BIOGRAPHIES:   Erick GILSETH, Chetek Township, Barron County, WI

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:  
Victor Gulickson <vic@indy.net>  5 April 2000	
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Erick Gilseth, one of the earliest settlers of Chetek Township, was born in
Norway, Aug. 28, 1836, and was there reared and educated. He married Mary
Bordahl, who was born in the same country, Feb. 16, 1837. They came to 
America in 1867, and located in Menomonie, Dunn County, this state, where 
they lived for about a year. In 1869 they came to Barron County where he 
homesteaded 160 acres in Section 3, Chetek Township. Much of this early work 
was done in company with Severt Solum, his neighbor and brother-inlaw. They 
helped each other build their cabins, and shared an ox in getting their 
land cleared. Those were the pioneer days of the county's development, 
comforts were few and luxuries unknown. There was often a lack of the real 
necessities. There were no roads, no schools, no churches. The trip to 
Chippewa Falls for provisions had to be made afoot, through trees and brush 
and swamps, and over creeks and rivers. But as the years passed, hard work 
had its reward, and prosperity crowned their efforts . Mr. Gilseth added to 
his land until he owned 280 acres. He became one of the substantial and solid 
men of the community, and served with credit as assessor of the township.  
He was interested in the establishment and growth of the Norwegian Lutheran 
Church at Chetek and served as one of its trustees. After a long and useful 
life, he died in 1911 at the age of 75 years. His good wife died in 1907 at 
the age of seventy.

--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., &
Co., 1922, pg. 922.