Carl Mohn Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1127-1128 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				CARL MOHN. 

	Realizing fully the responsibilities that devolve upon him as a 
public official and always regarding a public office as a public trust, 
Carl Mohn has made an excellent record as auditor of Marshall county. 
He dates his residence in Britton from 1884, arriving here when about 
thirty-two years of age. His birth occurred in Norway on the 11th of 
January, 1852, his parents being Carl and Hannah (Risberg) Mohn, who 
were also natives of Norway, the former born in 1832 and the latter 
June 22, 1834. They had two children, the younger being Christian, who 
is a member of the police force in Norway. The father was a fisherman 
and was a son of Frederick Mohn, who was a miner. Carl Mohn, Sr., held 
membership in the Lutheran church and in that faith passed away in 
1881. His widow, who was a daughter of Ole Risberg, is now living at 
the advanced age of eighty-one years. 

	Carl Mohn, whose name introduces this review, spent his boyhood 
and youth in Norway. where he pursued his education. In 1884 he made 
his way to Britton, South Dakota, and thereafter worked as a farm hand 
for a time but later engaged in cultivating rented land for four years. 
He then took up a quarter section but did not prove up on it. Turning 
his attention to railroad work, he became a section hand, afterward 
section foreman and still later assistant roadmaster and chief clerk in 
the superintendent's office. He was filling the last named position 
when he was elected county auditor on the republican ticket on the 5th 
of November, 1912. He made such an acceptable record in office that he 
was reelected in 1914 and is the present incumbent in the position. 

	Mr. Mohn was married in Norway in 1875 to Miss Karen Opoin and 
they became the parents of nine children: Ella, deceased; Carl J., who 
is engaged in the real-estate business at Kidder; Lena, the wife of 
Reier Hagen, living on a farm; John and Hannah, who have passed away; 
Gertrude, who is acting as deputy county auditor; Ole, a railway 
conductor living at Andover; Inga, deceased; and Martin, a telegraph 
operator at Aberdeen. 

	The family hold membership in the Lutheran church and Mr. Mohn is 
identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the American 
Yeomen. He has many of the sterling characteristics of the Norwegian 
race—the perseverance, the determination and the reliability—and he has 
never had occasion to regret his decision to come to the new world, for 
in the utilization of the opportunities here offered he has worked his 
way upward, gaining a good living and making for his family a 
comfortable home, at the same time winning the regard and friendship of 
many with whom he has been brought into contact.