Peter J. Morstad Biography


	This biography appears on pages 951-952 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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				PETER J. MORSTAD. 

	While the Bob and Nels clothing store has for some years passed 
from the hands of the original proprietors, it has ever remained one of 
the chief commercial enterprises of the city and the high standard has 
been in no whit abated since it came under the presidency of Peter J. 
Morstad, whose name introduces this review. In fact, a spirit of 
progress has been manifest and the success which has come to the 
establishment is attributable in large measure to the efforts, close 
application and sound business judgment of him whose name introduces 
this record. He was born in Norway, December 27, 1853, his parents 
being Juul P. and Ingeborg (Lynne) Morstad. The father died in 1877, 
aged seventy-seven years, while the mother passed away in the year 
1907, having survived her husband for three decades. They had two sons 
and four daughters, of whom two sons and three daughters are living. 

	Peter J. Morstad, the fifth in order of birth, benefited by a 
high-school course in Norway and in 1870, when a youth of sixteen 
years, came to America with a brother aged eighteen years, making his 
way to Albert Lea, Minnesota, where lived his married sister and a 
paternal uncle, who had come to the new world in 1848. Mr. Morstad was 
employed at farm labor for five years in the county of Freeborn, of 
which Albert Lea is the county seat. He spent that entire time in the 
employ of Hans Christopherson, whose daughter he afterward married. In 
1875 he left the farm and entered the farm implement business as clerk 
in a store in Albert Lea, being connected therewith for two years, the 
last year as silent partner of T. L. Torgeson. He afterward spent two 
years as a clerk in a general store in Albert Lea and in 1881 removed 
to Miner county, Dakota territory, where he took a preemption claim and 
also a tree claim, totaling three hundred and twenty acres of land. In 
October of that year, he located in Grand Forks, where he spent a year 
as clerk in the general store conducted by M. I. Mandelson. In 1882 he 
purchased the Star clothing business in connection with A. 
Christopherson and with his former employer as a silent partner. Three 
months later, however, the store was destroyed by fire, and as no other 
location could be secured in that town, Mr. Morstad found it necessary 
to seek a home elsewhere. 

	On the 6th of April, 1883, Mr. Morstad located in Sioux Falls and 
opened the Boston Clothing Store in connection with A. Christopherson 
under the firm style of Morstad & Christopherson, which association was 
continued until the 1st of September, 1911, the partnership being 
dissolved on that date. Mr. Morstad then purchased an interest in the 
Bob & Nels Clothing Company, Incorporated, and now carries on the 
business. He is president and general manager with Mrs. Nels Arnston as 
part owner of the business. This is one of the old established 
mercantile houses of the city. In fact, it is regarded as one of the 
landmarks of this part of the state. The store was opened by R. E 
Vreeland and Nels Arnston, and following the custom of those days when 
every man was known to his acquaintances by his first name, these two 
young merchants named their store after the popular nickname it had 
been given by the people of the time, calling it the Bob and Nels 
Store. The name has since been retained, although the original 
proprietors have both passed away. The business has now been in 
existence for twenty-four years and many of its old patrons remain with 
it, showing that the most reliable business methods have ever been 
employed. An extensive line of clothing and men's furnishings is 
carried and a liberal patronage is enjoyed, for the firm has ever en 
employed progressive methods and has carried a most up-to-date line of 
goods. In all business transactions they are thoroughly reliable and 
trustworthy and the success which has come to the institution is the 
merited reward of the energy, close application and business ability of 
the owners. 

	On the 10th of January, 1884, at Manchester, Minnesota, Mr. 
Morstad was united in marriage to Miss Antoinette Christopherson, a 
daughter of Hans Christopherson, and their children are: Juul Henry, 
treasurer of the Bob & Nels Clothing Company; Irene Cora Marie; Porter 
Alfred, of San Francisco; Carl Alfred and Clay Eugene Grant. All the 
children are at home save Porter Alfred. 

	The parents hold membership in the Lutheran church and Mr. 
Morstad belongs also to the Masonic lodge. He is also connected with 
the Elks and is a member of the Commercial Club. In politics he is a 
republican and for four terms, or eight years, he served as one of the 
aldermen of Sioux Falls, during which period his influence was ever on 
the side of right, progress and improvement. In fact, he stands for all 
that is commendable in commercial and municipal affairs and has done 
much to further those interests which are a matter of civic virtue and 
civic pride.