O. A. Swanson 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 1064-1067

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

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O. A. SWANSON, one of the early settlers of Brown county, is a worthy 
citizen and excellent farmer. The estate upon which he has been living 
for many years consists of six hundred and forty acres and bears a full 
line of improvements, including every convenient arrangement in the way 
of buildings and the adornments with which persons of good taste 
surround themselves. The land is carefully and thoroughly tilled and 
made to produce abundantly. Mr. Swanson makes his home on the northeast 
quarter of section '3 in Warner township, and is interested in stock 
raising in connection with general farming. We present portraits of Mr. 
Swanson and wife on another page. 

Our subject was born in southern Sweden March 18, 1858, and was the son 
of Mons and Nilla (Johnson) Swanson, natives of Sweden. He came to 
America in 1876 at the age of eighteen years and located in Iowa, where 
he engaged in farming until 1X81, when he went to South Dakota with a 
team and wagon-load of provisions. He landed in Watertown early in the 
spring following the deep snow, and the railroad was blocked, not a 
train having arrived in Watertown for months. The people were 
subsisting on ground barley end our subject had a few sacks of flour in 
his wagon, which he disposed of in small lots at good prices. He found 
ready market for his entire load of provisions, after which he stayed 
in Watertown about a week, at which time the train arrived from the 
east with provisions. He then loaded his wagon with groceries and 
provisions for Rice Brothers & Boyden, of Aberdeen, and the load was 
the first goods taken into Aberdeen that spring. The town then 
consisted of but two sod-houses, one serving as a hotel and the other 
as a residence. Our subject has witnessed the growth of Aberdeen from 
that small start to the flourishing city it is to-day. Soon after 
reaching Aberdeen he filed a tree claim in Garden Prairie township, 
Brown county, which he later sold for six hundred dollars in 1884. He 
had filed on a pre-emption in Warner township, in May, 1881, which he 
still owns. During the fall of that year he went to North Dakota with 
his threshing machine and operated it throughout the threshing season 
with good success. Upon his return he purchased a relinquishment and on 
it filed a homestead claim, that land being his present home. From time 
to time he has added to his possessions and is now the fortunate owner 
of six hundred and forty acres of choice land. In addition to farming 
he has operated a threshing machine for the past eighteen years, and 
that branch of work has added materially to the annual income. 

Our subject was married in Aberdeen, January 1, 1885, to Miss Olive K. 
Larson, daughter of Lars and Margaret Larson, who were natives of 
Norway. Mrs. Swanson was born in Wisconsin, and is a lady of refinement 
and good education. Six children, five of whom are living, have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Swanson, as follows: Fred S., George M., Carl O., 
Selma L. and Edward L. The family are members of the Lutheran church. . 
Mr. Swanson has been called upon to serve in various public offices of 
trust, including member of the town board, chairman of the school board 
and assessor, and has always been faithful to the trust reposed in him. 
He is politically a stalwart Republican, a leader in Brown county, and 
works ardently for the principles of his party.