BIOGRAPHIES:   John P. GILSETH, Chetek Township, Barron County, WI

====================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information 
on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as 
this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may 
NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other 
persons or organizations.

Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes 
other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file 
contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact 
the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.   The submitter 
has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently 
for free access.

This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:  
Victor Gulickson <vic@indy.net>  5 April 2000	
====================================================================

John P. Gilseth, a representative farmer of Section 3, was born Oct. 31, 1872,
the son of Erick and Mary (Bordahl) Gilseth, early settlers. His natal place 
was a half a mile east of his present home, in a shack built of poplar poles, 
with a dirt floor and a shake roof. That was in the early days of the county's
growth, the nearest schoolhouse was three miles away, and to reach it, young
John P. had to travel the pathless woods. In addition to the difficulty of
getting to school, his help was needed at home, so he received but little 
early education, although he has always been a great reader and has kept 
himself well informed on the topics of the day. He learned farming from his 
father, and as a youth started working in the logging woods, an occupation
which he followed for nine consecutive winters. At the age of twenty-one he 
took over the home farm. He has continued the improvements, and increased his 
land holdings to 200 acres. The house has been renovated and improved, and 
a good barn, 36 by 92 feet, with a lean-to, 26 by 45 feet, and other smaller 
buildings constructed. Mr. Gilseth is an energetic man who believes that 
anything that is worth doing is worth doing well, and he bends his best 
energies to his work, with the result that he is already well along the road 
to success. He is a stockholder in Chetek Co-operative Store and the Chetek 
Co-operative Creamery. He was married July 6, 1901 to Sarah Berg, who was 
born in Norway, Jan. 24, 1873, daughter of Joseph and Carrie Berg, who came 
to the United States with their four children in 1878, locating in Chippewa 
County, and a year later coming to Chetek Township, where they took a 
homestead in the woods, and here spent the remainder of their lives, both 
being now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Gilseth have two children, Elmer and Cora,
both at home. Elmer was born Aug. 3, 1903, and Cora was born Sept. 28,
1905.

--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., &
Co., 1922, pp. 922-923.