Bio of L. S. ORWOLL (b.1856), Yellow Medicine Co., MN

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L. S. ORWOLL (1866)

L. S. Orwoll, register of deeds of Yellow Medicine county, is one of the
very earliest settlers of the county, and but few are living who came to
this section of the state at an earlier date.

He was born in Adams county, Wisconsin, March 26, 1856, and when ten 
years of age came to Yellow Medicine county with his parents, who 
homesteaded in Sandnes township on section 18.  The original homestead 
tract was added to at a later date by buying adjoining lands.  The trip 
to Yellow Medicine county was made with an ox-team, and the first home 
was a small one of logs.
There were at that time but five others in the settlement, among them 
being Ingebret Johnson, S. J. Stevens, H. K. Claim and O. E. Stevens,
but quite a number followed the next year or two.  At this time the 
county seat was at Redwood Falls, it being several years afterward 
before the county was separated from Redwood and named Yellow Medicine.  
Mr. Orwoll's father was one of the first township clerks after the 
county was organized, and he was later a county commissioner several 
terms.

L. S. Orwoll is a son of Solfest L. Orwoll, who was born in Norway, and 
was married shortly after he came to the United States.  He located in 
Dane county, Wisconsin, where he lived three years.  Then he moved to 
Adams county, Wisconsin, where he made his home for fourteen years, 
coming in 1866 to Yellow Medicine county.  He married Martha C. Bjelde.  
The both died on the old homestead, he on November 2, 1906, and she on 
June 9, 1905.  There are six children living, as follows:  Christian S., 
Lasse S., Sylvester, Ingebor (Dahl), Sarah (Dahl), Esther (Reishus).  
Martha (Anderson) is dead.

The subject of this sketch, L. S. Orwoll, lived on the Sandnes homestead
continuously until November, 1908.  He farmed the place for his father 
until twenty-two years of age and then bought it.  During his long 
residence in Yellow Medicine county Mr. Orwoll has frequently been 
called upon to serve his people in a public capacity.  He was clerk of
Sandnes township twenty-five consecutive years; was elected county 
commissioner in 1898 and held the office eight years; was school clerk 
and treasurer of his district at various times.  In November, 1908, he 
was elected register of deeds for the county, an office to which at each 
subsequent election he has been re-elected.  Since 1908 he has made his 
home at Granite Falls.  His son, Melvin S., is deputy in the register's 
office, is the official county abstractor, and comprises the Yellow 
Medicine County Abstract Company.

L. S. Orwoll was married in Yellow Medicine county on November 28, 1879, 
to Gurine Reishus, a sister of Hon. E. Reishus, of Lyon county.  She was 
born in Fillmore county, Minnesota.  The have only one son, Melvin S., 
who was born October 16, 1883, in Sandnes township, and finished his 
education at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, in 1906.  He located in
Granite Falls in 1908 and has since been the official abstractor.  He 
married Anna Hustvedt, a native of Decorah, Iowa, June 10, 1909.  They 
have two children, Edel Louise and Mildred Elizabeth.

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