Gustav Gilbert

GILBERT, SANDO

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 2/13/2011 at 20:21:01

Gustav Gilbert, whose well improved farm on section 10, Twelve Mile Lake township, gives evidence of the careful supervision and progressive methods of the owner, is numbered among Iowa's native sons, his birth having occurred in Fayette county on the 20th of February, 1869. His parents, Ingebret and Emily Gilbert, were natives of Norway and in early life the father followed the occupation of farming while later he turned his attention to merchandising in Elgin, Iowa. In 1878 he became a resident of Emmet county and purchased a farm in Ellsworth township, comprising the south half of the southeast quarter of section 30. There he continued to devote his attention to general agricultural pursuits until the last ten years of his life, which were spent in honorable retirement from labor. He died at the home of his son Gustav in 1908, having for six years survived his wife, who passed away in 1902. The family was well known in this county and Mr. Gilbert served as township clerk and was also a school director for a number of years. To him and his wife were born ten children, of whom five are yet living.

Gustav Gilbert of this review spent his youthful days like the other children of the household, dividing his time between the acquirement of a public school education and such tasks as were assigned him by parental authority. He continued to work for his father until after he had gained his majority and gained broad and valuable practical experience in that connection. He afterward rented land from his father for five years and eventually he purchased the south half of the northeast quarter of section 10, Twelve Mile Lake township, and is now the owner of an excellent farm of eighty acres. He carefully and persistently tills his fields, which return to him golden harvests as a reward for the labor which he bestows upon them. In addition to tilling the soil in the production of crops best adapted to climatic conditions here he is engaged in the raising of thoroughbred shorthorn cattle. His farm is splendidly improved with all modern equipments and his success is indeed the legitimate reward of his labor.

On the 27th day of September, 1894, Mr. Gilbert was married to Miss Barbara Sando and they have become the parents of seven children: Alma, who is in the city clerk's office in Estherville; Frithjof, who is attending the Jewell Lutheran College at Jewel, Iowa; and Viola, Luella, Odena, Rudolph and Margaret, all at home.

The religious faith of the parents is that of the Norwegian Lutheran church and politically Mr. Gilbert maintains an independent course, supporting men and measures rather than party. He has been town-township assessor for the past four years, was township clerk for eight years and for four years occupied that position in Ellsworth township. He is never neglectful of the duties of citizenship and always faithfully performs every public service entrusted to him. He has many, genuinely fine qualities and he is a representative of that class of successful agriculturists who have done much for the upbuilding of the state.

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