James Julson 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 895-897

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

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JAMES JULSON. Success does not attend every man, but persistent effort 
and indomitable will are not without their reward. The subject of this 
review has struggled through the days of pioneering in South Dakota and 
has met with more than ordinary discouragements, but he is a man who is 
possessed of those traits of character which are bound to succeed, and 
he now owns and operates one of the best farms in Hanson township, and 
is held in the highest esteem by his associates. Mr. Julson makes his 
home on section 8, in township 122, range 61. 

Our subject was born near Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1856, and was the 
son of Ulrich and Ragna (Severson) Julson. His father was born in 
Norway and came to America and took government land in Wisconsin, and 
became an early settler of that state. He was drafted for the army 
twice, but was rejected both times. The mother of our subject was born 
in Norway and came to America after her marriage to our subject's 
father. 

Of a family of nine children our subject was the fifth in order of 
birth. He was raised in Wisconsin and, at the age of eight years, moved 
with his parents to Greene county, Wisconsin, and resided there until 
1873, when he moved to Alamakee county, Iowa, and in 1876 removed to 
Mower county, Minnesota. He received a country school education and at 
the age of twenty one left home and engaged in farming on rented land 
and threshing during the fall. He worked thus two years, but without 
success, and in 1880 he went to Brown county, South Dakota, and 
obtained work grading for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad. 
He helped grade the road through Groton, and also worked on the 
Ellendale branch, from Aberdeen north, and all to be found at that time 
in Aberdeen was a sod house and a few tents. During the winter of 1880-
1 he worked on the Southern Minnesota railroad shoveling snow, and in 
the spring following went to Brown county and took up the northeast 
quarter of section 8, township 122, range 61, and erected a 12 x 16 sod 
shanty. He had two old mares, an old cow, a ten-dollar wagon and 
fifteen dollars in money, and he drove to his farm from Watertown in a 
covered wagon, which served as a dwelling place for the first two 
months for his wife, his son, and himself. He and his wife's stepfather 
worked together for the first year, and the first season they succeeded 
in breaking twenty-four acres of land. In the fall of 1881 our subject 
went to North Dakota and tended a separator on a threshing machine, and 
earned enough to provide for his family and purchase some seed grain. 
In the fall of 1882 he raised three hundred and thirty-six bushels of 
wheat on twelve acres of land, the largest yield per acre he has 
recorded. The following year he broke fifty acres, but the crop 
averaged only three bushels per acre, and in the fall he again went to 
North Dakota for the threshing season. He had in the meantime erected a 
sod barn on his place, but prior to 1887 he was not successful. His 
present residence, in two parts, 16 x 22 feet and 12 x 16 feet, was 
erected about 1887, and within a year or two afterward he built a barn, 
30 x 42 feet, with 16-foot posts. He now has a farm of four hundred and 
eighty acres, all of which is under cultivation, aside from eighty-five 
acres reserved for pasture. He has a complete set of good farm 
buildings, well, windmill, feed grinder, all necessary machinery, 
eleven head of horses, and more than the usual comforts of a rural 
home. His residence is surrounded by a small grove of forest trees, and 
the beauty of the place adds to the landscape. He engages mostly in 
grain-raising and has met with well merited success. A cyclone passed 
over his farm in 1893 tearing down the chimney on his residence and 
racking his barn. 

Mr. Julson was married in the fall of 1879 to Miss Mattie Hanson, a 
native of Norway. Mrs. Julson's father, Hans H. Hanson, was a merchant 
and died in Norway, and her mother and she came to America when she was 
but eleven years of age. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Julson, three of whom are living, as follows: Oscar, born May 11, 1888; 
Edward, born October 13, 1890; and Herman, born December 16, 1893. 
Their eldest son, Albert, who was born in 1880, passed away in 1896, 
and his death was keenly felt by his parents. 

Mr. Julson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He has served 
as chairman of the school board two years, and is a man who is 
interested at all times in the welfare of his community. In political 
sentiment he is a Republican, and stands firmly for the principles of 
his party.