Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

Louis E. Larson, who is successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits on sections 1 and 2, Fairfield township, was born in Sweden, August 22, 1862.  His father, Andrew Larson, whose birth occurred in I839, emigrated to the United States in the year 1879, working in the coal mines at Centerville, Iowa, for about nine years.  In 1888 he came to Buena Vista county and settled on the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which is now the home of our subject. It was a tract of raw prairie but he resolutely set to work to reclaim the wild land for the purposes of cultivation and eventually developed a highly improved and valuable farming property.  He passed away in l902 in the faith of the Swedish Lutheran church, of which his wife is also a member.  The latter, who bore the maiden name of Anna Nelsen, was born in Sweden in 1842 and still survives, making her home with her son, Louis E.  She had but one other child, who died in Sweden.

Louis E. Larson acquired his education in the common schools of his native land and has always made his home under the parental roof. On the death of his father he came into possession of the old homestead farm and has purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining, so that his holdings now comprise three hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive land, in the cultivation of which he is meeting with a gratifying and well merited measure of prosperity.

On the 30th of December, 1890, at Marathon, Mr. Larson was united in marriage to Miss Hulda Eckman, a native of this county and a daughter of C. A. Johannesen or Eckman.  They had four children, namely:  Oscar N., at home; Carl A., who died in infancy; Joseph Conrad, who died in infancy; and Elmer T., who died February 15, 1909.

In his political views Mr. Larson is a stalwart republican and is now school director, in which capacity he has served for several years.   His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Swedish Lutheran church, in the work of which he takes an active and helpful interest.  He is public-spirited, giving his co-operation to every movement which tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of his adopted county.