Biography of Hans Phillipson

	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, 1898. Page 299.

	Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for non-profit 
	purposes. All other rights reserved. 

HANS PHILLIPSON, one of the first settlers of the city of Brookings and 
one of its most worthy citizens, was born in Shelde, near Sonderburg, 
Schleswig-Holstein, February 11, 1857, and is a son of Andrew and Anna 
(Meyer) Phillipson. Andrew Phillipson was a farmer by occupation and 
lived and died in the village of Shelde. His death occurred in 1889 when 
he was seventy-one years of age. His wife, Anna Phillipson, died in May, 
1896, at the age of seventy-three. They were the parents of four sons 
and two daughters, of whom we have the following record: John, a farmer 
in Brookings county; Frederika, deceased; Peter, still living in his 
native land; Christ, market gardener at Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Hans; and 
Catharina, deceased.

	Hans Phillipson, the subject of this sketch, attended common 
school until fifteen years of age, and then began life for himself as a 
farm laborer. In 1874 he came to America, arriving at Scandinavia, 
Waupaca county, Wisconsin, in June. He worked on the Green Bay & Winona 
railroad for a time, and April 1, 1878, came to Dakota and took a 
homestead and tree claim in the present city limits of Brookings. There 
was then but one other family living there at the time and they little 
thought that the wild open prairie that constituted his farm would one 
day be the site of a prosperous city. He improved and cultivated this 
farm for fourteen years. Soon after arriving in this country Mr. 
Phillipson began to show the keen interest he had in all matters of a 
social or educational nature and ably aided in the development of these 
departments in the community. He helped to organize the first school in 
Brookings and was elected the first clerk of the district. In 1892 he 
began work in the lumber yards of the Laird Norton Company, and since 
the fall of 1894 has been the agent of the company, having charge of its 
interests at Brookings.

	In 1887 Mr. Phillipson was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. 
Oleson, of Brookings, a native of Norway, who came to America in 1884.  
Their wedded life has been blessed to them by the presence of two 
children: Herbert A., six years of age, and Clarence M., three years of 
age. Mr. and Mrs. Phillipson are members of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church of Brookings. In political views Mr. Phillipson is a Populist but 
has no ambition for official honors.