Sarah Gunderson

GUNDERSON, KNUTSON

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 2/13/2011 at 20:29:38

Mrs. Sarah Gunderson is well known in Emmett County, where she has long resided, her home being now on section 12, in Twelve Mile Lake township. She is the widow of Andrew Gunderson and is a native of Columbia County, Wisconsin. Her parents were Knut and Olive (Isaacson) Knutson, who were natives of Norway, and her father made farming his life work. Coming to the new world, he established his home in Wisconsin and was there residing at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War. Responding to the country's call for military aid, he joined Company A of the Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and went to the front, serving until honorably discharged on account of illness. He never recovered his health and died three years after leaving the army. He had three sons who were also in the service: John, who was wounded while at the front but recovered; Thomas, who was killed, thus laying down his life on the altar on his country, and Isaac, who died from illness in a hospital during his term of service.

Mrs. Gunderson spent her girlhood in her native state, was confirmed in Iowa and pursued her education in a Norwegian school in Wisconsin. When eighteen years of age she gave her hand in marriage to Andrew Gunderson and two years later they left Wisconsin for Iowa, taking up their abode in Twelve Mile Lake township, Emmet County. Mr. Gunderson purchased the northwest quarter of section 12 and later the northeast quarter of section 11, but afterward forty acres of the farm was sold to his brother, L. L. Gunderson. Andrew Gunderson was born in Norway, June 1, 1843, a son of Louis and Lena Gunderson, the former a shoemaker by trade. The son attended the common schools of his native country and when eighteen years of age came to America with his parents, the family home being established in Dane County, Wisconsin. The father followed shoemaking in Lodi, Wisconsin, and there he and his wife remained until called to their final rest. Their family numbered four sons and three daughters. Andrew Gunderson became familiar with the trade of shoemaking and worked with his father up to the time of his marriage. He then started out independently and, as previously indicated, became interested in farming in Emmet County, securing a tract of land which he converted into rich and productive fields. He annually gathered golden harvests as for the care and labor which he bestowed upon his place and became recognized as one of the foremost agriculturists of his district.

To Mr. and Mrs. Gunderson were born eleven children, of whom nine are yet living. The eldest, Lena, became the wife of George Wigdahl and died in 1896, leaving her husband, who is now a resident of Colton, Dakota and two children: Oberner, a resident of Chicago, and Lawrence, also of Colton, South Dakota. The second child of the family was George Leland, who died in infancy. The others of the household are: Olive, the wife of Henry Beucus, of Monee, Illinois; Louise, who married Otley R. Westfall, of Chicago; Hans, who married Bertha Ellingbo and is now living with his mother, for whom he cultivates the homefarm ; Knut, at home; Ellen, the wife of John Christman, of Chicago; Emma, the wife of Clay Foley, of Chicago; Andrew, who married Aldo Waldo and is living in Monee, Illinois; and Hazel and Alma, both residing in Chicago.

The death of the husband and father occurred December 11, 1894, he was laid to rest in Riverside cemetery at Wallingford. He served as a member of the school board in Twelve Mile Lake township was much interested in the cause of education, recognizing the fact that the public school system is one of the bulwarks of the nation. He voted with the Republican party but was never an aspirant for office. His religious faith was that of the Norwegian Lutheran Church. He won material success in life through his indefatigable industry and and at his death he left to his family not only a comfortable competence but also the priceless heritage of an untarnished name. Mrs. Gunderson, surviving him, is numbered among the old-time residents of the county, having long made her home here, so that she is familiar with the history of its development from pioneer days to the present.

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