BIOGRAPHIES:  Ben THORSEN, Barron, Barron Co., WI

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Transcribed by Kate Wilson. 
Edited and submitted by  Vic Gulickson <vic@indy.net>  5 January 2004
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Ben Thorsen, a business man of Barron City, was born in Norway, Oct. 17,
1850, son of Thor and Margaret Smestad, the former of whom later came to
America and died in Cameron, this county, and the latter of whom died in
Norway. Ben, the youngest of a family of four children, was bound out to
strangers after his mother’s death. In 1872 he came to America, and made
his way directly to Cameron, in this county. He came here with no money,
and for some time earned but $18 a month. For about fifteen years he spent
his summers working in the hotel of John Quaderer, at Barron, and his
winters in the lumber woods. In 1887 he came to Barron City, and since then
has been employed in the hardware business, first with Dewitt Post, then
with John Post, and now with Ed. Falkenberg. By hard work and frugal habits
he has acquired a competency and is one of the respected men of the
community. The family residence is a comfortable home at the corner of
First and Division streets. Mr. Thorsen was married March 15, 1886, to
Caroline H. Jacobson, the daughter of June and Martha (Johnson) Jacobson,
and they have one daughter, Tena, wife of Cornelius 0. Tvedt, of Barron
Township. Mrs. Thorsen was born in Norway, Dec. 23, 1856, one of seven
children, two of whom died in Norway. Her parents came to America when she
was a girl, and settled on a farm in Waseca County, Minn.

--Transcribed from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper,
Jr., & Co., 1922, pg. 135.

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