BIOGRAPHIES: Ole E. LARSON, Pigeon Township, Trempealeau Co., WI

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** Posted for informational purposes only - poster is not related to the 
subject of this biography and has no further information.

Ole E. Larson, early settler, county officer, prominent man, and estimable 
citizen, now deceased, was born in Ringsaager, Hedemaarken, Norway, Sept. 
21, 1855, son of Erik and Oline (Bogstie) Larson. Erik Larson, the father, 
was born in 1826 and married Oline Bogstie, who was born in 1817. They 
brought their family to America in 1859, and located in Hamilton Township, 
La Crosse County, this state. In 1865 they came to Trempealeau County, and 
homesteaded 160 acres in section 26, town 23, range 7, Pigeon Township, 
now known as "Golden Glen Farm," where they spent the remainder of their 
lives. In this home Ole E. Larson was reared, devoting his youth and early 
life to farming. Early in life his attention was turned to public affairs, 
and his ability attracted attention even before he was of age. When he was 
twenty-one he was elected town supervisor, and later served three terms as 
chairman of the board. At the age of twenty-two he was elected town clerk, 
a position in which he served for eleven years. In 1894 he was elected 
county treasurer, and in this capacity did such excellent service that he 
was re-elected in the fall of 1896. From 1882, the time of its organization, 
until 1894, he was secretary of the Pigeon Mutual Fire Insurance Company and 
was one of the important factors in its success. Upon retiring from public 
office he made his home in Whitehall until his lamented death March 5, 1901. 
Mr. Larson was married May 28, 1887, to Marie Skorstad, who was born near 
Vardahl, Christiania, Norway, Aug. 7, 1863, daughter of Christian and Ellen 
(Brostad) Skorstad, born in 1819 and 1821 respectively, came to America in 
1868, and homesteaded a farm in section 27, town 23, range 7, Pigeon 
Township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Larson 
are the parents of three children: Chester Ernest, who was born April 15, 
1894, and died April 30, of the same year; Mabel, who was born Aug. 20, 1896, 
and is now a student in domestic science in the Stout Institute at Menomonie, 
Wis.; and Owen Elmer, who was born April 13, 1899, and is now attending the 
Whitehall high school. Mr. Larson was one of two children. His brother Lars 
was born in 1852, married Ellen Johnson in 1876, and has three children: 
Edwin, a farmer of Jackson County, this state; Emma, the wife of Knut Haugen, 
a farmer of Jackson County, and Lena, now Mrs. Severson, who lives near 
Neillsville, Wis. Mrs. Larson is the fifth of six children, the others being: 
Andrew (deceased), who married Petra Tennseth (deceased), and has one son, 
Casper; Olive, who married Andrew Rye, a farmer of Taconite, Minn.; Peter of 
Whitehall; Carrie, who lives with her brother Anton; and Anton, who is a 
merchant in York, Wisconsin.

-Transcribed from the "History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, 1917," 
pages 487 - 488