Victor Moberg 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 659-660

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

	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


VICTOR MOBERG, a pioneer settler and a prominent farmer of Faulk 
county, is a striking example of the result of energetic effort, 
supplemented by the strictest integrity. He settled in Dakota when the 
country had never been traversed by man with an idea to its settlement 
and cultivation, and with no resources aside from an indomitable will 
and a strong constitution, he set about the task of bringing that 
vicinity to its present high state of civilization. He has succeeded to 
a marked degree, and is now proprietor of as fine an estate as graces 
that region. His home is in township 118, range 67, and he is 
extensively engaged in the raising of stock and grain. 

Mr. Moberg was born in central part of Sweden in 1862. His father, 
Andrew Moberg, was a distiller in Sweden, and after coming to America 
in 1883 followed the occupation of a farmer. The great grandfather of 
our subject was a native of France, but left his native land at the 
time of the persecution, and took a Swedish name. He was a shoe 
manufacturer and was the first to make machine-made shoes. The 
grandfather of our subject, John C. Moberg, was a farmer by occupation. 
Our subject's mother, Anna Paterson Moberg, was born and raised in 
Sweden, and her father was a stone cutter and had been a miner. The 
father of our subject died June 4, 1898, and the mother passed away 
September 26, of the same year. She had been an invalid for two and a 
half years previous to her death, caused by paralysis. They were early 
settlers in Dakota, were well known and held in the highest esteem by 
their large circle of acquaintances. They were charitable to strangers 
as well as friends of long acquaintance and never turned the needy from 
their door. When coming to America they shipped a chest of provisions 
and upon reaching Dakota divided their store with a Yankee traveler, 
who had lost his way on the prairie. 

Our subject was the youngest in a family of three children, and at the 
age of eighteen left home and started for himself. He came to America 
in 1881 and settled in Illinois, where he hired out at farming, for 
three years, and January 4, 1884, arrived at Athol, South Dakota. He 
located on a pre-emption on the northeast quarter of section 33, 
township 118, range 67, and erected a shanty, but soon sold the 
relinquishment for a horse. The horse died within two years. From 1883 
to '93 he lived with his parents and the father, our subject and his 
brother farmed in partnership. Our subject filed a homestead claim in 
1893 on the southeast quarter of section 34, township 118, range 67, 
and erected a small dwelling. In 1894 he moved to the northeast quarter 
of section 8, township 118, range 67. When he and his father started 
farming in 1883 he had about five hundred dollars. Now he and his 
brother, Andrew W. Moberg, possess a farm comprising five quarter-
sections of land, one section of which is fenced. They cultivate one 
hundred and fifty acres, and rent two hundred and fifty acres- of 
cultivated land. They have engaged in wheat raising, and in 1883 became 
interested in stock raising, and from two head of cattle now have a 
herd of one hundred head. The residence, in two parts, 18 x 36 and 12 x 
22 feet, forms a comfortable and commodious dwelling, and with the 
barns, one 50 x 100 feet and one 30 x 38 feet, and a granary 24 x 24 
feet, completes a model rural home. They keep eleven horses, and modern 
machinery is used in the work on the farm. He has made a success of his 
vocation and the farm is considered one of the best stock farms in the 
eastern part of Faulk county. They had no team during the summer of 
1883 and his brother carried a sack of flour on his back from Athol to 
their home. Lumber and their household goods were hauled from Redfield, 
and eleven dollars was the price paid for one load. They lived in a 
board shanty set into the hillside, until a better dwelling could be 
erected. In the fall of 1885 he and his father lost part of their wheat 
crop by prairie fire, and during the blizzard of January, 1896, our 
subject was exposed to the storm six hours. In trying to get his horses 
into shelter he lost his way in the storm and wandered about until 
midnight, when he came to a neighbor's house, and he stabled his horses 
in the kitchen, where the snow drifted in until the room was filled. 

Our subject was married July 21, 1894, to Elsie Johnson, a native of 
Sweden, who went to Dakota in 1885 and in 1893 took a homestead. Mrs. 
Moberg's father, E. J. Johnson, is an early settler of Faulk county. He 
was a miller by occupation in Sweden, and came to America in 1882 and 
settled in Iowa, but soon afterward moved to Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. 
Moberg are the parents of one daughter, named Clara Louise, and the 
date of her birth is August 12, 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Moberg and our 
subject's brother, are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Moberg has 
held various offices of local importance, and is an active member of 
the school board. He takes an interest in the affairs of his township, 
and in political faith is a Republican.