Jonas Nordstrom Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1175-1176 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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				JONAS NORDSTROM. 

	Jonas Nordstrom, who passed away on the 29th of June, 1907, was 
actively and successfully identified with agricultural pursuits in 
South Dakota for a third of a century, owning three hundred and sixty 
acres of productive and valuable land in Brandon township, Minnehaha 
county, and three hundred and twenty acres in Day county. His birth 
occurred in Sweden on the 19th of October, 1845, his parents being 
Jonas and Brita Louisa Nordstrom, the former a laborer. 

	In 1871, when twenty-six years of age, Mr. Nordstrom crossed the 
Atlantic to the United States and, making his way into the interior of 
the country, passed through Chicago on the night of the disastrous 
conflagration. He located in Lockport, Illinois, where he spent two 
years and on the expiration of that period came to South Dakota, 
homesteading a tract of one hundred and sixty acres on section 19, 
Brandon township, Minnehaha county. This still remains the family home. 
Mr. Nordstrom won success in his undertakings as an agriculturist and 
at the time of his demise owned three hundred and sixty acres of 
valuable land in Brandon township, Minnehaha county, and also a half 
section in Day county, this state, his holdings therefore embracing six 
hundred and eighty acres. His death occurred on the 29th of June, 1907, 
and in his passing the community lost one of its most prosperous 
agriculturists and honored pioneer settlers.

	Mr. Nordstrom was twice married. By his first wife, whom he 
wedded in 1871, he had three children, namely: Jonas, Nannie and Hilda. 
On the 3d of July, 1883, he was again married, his second union being 
with Miss Matilda Anderson, a daughter of Ander George. To them were 
born the following children: Amanda, Tekla, Magnus, Selma, Nels, August 
and Hedleigh. Mr. Nordstrom gave his political allegiance to the 
republican party and ably served as treasurer of the school board for a 
number of years. He was a devoted member of the Mission Friends church, 
a branch of the Lutheran denomination, and exemplified its teachings in 
his daily life. 

	Magnus Nordstrom, a son of Jonas Nordstrom, is now managing the 
family estate and cultivates five hundred end' twenty acres of the 
land, leasing the remaining quarter section. He employs the most modern 
and practical methods in the conduct of his agricultural interests and 
in connection with the cultivation of cereals also feeds fifty head of 
cattle and one hundred and twenty-five head of hogs. He is widely 
recognized as a public-spirited and valued young citizen of his 
community and since his twenty-first year has served as chairman of the 
school board. In the locality which has always been his home he has 
many warm friends and an extensive circle of acquaintances.