Alfred Swanson Biography


	This biography appears on page 842 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


				ALFRED SWANSON. 

	Alfred Swanson has been identified with agricultural pursuits in 
Grant county for the past third of a century and is now the owner of 
three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land on section 35, Big 
Stone township. His birth occurred in the western part of Sweden on the 
30th of May, 1867, his parents being Swan and May Johnson, who spent 
their entire lives in that country. The father, born in 1818, passed 
away in 1869. Swan Johnson followed farming throughout his active 
business career and met with well merited success in his undertakings. 
His religious faith was that of the Lutheran church. His family 
numbered four children, three daughters and one son, two of whom still 
reside in Sweden. 

	Alfred Swanson acquired his education in his native country and 
there spent the first fifteen years of his life. In 1882 he crossed the 
Atlantic to the United States, making his way direct to Grant county, 
South Dakota, where he began working as a farm hand. In 1900, having 
accumulated the necessary capital by dint of untiring industry and 
careful expenditure, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land 
in Big Stone township and five years later bought another tract of 
similar size, so that he now owns a half section. His undertakings as 
an agriculturist have been attended with a most gratifying measure of 
success and this is attributable entirely to his own efforts, energy 
and perseverance. 

	In his political views Mr. Swanson is a stanch republican and he 
has served as a member of the central committee, while at the present 
time he is acting as assessor and treasurer of Big Stone township. 
Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and the Woodmen, while his religious faith is indicated by his 
membership in the Lutheran church. He has ever led a busy, active and 
useful life and at the same time commands the respect and high regard 
of all with whom he comes in contact, for his life has conformed to the 
highest principles of manhood.