BIOGRAPHIES:  Bernard MOE, Chetek Township, Barron County, WI

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:  
Vic Gulickson <vic@indy.net>  7 January 2002	
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Bernard Moe, now deceased, early settler of what is now Chetek Township,
extensive land owner, one of the organizers and first cashier of the State
Bank of Chetek, postmaster at Chetek Village, for a long period secretary
of the Barron County Fire Insurance Co., and for some thirty-three years
town treasurer, was a man who exercised a real influence over the affairs
of his community, being one of the best known men in this region and well
liked by all who knew him. He was born near Lillehammer, Norway, Dec. 8,
1849, and was there reared and educated. In 1873 he came to the United
States and located at Chicago. He was married there in 1876 and a little
later came to Barron County and settled on 160 acres in what is now Chetek
Township. Here he erected a log cabin, 16 by 20, and started farming with a
cow, a pig and a few chickens. In time he got a yoke of oxen, which he
still later traded for a team of horses. The furniture was made from poles
cut from the place. The floor was made from rough boards, through which the
snakes often stuck their heads. For several years Mr. Moe worked in the
woods during the winter seasons, as the farm was not then sufficiently
developed to be operated on a profitable basis. Mrs. Moe had brought her
spinning wheel with her, and she spun yarn from which she knitted socks,
not only for her family, but to sell to neighbors, and thus help out the
family funds. Thus they worked together, and in time won success. They
erected a good set of buildings and added to their holdings until they
owned 300 acres. Much of Mr. Moe's activity centered in the village, where
clerked in a store, and, as noted, served as postmaster and as cashier of
the State Bank of Chetek. After a long and useful life, he died April 10,
1917, in the faith of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, in the local
congregation of which he had held a number of offices. Mr. Moe was married
at Chicago, July 10, 1876, to Anna Martin, who was born in Norway, Oct. 14,
1850. the daughter of Martin Olson and his wife, Ingeborg Torgerson, and
came to America when she was nineteen. This union was blessed with five
children: Inga, who died at the age of 24 years; Jerome, who died at the
age of thirty years; George and Arthur; and Bessie, now the wife of Leroy
Lockwood of Glasgow, Mont. The son, George, now operates a half of the home
farm, and he and his good mother live together. He is a hard-working,
energetic man, who thoroughly understands farming, and is doing his duty as
a good citizen in every respect.

--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co.,
1922, pg. 978.