Claus T. Hegnes Biography This biography appears on pages 1197-1198 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (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 CLAUS T. HEGNES. Claus T. Hegnes, who has been a resident of South Dakota for more than four decades or throughout nearly his entire life, is one of the well known and successful citizens of Minnehaha county and is identified with financial interests as cashier and business manager of the Dakota State Bank of Baltic, which he purchased in association with lit E. Jacobson on the 1st of March, 1908, and which is now one of the prospering financial institutions of the county. His birth occurred near Decorah, Winneshiek county, Iowa, on the 22d of October, 1871, his parents being John and Helen (Doseth) Hegnes, natives of Norway. They emigrated to the United States as young man and young woman, locating in Winneshiek county, Iowa, where they were married and made their home for about six years. In 1873 they removed to Lincoln county, South Dakota, and filed on a homestead and a tree claim and preempted another eighty-acre tract, making four hundred acres in all. John Hegnes still owns this land but for the past four years has lived retired in Canton. The period of his residence in Lincoln county covers forty-two years and he has long been numbered among its most substantial and esteemed citizens. To him and his wife were born sixteen children, thirteen of whom still survive. Albert Hegnes, a brother of our subject, acts as cashier of the Security State Bank, of Beresford, South Dakota, and Helmer Hegnes, another brother, is cashier of the Lake Side State Bank, of Lake Andes, South Dakota. Claus T. Hegnes, who was but two years of age when brought to this state by his parents, remained on the home farm until he had attained his majority. In the acquirement of an education he attended the district schools and Augustana College in Canton, spending about four winter terms in that institution. When twenty-one years of age he rented a farm which he cultivated for two years and then abandoned, the venture proving unprofitable because of the high rents and low prices paid for crops at that time—1892-3. Subsequently he secured a position as bookkeeper in the Sioux Valley Bank at Hudson, Hubert Loonan's bank, now of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and remained with the institution during the greater part of the following two years. Impaired health then obliged him to seek out-of-door life and for about six years he acted in the capacity of assessor of Norway township, Lincoln county. In the early part of the year 1897, in association with a neighbor boy, K. E. Jacobson, he purchased a country store at Moe, an inland post office point about eleven miles south of Canton. The former proprietor had found the enterprise unprofitable but the new owners gradually built up an extensive and lucrative trade and made steady progress on the highroad to success. At the end of seven years they disposed of the business but retained three store buildings and a blacksmith shop which they had acquired and which properties they still own. In the spring of 1904 they removed to Canton, but it was not until two years later that Mr. Hegnes again became actively identified with business interests. He then turned his attention to the insurance business and was thus successfully engaged until 1908. On the 1st of March of that year Mr. Hegnes and his former partner, K. E. Jacobson, purchased the Dakota State Bank of Baltic and this institution they have conducted continuously to the present time. Mr. Jacobson, who resides in Canton, is president of the bank, while Mr. Hegnes acts as cashier and business manager. They own the building in which the bank is housed—one of the substantial brick structures of Baltic. When they took over the institution it carried about sixty-five thousand dollars in deposits and these have since been increased to about one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars. The capital stock is now ten thousand dollars, with a surplus of twelve thousand dollars. Under Mr. Hegnes, wise and able management the bank has been placed on a solid foundation and made one of the successful financial institutions of Minnehaha county. Mr. Hegnes owns a half interest in a farm of three hundred and forty acres three and a half miles east of Baltic and also a half interest in a farm of three hundred and twenty acres near Webster, in Day county, South Dakota and property in Lincoln county, South Dakota. The prosperity which he now enjoys is all the more creditable by reason of the fact that it has been acquired entirely through his own well directed efforts and unflagging industry. He is serving as executor of the old Torger Thompson estate, one of the largest estates in his section of the county. On the 28th of September, 1898, Mr. Hegnes was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Sogn, of Lincoln county, by whom he has a daughter, Hazel M. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and for the past five years has served as a member of the school board, while for the past three years he has also been chairman of the town council. In the spring of 1915 he was elected a member of the directory board of Augustana College of Canton, South Dakota. His religious faith is that of the Norwegian Lutheran church, to which his wife also belongs. He stands high in the esteem of his fellow citizens, and those who have known him from boyhood are numbered among his warmest friends.