Hans N. Hanson Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 791-792

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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HANS N. HANSON, residing on the northeast quarter of section 18 in 
Mellette township, is one of the progressive farmers of Spink county. 
His home and surroundings are pleasing to the eye of the stranger, and 
evidence the thrift of the owner of the property. It is only by dint of 
the strictest economy and faithful efforts that this gentleman is to-
day one of the substantial agriculturists of his community and as a 
rising citizen of Spink county no one more justly deserves mention than 
Mr. Hanson. 

Our subject is a native of Monroe county, Wisconsin, and was born May 
3, 1856. He was the eldest of six children born to Nels and Emma 
Hanson, both of whom were natives of Norway. The mother died when our 
subject was but ten years of age, and the father is at present a 
resident of Monroe county, Wisconsin. 

Our subject worked at farm labor and assisted at home, and in May, 
1877, he went to Richland and Cass counties in the Red river valley in 
Dakota, and in 1879 looked over the territory of Deuel and Brookings 
counties, afterward returning to Wisconsin, thinking the country too 
wild to be settled soon. He decided there was no way for him to get a 
competence in the east and as a venture he went to Spink county May 18, 
1880, and May 29 filed on his land. He selected the farm with a view to 
meadow land, and erected a 10 x 12 sod house, with a straw roof and a 
dirt floor. In 1881 he built a 12 x14-foot house and settled down to 
the life of a bachelor. His effects consisted of a wagon, a yoke of 
oxen, and he had a few dollars, and he broke land at three dollars per 
acre. In 1882 fifty acres of land yielded eleven bushels of grain. He 
is now the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of land and 
cultivates about four hundred and fifty acres. His financial standing 
is of the best and his residence, 16 x 24 feet, two stories in height, 
erected in 1894 and tastefully decorated, lends an air of refinement 
and comfort to the place, and the entire farm is so well kept and 
repairs and improvements added at the opportune time that it is in 
striking contrast to the many bachelor habitations throughout the 
state, and shows at once the progressive nature of our subject and the 
contentment attending his life in Dakota. 

Mr. Hanson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a 
communicant of the Lutheran church. He is a Republican, favors high 
license and opposes equal suffrage. He is one of the wide awake 
citizens of his community and supports ever, enterprise that will in 
any way enhance the interests of his county, and well deserves the high 
place accorded him by his fellows.