Soland, G. E. 1854 – 1941
SOLAND, CLEMENT, EGGE, VISTE, BRODLAND, WEFFLIN
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/3/2015 at 08:54:52
G. E. SOLAND.
Among the prominent and progressive farmers and substantial business men of Winneshiek county is numbered G. E. Soland, owner of a fine property of five hundred and eighty acres lying partly in Frankville and partly in Springfield townships. He is connected also with a number of representative financial and commercial enterprises in Decorah and Nordness and by constant application and unremitting industry has surrounded himself with an enviable degree of prosperity. He was born in Springfield township, Winneshiek county, on the 15th of July, 1854, and is a son of Engebret and Helene (Clement) Gulbranson Soland, natives of Norway. The parents came to America and settled in Winneshiek county, Iowa, in pioneer times, the father buying land in Frankville township, which he continued to develop and improve for several years. After he sold it he came to Springfield township and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of raw land, which he set about clearing and improving, later adding to his holdings from time to time until he owned five hundred and sixty acres, all in a high state of cultivation. This fine farm he developed for the remainder of his life, becoming known as one of the representative and successful agriculturists of this region. He died December 6, 1900, having survived his wife since 1880.
G. E. Soland was reared and educated in Springfield township, attending district school and afterward the Breckenridge Institute at Decorah. He learned farming by practical work upon his father's homestead and after the latter's death the estate was divided, each son receiving two hundred and eighty acres of fine land. Mr. Soland has since added to his holdings, owning now five hundred and eighty-eight acres, half of which lies in Frankville township and the remainder in Springfield township. Mr. Soland has not feared earnest and persistent labor, continuing the work of developing his property along modern lines and making upon it substantial improvements, the farm being today one of the finest in this section. The buildings are all upon the land lying on section 12, Springfield township, and the latest improved farm machinery has been installed to facilitate the work of the fields. In addition to his farming operations Mr. Soland is also vice president and a director of the Decorah State Bank and a stockholder in the Nordness Creamery Company and the Nordness Telephone Company, and his business interests are managed in a farsighted, able and progressive way.
On the 25th of April, 1878, Mr. Soland was united in marriage to Miss Magdalena Egge, a daughter of Erick and Helena Egge, natives of Norway. Mr. Soland's first wife passed away in 1885, leaving one daughter, Ella, who married Olaus Viste, a farmer in Decorah township. On the 3d of April, 1888, Mr. Soland was again married, his second wife being Miss Bertha Brodland, a daughter of Hans Brodland, a native of Norway, who never came to America. To this union have been born eight children: Lena, the wife of George Wefflin, who is developing one of his father-in-law's farms; Amelia; Marie; Engebret; Clara; Hans; Etta; and one child who died in infancy.
Mr. Soland is a member of the Lutheran church and gives his political allegiance to the republican party, having rendered the township excellent service as trustee for six years. While his life has been quietly passed, it contains nevertheless lessons of value, for it shows what can be accomplished by a determined and persistent spirit and honorable dealings. He now occupies a position among the prosperous citizens of Winneshiek county and the most envious cannot grudge him his success—so worthily has it been won.
Source: History of Winneshiek County, Iowa Vol. II Chicago the S. J. Clark Publishing Company 1913
Washington Prairie Lutheran cemetery gravestone
Winneshiek Biographies maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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