Ole Hanson Biography


	This biography appears on page 948 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				OLE HANSON. 

	Ole Hanson, one of the respected citizens and pioneer 
agriculturists of Buffalo township, Minnehaha county, has resided on 
his present farm for the past forty years and in its operation has won 
a gratifying and well merited measure of prosperity. His birth occurred 
in Norway on the 6th of June, 1850, his parents being Hans and Mary 
Hanson, both of whom are deceased. He acquired his education in his 
native land and in 1867, when a youth of seventeen, crossed the 
Atlantic to the new world, locating in Iowa, where he attended school 
for a short time. Subsequently he was employed as a farm hand and later 
cultivated a tract of land on shares in Iowa for eight years. On the 
expiration of that period, in 1875, he removed to Minnehaha county, 
South Dakota, and preempted a timber claim in Buffalo township. There 
he has resided continuously throughout the intervening years and in the 
conduct of his agricultural interests has met with well deserved 
success. He was one of the pioneer settlers of the locality and 
experienced all the hardships and privations of life in a sparsely 
populated and undeveloped district. There were winters of such severe 
weather that it was impossible to leave the house, and with summer came 
the devastating grasshoppers. As the years have gone by, however, Mr. 
Hanson has successfully overcome the difficulties and obstacles that 
have confronted him and is now recognized as one of the prosperous and 
representative citizens of his community. He keeps twenty head of hogs 
and twenty-five head of cattle and uses the latest improved machinery 
in the cultivation of his fields. 

	In February, 1874, Mr. Hanson was united in marriage to Miss 
Melvina Johnson, her father being Hirbin Johnson of Iowa, now deceased, 
who was also one of the early settlers of this state. Our subject and 
his wife have the following children: Henry; Ella, who gave her hand in 
marriage to Henry Herman; Clara, who is the wife of Mervin Alexander; 
Vina, at home; Ida, the wife of Dr. Allen Gage, of Iowa; and Clarence, 
Albert and Dolly, all at home. 

	Mr. Hanson gives his political allegiance to the republican party 
and has ably served in the capacity of road overseer and in other 
township offices. In religious faith he is a Lutheran. He is a man of 
domestic tastes who finds his greatest happiness at his own fireside, 
and his first interest is the comfort and welfare of his family. His 
life has been upright and honorable in every relation and he has won an 
extensive circle of friends in the community which has been his home 
for four decades.