Peter A. Gaarde

GAARDE, HANSEN, CHURCHILL

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 2/13/2011 at 20:19:31

Much of the success which has characterized the history of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company is due to the efficiency of its secretary, Peter A. Gaarde, of Armstrong. He was born in Denmark in September, 1877, and his parents, Anderson N. and Mary (Hansen) Gaarde, were likewise natives of that country. About 1880 the family emigrated to the United States and after residing for two years in the vicinity of Clinton, Iowa, removed to Emmet county, where the father purchased land in Denmark township. He engaged in farming there until his wife's death in September, 1887, when he sold out. From that tie until his demise which occurred on the 13th of July, 1907 he made his home with his children.

Peter A. Gaarde was but five years old when the family located in Denmark township, Emmet county, and his early education was therefore acquired in the district schools there. Later he was for a time a student at Sioux City, Iowa. When but thirteen years old he went to work and at the age of twenty years he purchased land in Denmark township which he operated for about sixteen years. Subsequently he conducted a furniture store in Ringsted for one year, after which he clerked for a year. He then returned to the farm, but in 1915 took up his residence in Armstrong, where he has since remained. He is devoting much of his time and attention to his duties as secretary of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, a local organization, which has built up a large business. He also looks after his farming interests as he still owns three hundred and twenty acres in Denmark township and two hundred and forty acres in Iowa Lake township.

On New Year's Day, 1908, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gaarde and Miss Myna Churchill and they have become the parents of five children, Arnold, Fern, Bernetta, Earl and Grace. A careful study of social and political conditions has led Mr. Gaarde to support the socialist party and he keeps well informed concerning the questions ad issues of the day. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America lodge and is also a member of the Lutheran church He has a wide acquaintance throughout the county and his genuine worth is attested by the fact that those who have known him the most intimately are his stanchest friends.

Source: History of Emmet County and Dickinson County Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, The Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1917, page 294.

Interment in Armstrong Grove cemetery
 

Emmet Biographies maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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