Bio of George E. OLDS (b.1835), Yellow Medicine Co., MN

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GEORGE E. OLDS (1865)

George E. Olds. The second oldest settler of Yellow Medicine county now
living in the county is George E. Olds, of Granite Falls.  Nearly a half
century ago he came, and he has had continuous residence here since.  
When he came there were less than a half dozen families in the county, 
and of the residents of that day only Arthur W. Winter is left in the 
county.  George Olds has taken and active and prominent part in the 
affairs of the county in which he has lived so many years. He has served 
in the Minnesota Legislature, been a member of the Board of County 
Commissioners, county surveyor, and postmaster of Yellow Medicine City.

George Olds descends from old American stock, his ancestors having come to
the colonies before the Declaration of Independence.  His father Alfred
Olds, a tanner by trade, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature; he
was born in that commonwealth February 4, 1783, and died in 1851.  The
mother of our subject was born in Massachusetts June 3, 1794, and died in
1856.

To these parents George E. Olds was born at Charlemont, Massachusetts, on
June 7, 1835.  When he was seven years of age the family moved to North
Adams, of the old Bay State, and there our subject resided until eighteen
years of age. He attended Drury Academy at North Adams until fourteen 
years of age and during the next three years clerked in a store there.

In August, 1853, Mr. Olds left home and went to Missouri.  For two years 
he was with the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, in the engineering
department.  The next six months he was with the Southwestern Branch of the
Missouri Pacific and then took employment on the Iron Mountain Railroad in
Missouri, with which he was connected until October, 1857.  From that date
until 1866 Mr. Olds lived in Quincy, Olmsted county, Minnesota, engaged in
farming and storekeeping.

In the latter part of November, 1865, George E. Olds, accompanied by his
brother T. T. Olds, his brother-in-law, Hiram Hodgkin, and a Mr. Holman,
set out from Olmsted county in search of land claims.  They drove through 
with horse teams and arrived in that part of Redwood county which is now 
Yellow Medicine county about the last day of November.  They liked the 
looks of the new country and selected claims.  Mr. Olds selected as his 
pre-emption claim 160 acres of land on sections 19 and 30, Sioux Agency 
township, and Mr. Hodgkin selected as his claim the farm now owned by Mr.
Woodward--the old claim of John Other Day.  After filing on these lands 
they returned to their old homes to spend the winter, arriving the first 
week in December.

On March 19, 1866, Messrs. Olds and Hodgkin again set out for the upper
Minnesota river country and were ten days making the trip with a double
sleigh and cutter.  Six miles east of Redwood Falls they were caught in a
raging blizzard and were obliged to spend a night in a hay stack with the
thermometer registering forty degrees below zero.  When they arrived at
their destination there were living in the whole of what is now Yellow
Medicine county the following persons: John Winter and his four sons,
Benjamin, F. Sanders and his mother and sister, George S. Johnson and 
David Lester, of Newark, New Jersey.  The two families first mentioned 
lived in Sioux Agency township, close to the old agency buildings; 
Messrs. Johnson and Lester lived in Minnesota Falls township, the 
latter's claim being the site of Dr. Thomas Williamson's mission.

Mr. Olds did not at once locate on his own claim; he secured a five-acre
tract of land at the agency, rebuilt the Dr. Wakefield brick residence, and
established his permanent home there.  On that place and in that house he
continued to reside until May 15, 1913, when he moved to Granite Falls, a
continuous residence in the one house of forty-seven years.  Mr. Olds
acquired title to all the agency claim and other lands in the vicinity, 
and is today the owner of about a section of land.

When Mr. Olds located in the county the nearest market was Redwood Falls,
but often New Ulm was the point selected to do the trading.  Grasshoppers
took two crops, but he was not dependent entirely upon agricultural
pursuits.  He was chosen the first surveyor of Yellow Medicine county and
served ten years as such, from 1872-1888.  From 1877 to 1879, inclusive, he
was a member of the Board of County Commissioners, and from 1895 to 1897,
inclusive, he was a member of the Lower House of the Minnesota Legislature.
After the village of Yellow Medicine City was abandoned he served as
postmaster of Yellow Medicine post office five years, the office being at
his home.  For many years he was supervisor and clerk of his township.

Mr. Olds was married at Wabasha, Minnesota, March 30, 1862, to Betsy W.
Hodgkin, who was born at Waterville, Vermont, October 11, 1839.  They have
five children: Belle (Mrs. N. W. Dibble), of Troutdale, Oregon, born June
28, 1864; Benjamin A., of Sioux Agency township, born October 25, 1873; 
Lue A., county superintendent of schools, born November 3, 1875; 
Katherine, who resides at home, born May 26, 1877; and Nina H. (Mrs. 
Harry Todd), of Montana, born June 11, 1881.

Source: "A History of Yellow Medicine County" by Arthur P. Rose
Published 1914