Peter Laulo 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 887-888

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

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PETER LAULO, one who has helped to build up the solid prosperity of 
Clear Lake township, Edmunds county, South Dakota, has his home and 
valuable farm on section 30 of that township. His own energy and 
perseverance have won him a competence and made him one of the valued 
citizens of his adopted state. 

Mr. Laulo was born in central Norway, October 27, 1855. His parents, 
Rasmus and Mary Laulo, were natives of Norway and were farming people, 
as was also his grandfather, Peter Laulo. The grandfather was a soldier 
in the war between Sweden and Norway, and died shortly after its close, 
about the year 1814. 

Our subject was the fourth in the order of birth of a family of five 
children, and was reared on a farm, receiving but meager educational 
advantages, as his parents were poor. At the age of eight years he lost 
his father by death, and went to live with a family of the name of 
Fladaas. At the age of sixteen years he went to northern Norway, where 
he worked at road grading during the summer season, and was engaged in 
fishing during the winter at Lofoten, Norway. In the spring of 1882 he 
determined to seek his fortune in America. He landed in New York and 
immediately proceeded to Wisconsin, and there found himself in a 
strange land with no means. He began working in the sawmills and lumber 
woods of that state and continued thus employed for four years. He went 
to Edmunds county, South Dakota, in July, 1885, and purchased the 
northeast quarter of section 30 in Clear Lake township, He filed on a 
homestead and then returned to Wisconsin for the winter, going to his 
new home in the spring of 1886. He lived in an 8 x 10 shanty, and had 
some cash when he located there, but at the end of the first year was 
again without money, but he persevered, and making the best of his 
advantages and profiting by his experience he pushed forward to the 
front, and is now the owner of a well-improved property. He has erected 
a comfortable dwelling for the family and a 48 x 60-foot barn furnishes 
shelter for his stock. He has a fine lot of cattle and horses and 
engages in grain growing and stock raising. His farm comprises four 
hundred and seventy-six acres, is well located in section 30 in Clear 
Lake township, and about one hundred and eighty acres is under 
cultivation and about one hundred acres is used for pasture. In the 
spring of 1896 a cyclone wrecked the barn, causing damages amounting to 
about forty dollars. In 1891 our subject and a neighbor together 
purchased a horse-power threshing machine, and aside from doing their 
own threshing are employed by various farmers in the community. 

Our subject was married in the fall of 1887 to Miss Dena Evanson, a 
native of Norway and the daughter of Evan Evanson, farmer of Norway. 
Mrs. Laulo's father emigrated to,America in 1867 and settled in 
Wisconsin, where his death occurred in 1869. The rest of the family 
came to America in 1870 and settled in Minnesota. Four children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Laulo, as follows: Mabel, born June 9, 1889; 
Robert, born July 30, 1891; Pearly, born August 14, 1893, and Emma, 
born April 13, 1896. Mr. Laulo is a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America. In political faith he is a Republican. He has been called upon 
to fill various local offices, including township supervisor and 
township treasurer. He discharged the duties of his positions with 
fidelity and is one of the prominent and highly respected citizens of 
Clear Lake township.