Sever M. Swenson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1210-1211 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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				SEVER M. SWENSON. 

	Sever M. Swenson, who owns and operates a farm of three hundred 
acres on section 10, Split Rock township, Minnehaha county, is one of 
the well known and highly esteemed citizens of the community, having 
resided here for a period covering forty-five years. His birth occurred 
in Norway on the 15th of April, 1859, his parents being Ole and Bertha 
(Nelson) Swenson, who emigrated to the United States in 1866. They 
first made their way to Iowa and spent four years in Winneshiek and 
Emmet counties of that state. In 1870 they came to South Dakota, 
locating in Minnehaha county, where the father homesteaded one hundred 
and sixty acres on section 10, Split Rock township, where our subject 
now resides. Subsequently he took up a timber claim in Brandon township 
for his only son, Sever, who did most of the work on the claim. They 
later sold this claim and purchased a quarter section adjoining the 
homestead. Ole Swenson passed away on the homestead some years ago. 

	Sever M. Swenson, though but eleven years of age when he came to 
South Dakota with his parents, was old enough to hold the plow and 
drive the oxen, which were at that time generally used in farm work. 
His father had been a carpenter in Norway, and much of the work of the 
fields devolved upon our subject, who soon became familiar with methods 
of agriculture. In the early days he drove the oxen and hauled his 
grain to Worthington, Minnesota. After attaining manhood he gradually 
assumed the management of the farm and subsequent to his father's 
demise purchased the homestead, so that he now owns three hundred acres 
of valuable land on section 10, Split Rock township. He is erecting a 
handsome modern residence on the place at the present time and has a 
well improved and productive farm which he operates in an efficient and 
effective manner. 

In 1891 Mr. Swenson was united in marriage to Miss Anna Johnson, a 
native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, her parents having emigrated to this 
country from Sweden. To our subject and his wife have been born twelve 
children, ten of whom still survive, as follows: Bertha, who is the 
wife of Edward Thompson, an agriculturist of Split Rock township; Nora; 
Carl; Julia; Emily; Albert; Arthur; Ray; Ruby; and Sylvia. All of the 
children are at home with the exception of the first named. 

	Mr. Swenson exercises his right of franchise in support of the 
men and measures of the democracy, believing firmly in its principles. 
His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Norwegian 
Lutheran church, to which his wife and children also belong. He is 
widely known throughout his community, and his substantial qualities of 
manhood and of character have gained for him an enviable position in 
the regard of those with whom he has come in contact.