Biographies:   Ole O. RYE, Vance Creek Township, Barron Co., WI 

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:  
Victor Gulickson  <vic@indy.net>  25 October 1999 with a note on a name 
added on 20 March 2000 -- see note at end of biography.
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Ole 0. Rye, one of the hard working old settlers of Vance Creek Township, is
one of the estimable men of his neighborhood, held in respect and esteem by 
all who know him. He has toiled early and late, he has always done what he 
has believed to be right and just and his integrity is beyond reproach. He 
was born in Norway Sept. 24, 1854, there attended school for a short time and 
early learned the realities of toil on a farm. As a young man he married 
Ragnald Rye, and one child, Andrew, was born. In 1884 he brought his wife and
child to America and settled at Spring Grove in Houston County, Minn. There 
he worked as a railroad section hand. In 1890 he purchased 80 acres of land 
in section 23, Vance Creek Township, put up a small cabin and moved into it. 
When he started he had just fifty cents in money. The equipment, both in the 
cabin and on the clearing, was meagre. For provisions he had to walk to 
Prairie Farm, bringing supplies home on his back. The first year he bought a 
cow, but it was some time before he secured a good ox team. For four seasons, 
in order to get a little money while he was building up the place, he worked 
in the lumber woods. Gradually he developed a good place, working early and 
late, and seeing the place gradually develop into a well-kept and profitable 
farm. He has a comfortable home, a commodious barn, and other buildings, and 
his land is well tilled, well fenced, and well cultivated. Here he 
successfully carries on general farming and dairying. He is quietly doing his 
duty as a good citizen, and is a most estimable man in every respect. He has 
done good service on the school board for some dozen years, and he has also 
served the town as pathmaster and constable. As one of the representative men 
of his community he has been called to service by the United States Court at 
Superior, both as grand and petit juror.

Transcriber notes:

Mrs. Ole O. Rye's name (Ragnald) as shown above is quite likely incorrect.  
Haakon Skaugvoll from Norway offers the following comments. "Maybe it should 
be Ragnild or Ragnhild or just Ragna or Ragne.  Rognald and Ronald are male 
names."

--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co.,
1922, pg. 495.