, Hans Mo was united in marriage to Anne Johnson, who was
born in Vaage, Norway, which also is Mr. Mo's native town, on April 2, 1855,
daughter of John and Ronnang Stockstadt, both natives of the same place. John
Stockstadt died in his native land in 1875, after which his widow and her four
children, Anne, Peter, Hans and Andrew, came to America, where she married
Andrew P. Stockstadt, her deceased husband's brother, which second union was
without issue.

     To Hans and Anne (Johnson) Mo four children have been born, as follow:
Elmer James, cashier of the Scandinavian-American Bank of Big Timber, Montana,
who married and has one child, a son, Hans; Rolf Ingvar, employed in the garage
at Sleepy Eye, who married Ada Black and has two children. Lucile and Helen;
Pearl Inez, who married Saxe Somerville and has three children, George, Alice
and Inez, and Alice T., who is at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Mo are
earnest members of the German Lutheran church and their children have been
reared in that faith. The family for years has been regarded as one of the
leaders in the development of the social and cultural life of Sleepy Eye and is
held in high esteem throughout the whole county.

     Mr. Mo is a stanch Republican and ever since becoming a resident of Brown
county has taken a good citizen's part in the political affairs of the county.
Few men in the county have a wider acquaintance with men and conditions
hereabout than he, and his counsels in the deliberations of the local managers
of the party have much weight, He has been a natural leader in the direction of
the educational interests of Sleepy Eye and for nearly twenty years was a member
of the school board, in which official capacity he was able to render a very
valuable service to the public, it being undoubted that his unremitting and
earnest efforts in that behalf did very much toward the elevation of educational
standards in that thriving little city. He also has been a member of the library
board ever since the organization of the same and in other ways has done all in
his power to advance the general interests of his home community. Mr. Mo has
prospered, as he deserves to prosper, since coming to America, and has long been
recognized as one of Brown county's most substantial citizens. He owns a fine
farm of four hundred and eighty acres near Tracy, this state, and a one-half
joint interest in a farm of three hundred and seven acres in Brown county. He is
a wideawake, progressive and public-spirited citizen and an excellent business
man, cheerfully doing what he can to promote the general welfare of the people
of this section of the state.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY MINNESOTA
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS

L. A. FRITSCHE. M. D.
Editor

With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Old Families

VOLUME II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana


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