Gustaf Johnson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 987-988 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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				GUSTAF JOHNSON. 

	Gustaf Johnson, one of the well known and highly respected 
citizens of Valley Springs township, Minnehaha county, where he has 
made his home for the past thirty-eight years, is the owner of three 
hundred and twenty-four and three-fourths acres of land on section 6, 
comprising one of the finest farms in South Dakota. He was long and 
actively engaged in general agricultural pursuits, but for the past 
fifteen years has lived retired and has rented his land. His birth 
occurred in Sweden on the 2d of October, 1839, his father being Johanes 
Magnuson, who died in that country. 

	Gustaf Johnson was reared at home and acquired but a limited 
education in the common schools, for his parents were in straightened 
financial circumstances and he was obliged to begin providing for his 
own livelihood in,boyhood. He secured employment as a farm hand and 
received as remuneration one hundred and fifty dollars per year. In 
1872, when a young man of about thirty-three, he emigrated to the 
United States and located in New York city, where he found employment 
in a sugar factory and worked for two years. On the expiration of that 
period he went into the country and subsequently worked as a farm hand 
for about three years. He then returned to his native land, spending a 
winter in Sweden for the benefit of his health. In April, 1877, he 
again came to the United States and for some months remained in New 
York. In October of that year he made his way to South Dakota, locating 
in Valley Springs township, Minnehaha county, where he purchased a 
relinquishment on a homestead comprising the northeast quarter of 
section 6. Subsequently he acquired the northwest quarter of the same 
section and another small piece of land which he purchased, making his 
farm one of three hundred and twenty-four and three-fourths acres. It 
is located in the Beaver valley and is one of the finest farms in the 
entire state. Mr. Johnson still resides on the old homestead and for 
many years was actively and successfully engaged in its operation, but 
during the past fifteen years has enjoyed retirements and has rented 
his land. 

	On the 27th of April, 1873, in New York city, Mr. Johnson was 
united in marriage to Miss Johanna Mathilda Caroline Larson, a native 
of Sweden, who came to the United States in 1870. In his political 
views Mr. Johnson is a republican, exercising his right of franchise in 
support of the men and measures of that party. His religious faith is 
indicated by his membership in the Swedish Lutheran church, of which he 
served as a deacon for many years and to which his wife also belongs. 
He has never had occasion to regret his determination to establish his 
home in the new world, for here he found the opportunities which he 
sought and in their wise utilization has won both prosperity and an 
honored name. He has now passed the seventy-sixth milestone on life's 
journey and enjoys the veneration and respect which should ever be 
accorded one who has traveled thus far on this earthly pilgrimage and 
whose career has been at all times upright and honorable.