Nobles County MN Archives Biographies.....Haegle, Frank 1863 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 3, 2006, 9:24 pm Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908) FRANK HAEGLE, of Lismore township, is one of the pioneer settlers of that township, having made his home there nearly thirty years. He is a native of Germany, having been born at Grafenhausen, Baden, on Dec. 14, 1863. He is the son of Joseph and Augusta (Mutschler) Haegle. The father was born in Germany April 27, 1832, and now makes his home with his son in Lismore township. In the fall of 1907 he visited his old home in Germany, returning the next spring well satisfied with the farming conditions of this country. He enjoys good health and assists in the farm work. The mother was born in Germany in March, 1833, and died in Nobles county Oct. 18, 1896. The Haegle family emigrated to the United States in 1872 and located at Mankato, where they arrived October 16, with only $80 in their possession. The head of the family rented land near that city and engaged in farming on it four years, working hard during the time he could spare from the farm in the hardwood timber. At the end of the four years he bought an eighty acre tract eight and one-half miles from Mankato, put twenty acres of it into crop, and farmed it two years. Grain and wood were then very cheap on that market, and he concluded that the place was too small and that, as his two boys and one daughter were growing up, he would look for land in some new country. Early in the spring of 1878 Joseph Haegle, accompanied by two other early settlers of Blue Earth county, William Kemach and Robert Heidwinkle, came to Nobles county to look the country over with a view to investing. They traveled over a large part of western Nobles county on foot, as there were no livery rigs to hire. On the first noon out they took lunch by the side of a huge boulder, which stands opposite the farm of Rufus Doe, on the line between Olney and Westside townships. This was the third day of March, 1878. The prairie grass of the year before had just burned off and the country along the Kanaranzi creek looked very rough and bluffy, and Mr. Haegle's companions decided that they would not locate in the country. Twenty-eight years later these two gentlemen again visited the country and expressed their surprise at the wonderful development. Joseph Haegle was not discouraged by the looks of the country, he being a hard working man, and decided to locate. He purchased from Peter Thompson for $300 that gentleman's tree claim to the northwest quarter of section 24, Lismore township, then nothing but wild prairie land with no improvements. He broke forty acres of land that spring with two horses that he had brought with him and erected the old claim shanty that can be seen today standing in the middle of the yard of the home place. During the months of June and July he erected a frame dwelling house, and in October, of the same year, the family came down from Mankato, locating on the farm which has ever since been the family home. The family was poor when they came to the county, and for some time suffered all the hardships of pioneer life. Forty acres of wheat were, planted in the spring of 1879, and when the hoppers came that year they ate it almost to the ground for five rods around the whole forty acres. This was a severe blow to the new arrivals, and for the first few months in 1879 they lived on starvation fare. Their condition was relieved on July 28, 1879, by the arrival of $303, Mrs. Haegle's share, of her father's estate. The family continued to battle with the hardships and in time came upon prosperous days. There were some well to do homesteaders in the Haegle neighborhood who lost several thousand dollars during the unfortunate time in Nobles county's history. They were discouraged on account of the dry weather and the ravages of the grasshoppers and left the country, and today some of them are in very poor circumstances. Frank Haegle secured three years' schooling in Germany and three years in the schools of Mankato. Until he was twenty-one years old he lived with his parents. At that age he rented the home farm' and has been engaged in farming since. In 1885 he bought eighty acres of his present farm in section 13, Lismore, and two years later he bought the other eighty of the quarter. Mr. Haegle was married at Adrian March 10, 1890, to Miss Ida Sieren, who was born eight miles east of Mankato on March 23, 1864. Her father, John Sieren, settled in Blue Earth county in 1856, and resided there until 1902, when he moved to St. James, where he now lives. Mrs. Haegle's mother was Margaret (Wagner) Sieren, who died June 2, 1906. To Mr. and Mrs. Haegle have been born the following children: Mary M., born Oct. 18, 1891; Appalona A., born Nov. 30, 1892; Joseph H.; born March 28, 1894; John M., born May 4, 1896; Susan B., born Sept. 12, 1898, died June 2, 1899; Anna K., born April 15, 1900; Rosella A., born Sept. 10, 1901; Edward M., born Nov. 9, 1903; Francis K., born Sept. 8, 1905. The family are members of the Catholic church of Lismore. Additional Comments: Extracted from: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY MINNESOTA BY ARTHUR P. ROSE NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA PUBLISHERS 1908 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/nobles/bios/haegle260gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mnfiles/ File size: 5.7 Kb