Hans Mathiesen Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1050-1053 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HANS MATHIESEN.  

	Hans Mathiesen is the senior partner in the firm of H. Mathiesen 
&; Sons, proprietors of the Hillside Stock Farm, which is pleasantly 
and conveniently located two miles east of Watertown. There they are 
engaged in the breeding of Percheron horses, shorthorn cattle and Duroc 
Jersey hogs, and they rank with the leading stockmen of northeastern 
South Dakota. Hans Mathiesen makes his home in the city of Watertown 
but is widely known throughout the county. He was born in Norway on the 
20th of August, 1851, a son of Ole Mathiesen, who was a native of that 
part of Norway which is known as the land of the midnight sun. Further 
mention of him is made in connection with the sketch of Magnus 
Mathiesen on another page of this volume.  

	Hans Mathiesen was reared under the parental roof and in the 
public schools of his native country pursued his education. His 
opportunities, however, were somewhat limited, for when but thirteen 
years of age he started out as a wage earner and has since been 
dependent upon his own labors. His father had the contract to furnish 
wood for the copper mines and Hans was employed in chopping wood and 
hauling it to the mines. In 1868, however, he bade adieu to friends and 
native country and sailed for the United States with his father, being 
then seventeen years of age. They journeyed westward into the interior 
of the country and Hans Mathiesen began working in the mines, being 
employed in the first level of the Hecla mines after they were opened. 
Eight or nine years were devoted to that occupation but in June, 1883, 
he came to South Dakota, settling in Watertown, where he embarked in 
merchandising, being thus prominently identified with the commercial 
interests of the city for fourteen years. In fact throughout all the 
intervening period to the present he has been a leading figure here, 
actively connected with business and public interests. In 1887 he was 
elected to the office of county treasurer of Codington county and then 
disposed of his store. For four years or for two terms he continued in 
that position, giving his undivided attention to the duties of the 
office, from which he retired with the confidence and high regard of 
all by reason of the capability and fidelity which he had displayed in 
the discharge of his official duties.  

	In 1891 Mr. Mathiesen purchased three hundred and twenty acres of 
his present farm and has added thereto until he is now the owner of an 
entire section, and in connection with four of his sons he rents other 
land, so that they are now operating ten hundred and eighty acres. They 
are among the most extensive farmers of Codington county and the 
Hillside Stock Farm is known far and wide because of the progressive 
and scientific manner in which it is conducted. Splendid crops of corn, 
wheat and other cereals are annually harvested and, moreover, they 
conduct an extensive business as breeders of Percheron horses, 
shorthorn cattle, Duroc Jersey hogs, M. B. turkeys and Scotch Collie 
dogs.  

	In 1879 Mr. Mathiesen was united in marriage to Miss Johanna 
Reque, a daughter of the old pioneer, Lars V. Reque of Deerfield, 
Wisconsin, who was one of the oldest Norwegian settlers in America. He 
emigrated to the United States in 1837 and died in Deerfield, in 1912, 
when in the ninety-fourth year of his age. He was known far and wide as 
one of the builders of Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. Mathiesen have been 
born ten children, eight of whom still survive, as follows: Otto 
Ferdinand, who serves as assistant cashier of the State Bank at Bonners 
Ferry, Idaho; Edwin Lewis; Luella Emelia; John Walter; Frank Robert; 
William Hubert; Homer Arnold; and Agnes Ingeborg Frederika. All the 
children are at home except the eldest son. The parents have given 
their children excellent educational opportunities, thus specially 
qualifying them for life's practical and responsible duties.  

	Mr. Mathiesen and his family are members of the Norwegian 
Lutheran church of Watertown, of which he was one of the organizers and 
charter members. He has been a generous contributor to its support and 
an earnest worker for its upbuilding and the extension of its 
influence. In his political views Mr. Mathiesen is an earnest 
republican and has served as a member of the school board and of the 
city council of Watertown, ever exercising his official prerogatives in 
support of those measures and movements which are factors in upholding 
the highest civic standards. He has also been township assessor for the 
past four years and in November, 1914, he was elected to represent the 
thirty-first district in the state legislature. By reason of the extent 
and importance of his business interests, his public-spirited 
citizenship, his loyalty to all those interests which work for 
honorable manhood, he has become recognized as one of the foremost 
citizens of Codington county, belonging to that class of men who uphold 
the political and legal status and advance the material and moral 
progress of the community.