Nobles County MN Archives Biographies.....Sundberg, Charles A. 1841 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 18, 2006, 10:53 pm

Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908)

  CHARLES A. SUNDBERG. A pioneer settler of Nobles county and one of the first,

if not the first, settlers of Dewald township is the gentleman whose name heads

this sketch. He took a homestead claim in Dewald in April, 1872, and that place

has been his home ever since—a period of continuous residence of over thirty-six

years.



  Charles A. Sundberg was born in the copper mining district of Bersbo, Sweden,

April 25, 1841. His father was Jonas Sundberg, who followed the occupation of

miner all his life as had his father before him. The mother of our subject was

Annie (Anderson) Sundberg. Both his parents died in Sweden in the early

seventies. Although beginning the work which his ancestors had followed for so

many years at the tender age of eight years, Charles managed to receive a common

school education, receiving instruction in the branches taught in the lower

grades. From eight to twelve years of age he did light work on the surface, but

when he reached the latter age he was sent below and instructed in the duties of

mining. He continued to follow that occupation until 1864.



  On the second day of September, of the last named year, he landed in Boston,

determined to seek his fortune in the new world. Experienced only in the copper

mining business, Mr. Sundberg sought employment at his trade. He went at once to

Houghton, Mich., and there for two and one-half years was employed in the copper

mines of that district. He then worked for the same length of time in the iron

mines at Ishpeming. He then determined to give up the life of a miner, and in

June, 1869, moved to Jasper county, in southwestern Missouri. There he bought an

eighty-acre farm, and during the next three years gained his first knowledge of

farming.



  Because of sickness in the fever and ague district of Missouri, Mr. Sundberg

decided to seek a home in a more healthful clime. He decided to go to Jackson

county, Minn., about which country he had heard, and set out to make the trip

overland—a trip which consumed five weeks' time. When the party was about half

way across the state of Iowa, a man was met who told Mr. Sundberg of the new

country in Nobles county and of the organization and plans of the National

colony. So glowing were the accounts told by the stranger that Mr. Sundberg

decided to change his course and go to Worthington. This was done and the family

arrived in the little village on the bank of lake Okabena on April 15, 1872.

After one week spent in that village Mr. Sundberg joined the National colony and

took as a homestead the east half of the southeast quarter of section 2, Dewald

township, and as a tree claim the west half of the same quarter. There he has

resided ever since.



  At the time he built his house there was not another habitation in sight, but

so rapid was the settlement immediately afterward that thirty days later Mr.

Sundberg was able to count many houses and shacks from the top of his building.

He went through all the pioneer experiences of early life in Nobles county and

weathered the hard times —and harder times were never known in any country than

those of the seventies in Nobles county. Without sufficient funds to leave the

country during the darkest days of the grasshopper scourge, and not knowing of a

better place to go to had he the means, Mr. Sundberg remained and has become one

of the substantial farmers of eastern Nobles county. He has an excellent apple

orchard of 300 trees on his farm, and also raises considerable small fruit. In

past years he has gained a reputation as a strawberry gardener, some seasons

having sold several thousand quarts of the finest berries to be found on the

market. He is not now so actively engaged in agricultural and horticultural

pursuits as formerly, and soon expects to retire. Mr. Sundberg has always taken

an active interest in school matters, and for sixteen years served as treasurer

of the schooldistrict in which he lives.



  On Sept. 9, 1865, at Houghton, Mich., occurred the marriage of Mr. Sundberg to

Johanna Matilda Wallin. Mrs. Sundberg is a native of Sweden and came to the

United States on the same boat which carried her husband-to-be. They are the

parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: Annie (Mrs. Svante Kail),

Worhtington; [sic] Frank; Ellen (Mrs. Frank Bowman), Brinsmade, N. D.; Minnie

(Mrs. J. Schechter, Jr.), Elk township; Amanda (Mrs. John Boberg), Worthington;

Selma (Mrs. Carl Bostrom), Lewisburg, Minn.; Esther, at home; The first

born—Carl—died at the age of one and a half years. Hilda Josephine, born Jan.

21, 1879, died Aug. 14, 1900.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:



AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY

MINNESOTA

BY

ARTHUR P. ROSE



NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA 

PUBLISHERS

1908



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