Union County, SD Biographies.....Larson, John July 27, 1843 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 20, 2022, 3:47 am

Source: MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties, South Dakota. (1897)
Author: Geo. Ogle & Co.

HON. JOHN LARSON, a prominent farmer and merchant of Union county, and one of the
brave soldiers who entered the army during the Civil war and fought for the defence
of our country, has a good-sized farm in section 22, of Spink township, that is
under fine cultivation and substantially improved, and here, also, he has a general
store in which he carries a very complete stock of merchandise.

Mr. Larson is a native of far-away Norway, and was born July 27, 1843. He was reared
in his native land and received an education in the excellent common schools of his
mother country. In the spring of 1861, he came to the land of the free, and after
landing started directly west. He stopped in Dane county, Wis., where he found work
on farms by the month. It was while he was a resident there that he enlisted in the
army. Although he had been in the country but about a year, when the war broke out,
his spirit of right and wrong was aroused, and, considering the cause of the Union
as right, accordingly offered his services in upholding that cause. He was mustered
into company H, Twenty-seventh Wisconsin regiment, infantry, as private, and the
regiment was at once transferred to the front, joining Gen. Grant’s command at
Columbus, Ky., and then proceeding to Vicksburg. They participated in the siege of
the latter place until its fall, and were then sent to Helena, Ark., under Gen.
Steele; from there a detachment of troops started after the rebel forces which were
under Gen. Price, and succeeded in driving them out of Little Rock, where they then
established winter quarters. Our subject was there taken sick, and in May, 1864, was
sent home on a furlough, rejoining his regiment at the same place in August
following. The regiment next proceeded to New Orleans and thence to Spanish Fort,
taking part in the engagement at the latter at the latter place, and then marched to
Mobile. They constructed some breastworks while on the march through Alabama, and
later on, participated in the battle of Fort Blakely. Marching and counter-marching
was indulged in then for some time, becoming entrenched on the Tombigbee river and
then marching within three miles of Mobile. The regiment was next ordered to Texas,
there they remained until August 21, 1865, when our subject was sent home and
discharged. During his entire term of enlistment he was never wounded nor captured
by the enemy, and served his adopted country long and faithfully.

After the war Mr. Larson remained in Wisconsin until 1867, when he came to Dakota
Territory. In the fall of that year he came to Union county, first working out and
later taking up the claim on which he has since continued to reside. After he had
built a house he hired some of his land broke, and then the summer of the following
year went to work on the railroad. This he continued until the next year when he
returned to Wisconsin and was there married to Miss Ingeborg A. Linass. This young
lady was a native of Norway, and after their marriage Mr. Larson and his bride
returned to Dakota territory and settled on his homestead, where they have lived
ever since. The estate consists of 320 acres (the home farm) and 160 acres of school
land, and bears a full line of improvements, including every convenient arrangement
in the way of buildings and the adornments with which people of good taste surround
themselves. The land is carefully and thoroughly tilled and made to produce
abundantly.

Mr. Larson established the Spink postoffice in 1872, and was postmaster until
January, 1895, a period of over twenty-three years. In 1888 he laid the foundation
of the extensive mercantile business he now conducts, starting his store that year,
and he now has a fine and complete stock of general goods which his large and
growing patronage justifies him in carrying. He enjoys the honor merited by his
useful life and has served in various positions of public trust in connection with
the administration of local affairs, having been a member of the school board and
its present clerk. He was elected to the territorial legislature in 1884, serving
one term, and in 1894 was a candidate for the office of treasurer of Union county on
the Populist ticket. He was previously a Republican, but is now independent. on
political issues.

Mr. and Mrs. Larson have been blessed in their married life by the advent of seven
children, viz.: Lewis Albert, Annie Mary, Ida J., Andrew John, Edward M. and Lizzie
O. Ingeborg Sophia, the deceased, was the wife of C. Braastad, and died in January,
1894. All the children are having their education carefully looked after by their
indulgent parents. Lewis Albert is a student at the state university at Vermillion
and the two elder girls of the family are attending the normal school at Sioux
Falls. Mr. Larson and his amiable wife are among the leading members of the Lutheran
church of Spink township, in which Mr. Larson has filled the position of secretary
for years, and they are always among the foremost in pushing forward every good
work.


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