BIOGRAPHIES:  Knut K. HAGESTAD, Ettrick, Trempealeau Co., 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:  
Nance Sampson, Trempealeau Co. WIGenWeb Coordinator,  1 June 2001      
====================================================================

Knut K. Hagestad.

One of the most important industries of Trempealeau County is that of stock 
raising, of which the subject of this sketch was for many years a leading 
representative.  He was born at Ulvic Hardanger, Bergenstift, Norway, June 
26, 1846, his parents, Knut and Cathrina (Richolsen) Hagestad, being natives 
of the same place.  The father, who in Norway was a boat builder, emigrated 
to America with his family in 1854, settling in Columbia County, Wis.  There 
he remained until 1860, in which year he came to Trempealeau County, taking 
land which now constitutes the farm lately owned by his son, Knut K., and 
which he cultivated and developed, residing on it until his death, Aug. 22, 
1872.  He became a man of influence in the community, serving as treasurer 
of the school board and in other offices.  His wife survived him a few 
years, dying in May, 1875.  Their family consisted of four children, Knut 
being the first in order of birth.  Knut K. Hagestad had but limited 
educational opportunities, attending school in Columbia County, Wis., for a 
part of three or four terms only.  He accompanied his parents to Trempealeau 
County, being then 14 years old, and resided at home until he was 18.  He 
then returned to the old home in Columbia County and worked for farmers in 
that vicinity for about 18 months.  Returning to this county in the month of 
January, he spent the next three months lumbering in the woods, after which 
he worked at grubbing for his father.  By this time he had saved some money 
and with this he bought two pairs of oxen, and hiring another pair from his 
father and one from his brother, he engaged in breaking land, among other 
jobs of this kind turning the first furrow in Lakes Coolie for Lars Jahr, on 
the farm now owned by H. K. Solberg and John Hogden.  After one season at 
breaking he sold his oxen and engaged in threshing one summer, working in 
the woods the next fall and winter.  From that time until 1872 he followed 
the carpenter's trade in the summer.  In this year his marriage occurred and 
he then rented his father's farm and operated it on that basis for about a 
year after his father's death, the estate being as yet unsettled.  It 
subsequently came into his possession and he took up his residence in the 
original house built of logs, but which was so skillfully constructed by 
himself that today it appears like a modern dwelling, the logs not being 
visible.  Mr. Hagestad also erected the main part of the present barn, 
another excellent piece of work, the building measuring 124 by 32 feet, with 
a nine-foot basement and 16-foot stockboards, the rock used for the 
foundations being quarried by him.  Starting with 160 acres of land, Mr. 
Hagestad increased the size of the farm to 228 acres of highly improved 
land, and his buildings and equipment were and are adequate to the fullest 
demands of modern farming and stock raising.  It was to the latter branch of 
his business that he devoted his chief attention.  When he began 
agricultural work for himself it was with the desire to raise pure-bred 
cattle, and in the early eighties he commenced with Shorthorns, purchasing 
two full-blooded sires.  About 1886 he decided that breed of cattle was more 
suited to beef purposes and consequently would not produce the maximum 
amount of milk, also that he could not breed them as profitably as he 
desired.  He then bought two full-blooded Holstein heifers and a bull and 
continued with this breed until his herd had become one of pure-blooded 
Holstein-Friesian cattle exclusively, which experiment he found highly 
satisfactory.  His original stock was obtained at Libertyville, Ill., and 
while there attending a sale he met Mons Anderson, a merchant of La Crosse, 
who purchased 12 head, and these, with Mr. Hagestad's three head, were 
shipped together to La Crosse, Mr. Hagestad taking charge of the car.  Upon 
arriving in La Crosse they paraded their stock through the streets, 
attracting considerable attention, as these were the first Holstein cattle 
seen in the county or anywhere in the vicinity.  Mr. Hagestad became the 
owner of about 50 head of these cattle, all fine specimens of the breed.  He 
frequently shipped stock to Texas, Old Mexico and various states of the 
Union, and in 1903 shipped six head to Japan for breeding purposes.  He and 
his son, Andrew C., for the last 25 years were engaged in breeding pure-
blooded Berkshire hogs and S. C. White Leghorn chickens, which he continued 
to do until his death, April 18, 1917.

Mr. Hagestad was a member and vice-president of the Western Wisconsin's 
Holstein-Friesian Breeders' Association, and had been a director in the 
Western Wisconsin Telephone Company from its organization.  In addition to 
the interests mentioned, he was a stockholder in the Ettrick Creamery 
Company and a stockholder and director in the Home Bank at Blair.  Other 
interests that he had in the Bank of Ettrick he turned over to his son 
before his death, and was then living practically retired, the son having 
taken over the management of the farm.  Mr. Hagestad was a Republican in 
politics and during his long and active career took a more or less prominent 
part in public affairs, serving on the township board, as chairman of the 
county board, and as representative to the State Assembly during the session 
of 1889.  On June 3, 1872, Mr. Hagestad was united in marriage to Astri 
Knutson, who was born in Hallingdahl, Norway, daughter of Andres and Astri 
(Johnson) Knutson.  Her parents, who were natives of the same province, came 
to America in 1860, locating in Trempealeau County, Wis., on land adjoining 
the Hagestad farm, where Mr. Knutson followed farming and stock raising.  He 
died Jun 7, 1891, and his wife May 12, 1895.  Mrs. Hagestad was the second 
born of seven children.  In her girlhood she attended schol in this county, 
her attendance, however, being limited to about two months each summer, as 
her services were needed in the household.  The children born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Hagestad are as follows:  Knut Martimus, who is a professor in the city 
schools of Santa Cruz, Calif.; Andrew C., residing on the home farm; Albert 
J., deceased; Kathrina, also deceased, who was the wife of C. L. Grinde, her 
husband now residing in Blair, Wis.; Esther, deceased; Clara, wife of John 
Fillner of Ettrick; William, a graduate of Gale College and of the State 
Agricultural School at Madison, who is now a farmer near Camp Douglas, Wis.; 
Anna, wife of Irving Swenson, a farmer of Ettrick Township; Cora (second), a 
nurse in the Lutheran Hospital at La Crosse; Hilda, who resides at home and 
a child who died in infancy.  Mr. Hagestad was a member of the Lutheran 
church, to which his family also belong.  One of the leading men in his line 
of business in Trempealeau County, he was widely known and highly esteemed.  
The example he set more than 30 years ago in the breeding of Holstein cattle 
has since been followed successfully by many other farmers in this region 
and is now an important branch of the stock raising industry of the county, 
adding to the sum total of wealth and the general prosperity; and in this 
way he was a public benefactor.  His activities along this and other lines 
also conduced to his own benefit, and he was recognized as one of the well-
to-do and substantial citizens of the community in which he lived.  His 
wife, an estimable lady, who was to him a worthy helpmate, still resides on 
the old homestead.  Mr. Hagestad for many years took a warm interest in Gale 
College, becoming president of its board of directors at the time it passed 
into Lutheran hands.

--From the "History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917," pages 454 - 456.

Link to more history from the Ettrick area - 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~witrempe/histories/bcvhistory.htm