GROTH, J. A.

GROTH, TOLLEFSON, HOUG, JACOBSON, ASLESON, HOLSTENSON

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 2/2/2011 at 22:03:09

An excellent farm of two hundred acres situated on section 13, St. Ansgar town­ship, pays tribute to the care and labor bestowed upon it by its owner, J. A. Groth, who is one of the representative farmers of this section of the state.

He was born November 10, 1855, on the old family homestead of his father in Mitchell county, his parents being A. H. and Kjirsti (Jacobson) Groth.

The father was born in Hallingdal, Norway, January 21, 1815, and emigrated to the United States in 1852. He first took up his abode in Clayton county, Iowa, where he remained for two years, but in 1854 removed to Mitchell county, and purchased a farm a mile and a half north of St. Ansgar, casting in his lot with the pioneer settlers of this section of the state. The land which he secured was untouched prairie and wood land, upon which not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made. With characteristic energy he began its development and he soon succeeded in transforming the wild prairie into productive fields, from which he gathered good harvests.

In 1854 he [the father] was united in marriage to Miss Kjirsti Jacobson, who was born June 17, 1834, in Hallingdal, Norway, and who in 1849 came to the United States with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Asleson, who located in Rock county, Wisconsin, where they lived for four years. Upon the expiration of that period they came to Mitchell county with a band of settlers led by the Rev. Clausen and took up their abode next to the farm owned and occupied by A. H. Groth. She was the only child in her father's family,: To Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Groth were born thirteen children, among them: J. A.; H. A., who is a farmer of Mitchell county; Helen, the wife of H. S. Houg; A. A. and T. A., who are mentioned elsewhere in this work; Nellie, the wife of M. G. Tollefson, of whom mention is also made on another page of this volume; and Anton C, who resides in St. Ansgar.

J. A. Groth, after acquiring a common school education, spent three years as a student in the St. Ansgar Seminary. From his boyhood days he had worked on the home farm. His father's health failed early and J. A. Groth became an active factor in the further development and improvement of the old homestead. He is today the owner of two hundred acres of highly improved land, constituting one of the fine farms of Mitchell county.

The entire place has been brought under a high state of cultivation and many modern improvements have been added; in fact, there are none of the accessories of the model farm of the twentieth century lacking upon the place. In addition to cultivating the cereals best adapted to soil and climate Mr. Groth is successfully and extensively engaged in truck farming and dairying and in the raising of shorthorn cattle, and the various branches of his business are proving profitable.

On the 29th of December, 1882, Mr. Groth was united in marriage to Miss Celia Holstenson of Clayton county, Iowa, and they have become the parents of five children, Clara J., Adolph S., Alma G., Joseph C., and William A. All are yet at home with the exception of Joseph, who is serving in the United States Army.

Mr. Groth is a stalwart republican in politics, supporting the party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He has served as assessor for twenty years and was township trustee for three or four terms. He has also been treas­urer of the school district for many years and he is interested in all that pertains to the welfare and upbuilding of his section of the state.

He belongs to the Nor­wegian Lutheran church and has been a cooperant factor in promoting the material, intellectual, political and moral progress of the community. For sixty-two years he has been a witness of the changes which have been wrought in this section. His memory goes back to the time when this was a pioneer district in which the work of development had scarcely begun, when the prairies were largely unbroken, streams unbridged and forests grew wild. He has lived to see the establishment of churches and schools, the promotion of important business enterprises and the advancement of all those interests which are features of modern civilization.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, page 365.