Bio of ESTERLY, William O. (b.1867), Wright Co., MN
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Pg 1008 HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY 

  William 0. Esterly, a leading and influential farmer of Rockford
township, was born in Corcoran township, Hennepin county, this state, 
January 22, 1867, son of Gotfried and Otelia (Guderian) Esterly, both 
natives of Germany. They were married there and there several of their 
older children were born. Later they set out for America. The voyage 
was made in a sailing vessel, fourteen days being spent on the water. 
Upon arriving here they located in Wisconsin. A year later they came to 
Hennepin county, and bought forty acres of wild land. On this they 
erected a log cabin. With a yoke of oxen they started clearing the ground 
and making it ready for the crops. St. Anthony was the nearest trading 
point. After a few years they were enabled to add forty acres, and they 
had a nice little farm of eighty acres. Gotfried Esterly was a charcoal
burner, and worked in St. Paul and in other places. After a long life, 
he died at the age of eighty-four. Early in life he was a Lutheran but 
in America he joined the German Evangelical church. His wife died at the
age of sixty-two. The children in the family numbered fourteen: Julius, 
Hulda, Gust, Ida, Tressa, Emma, Fred, Henry, William Amelia, Gotlieb, 
Minnie, Aaron and Lillian. William O. was educated in a log schoolhouse 
in Hennepin county. At the age of twenty-one he started out for himself 
and worked in various places. After his marriage he and his wife located 
in Brooklyn township, Hennepin county, where they engaged in gardening 
for two years. Then they lived in Maple Grove township in the same county 
for two years. In 1899 they came to Wright county and located in section 
1, Rockford township, where they had forty acres. In 1912, they bought 
100 acres in section 1, where they now reside. Aside from farming, 
Mr. Esterly has dealt considerably in real estate. He raises the usual 
crops and makes a specialty of Jersey and Guernsey cattle and Plymouth 
Rock poultry. 

Pg 1009

In 1900 he became a stockholder in the Rockford creamery, in which he 
has been a director for the past two years. He is also a stockholder 
in the Farmers' Co-operative Store at Buffalo. For twelve years he has 
been on the school board. At the present time he is doing efficient 
service as town clerk of Rockford. Mr. Esterly was married May 1, 1895, 
to Lena M. Evans, born in Hennepin county, October 19, 1874, and they 
have three children: Lester, born April 7, 1898; Walter, May 4, 1900, 
and Glen, December 22, 1913. Lena M. Evans was the daughter of Walter 
and Jennie (Briggs) Evans, and granddaughter of William and Lucia (Austin) 
Evans and Joseph and Jane (Falkner) Briggs. William Evans was born 
December 28, 1824, and died at the age of seventy-six. He was a millwright 
by trade, but later took up farming. In 1854 he came to Hennepin county, 
built a log house, started farming with an ox team, and gradually won 
success. He held township office and also served as county commissioner. 
  Joseph Briggs was of Quaker ancestry. He came to Maple Grove township, 
Hennepin county, in 1856, took a claim, and underwent the usual 
experiences of pioneer life. Walter Evans was born in Vermont, March 18, 
1850, was brought to Hennepin county in 1854 and reared on the home place. 
His wife, Jennie Briggs, was born in New York state, May 30, 1853, and 
died in 1894. Mr. Evans now resides with his daughter, Mrs. William Esterly.