Ingvard Jessen

JESSEN, SMIDT, SKOW

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 2/16/2011 at 17:26:49

Ingvard Jessen emigrated to America in the vicinity of Reinbeck, Iowa, in 1901. He came to Emmet County in 1902 with Martin Balmer where he worked as a hired hand for a few years before he started farming for himself. Mr. Jessen borrowed $140.00 to add to what he had saved to buy horses and equipment. He farmed 160 acres southwest of Dolliver.

Christiane Smidt, Mrs. Jessen, left Denmark in 1903 in the company of her sister. They worked in the vicinity of Petersburg, Illinois, for two years.

In 1905 they came to Emmet County to their brother, Anton Smidt. "Anna" worked for the Martin Balmer family and later served as a maid at the Ellsworth Ranch east of Dolliver, which at that time consisted of 3,712 acres.

On March 7, 1908, Ingvard and Christiane drove a team of horses from Dolliver to Ringsted, Iowa to be married in the St. John's Lutheran Church. They came back to the home of her sister, Mrs. H. R. Hansen for the wedding reception and house dance.

The Jessens farmed for one year 2 1/2 miles west of Dolliver; then moved to a farm near Gruver, Iowa where their son Thorvald [Mike] Jessen was born. Five years later they moved to a farm south of Dolliver where their daughter Irene was born. They farmed in the Dolliver area until 1948 when they moved to Dolliver.

Mr. Jessen passed away in 1949 and in 1950 Mrs. Jessen moved to Estherville where she lived until her death in 1969.

Thorvald [Mike] Jessen married Alice Skow of Graettinger, Iowa in 1933.

They have farmed in the Dolliver area since that time. They are the parents of three children. Son Robert is an insurance agent in Armstrong and is married to Jean Richmond of Armstrong. Daughter Marlyes is the wife of Dean Pelz, instrumental music instructor at LeMars, Iowa. Son, Dr. James Jessen is an entomologist. He married Barbara Hebbert of Scotland, South Dakota, and they live near Twin Falls, Idaho.

The grandchildren of the Thorvald Jessens are Kip, Killie, Kent, Karie and Krista Jessen, children of Robert and Jean Jessen. Angela and Mikael Pelz are children of Dean and Marlys Pelz.

Irene Jessen married Dorance Brown of Rhode Island in 1945. They had one son David who teaches instrumental music in Dunkerton, Iowa.

Dorrance was employed at the Davenport Post Office until his death in 1971, and Irene has taught in the Davenport schools for many years. She has been remarried to William Shoemaker.

Contributed by: Jim Richmond. Source: "History of Emmet County, Iowa, VoL. III", Compiled by the Emmet County Historical Society as a Bicentennial Project., Inter-Collegiate Press, Inc., Shawnee Mission, Kansas, 1976, page 226.