Bio of FALK, Martin F. (b.1872), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
========================================================

MARTIN F. FALK - Vol II, pg 742-746
Martin F. Falk, a wholesale paper dealer of Minneapolis, is one of the foremost
business men of the city by reason of his inherent strength of character, his
determination, his laudable ambition and indefatigable energy. Coming to this
country a poor boy with no knowledge of the English language, he has overcome
every obstacle by sheer strength of will and commendable purpose and the story
of his life cannot fail to prove of inspirational stimulus and value to young
men who read it. He faced the world with courage and firm resolve and he has
never faltered but has pushed steadily forward toward his objective and by so
doing has become a recognized dynamic force in the commercial circles of the
city. He is numbered with that substantial element in the citizenship of
Minnesota that Sweden has furnished to the state. A review of the history of the
commonwealth will show how strongly impregnated is Minnesota with the basic
elements of the Swedish character through the adoption of many of the sons of
Sweden into the citizenship of the Northwest.
Martin F. Falk was born on the 28th of November, 1872, and was reared in his
native land, acquiring his education in the schools there. When a young man of
eighteen years he bade adieu to friends and family and sailed for the United
States in 1891. His capital was limited and necessity therefore obliged him to
seek and obtain immediate employment. He began as a carpenter, and though
working along that line for ten hours per day, he embraced with enthusiasm the
splendid educational opportunities which the city of Minneapolis had to offer
through attendance at the evening sessions of the public schools, the Y. M. C.
A. night school and through an evening business course at the Minnesota School
of Business. In 1895 employment was hard to obtain, so with his modest savings
he decided further to advance his education by a six months' course in the
Minne­apolis Normal School and Business College. While pursuing his studies
there he also took care of the heating plant of the school, thereby earning his
board. At the end of the school term Mr. Falk, in order to recuperate his
depleted savings, went out into the Minnesota harvest fields and worked for the
farmers until the harvest was over, when with his savings of one hundred and
forty dollars he returned to Minneapolis and established a small laundry, which
he afterward sold in order to enlist for service in the Spanish-American war.
Hostilities had ceased, however, before he was called to service.
Mr. Falk later filed on a homestead in Koochiching county, on which he lived for
fourteen months, commuting during the period. He still owns this home­stead with
its log cabins, using it for a hunting lodge, although he has disposed of some
of the timber on the place. When he left the farm he returned to Minne­apolis
with less than three hundred dollars and started his present paper business on a
small scale. A ten-dollar horse and a five-dollar wagon was the extent of his
first delivery equipment. He began the business in 1898 and from that small
beginning his trade has steadily increased until his yearly turnover exceeds a
million dollars and the business is continually growing. Employment is now
furnished to thirty salesmen. He is an alert, wide-awake business man who keeps
abreast of the times and understands every phase and detail of the trade. It was
in 1898 that he founded the present business, which steadily grew and developed
year by year, so that in 1909 he incorporated his interests under the name of
the Martin F. Falk Paper Company, of which he is the president and treasurer.
From the beginning he had the trusts and combinations in the trade against him,
but he managed to survive in spite of their efforts to drive him out of
business. He has succeeded in keeping competition alive, although he was told by
the men of the trusts and combinations that if he continued his inde­pendence
they would put him out of business. "Go ahead and do your worst. The fittest
will survive," was his answer. That he is still conducting a large and
con­stantly developing business certainly indicates the worth of his commercial
methods and the progressive policy he has ever followed. The trade of the house
now covers a wide territory and he has also established branch houses in St.
Paul and Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, in order more quickly to
meet the demands of his customers. He has ever realized the fact that satisfied
patrons are the best advertisement and his business has been built upon the sure
foundation of service and of adequate return to his customers for their
investment. In addi­tion to his wholesale paper business he is a director of the
Union State Bank. Coming alone from Sweden to the new world without capital and
without friends in this country, he has worked his way steadily upward and as
the architect of his own fortunes has builded wisely and well.
In May, 1909, Mr. Falk was married to Miss Sena O. Erickson of Minneapolis and
they have two children: Marsena Portia, born October 31, 1913; and Martin F.,
Jr., born February 15, 1916. They attend and have membership in St. Peter's
church. In politics Mr. Falk is a progressive republican and in 1912 he entered
the primaries as a candidate for the nomination for governor of Minnesota, at
which time he clearly defined his platform as in favor of equal rights without
special privileges, in favor of good roads and general improvements, in favor of
the prohibition of combinations, in favor of equal taxation for all, in the
payment of a just share of the state's expenses by the railroads and other
corporations, in the workingmen's compensation law, in political and industrial
freedom and in fact, in a real rule of the people. Mr. Falk belongs to the Civic
& Commerce Association, thus giving tangible evidence of his interest in all
matters of public moment, and he likewise has membership in the Odin Club, the
Commonwealth Club and in the Modern Woodmen of America. His club activities,
however, are com­paratively limited, for he is strictly a business and home man.
He considers the home, the school and the church the greatest institutions in
the world. He was one of the first in Minneapolis to advocate a society for
world peace after the out­break of the World war and was secretary-treasurer of
the Minnesota Peace Society. He was also a delegate to the World Court Congress
held in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1915 and was a charter member of the League to
Enforce Peace when it was organized at Philadelphia by ex-President William
Howard Taft. Throughout the period of his residence in America Mr. Falk has been
a student. In the first place he arrived without knowledge of the English
language and, as indicated, improved every opportunity to gain a knowledge of
the language as well as of various prescribed branches of learning. He took
advantage of the extension courses of the University of Minnesota and even yet
is pursuing studies in the evening hours, having an insatiable appetite for
knowledge. He feels that too much praise cannot be given to the University for
the benefits it bestows upon the citizens of the state. As the years have passed
Mr. Falk has gained an intimate understanding of the classics and the drama that
many a college professor might well envy and he is the writer of considerable
verse for the local Swedish papers in both the Swedish and English tongues. His
progress along literary lines, thus deepening and enriching his life, should
serve as an inspiration to others. His course, marked by definite purpose in the
attainment of high ideals, has won him the honor and respect of all who know him
an he is held in the highest regard by all who value character and intellectual
achievement.