Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

H. A. Helberg, who is one of the prosperous and progressive farmers and dairymen of Nokomis township, owns and operates a well improved and valuable farm of one hundred and twenty acres within four and a quarter miles of Alta.  He was born in Sweden, October 10, 1852, his parents being Andres and Johanna Helberg, also natives of that country.  Their family numbered three children, namely:  H. A., of this review; Nels, whose demise occurred in 1905; and Christina, a resident of Denver.  The father, who followed the trade of cabinet making in Sweden, passed away in that country, and the mother, accompanied by her children, Nels and Christina, emigrated to the United States, joining her son, H. A., in Chicago. Later the little party removed to Denver, where Mrs. Helberg passed away in 1907, while her son Nels was called to his final rest in 1905.

H. A. Helberg was reared in Landskrona, Sweden, and acquired his education in the schools of that country, there also learning the painter's trade.  In1873 he crossed the Atlantic to the new world and took up his abode in Chicago, working at his trade in the western metropolis for several years.  On the 16th of November, 1878, he was there married to Miss Selma Amelia Johnson, who was also born in Sweden, August 24, 1857.  In the year 1883 the young couple located on a tract of eighty acres in Buena Vista county, Iowa, which Mr. Helberg had previously purchased.  After opening up and improving the farm he sold it and bought eighty acres where he now resides on section 31, Nokomis township.  As the years passed by he brought the fields under a high state of cultivation and placed many substantial improvements thereon, including the erection of a good barn, hog house and all necessary outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock.  He likewise added to and remodeled the residence, and later extended the boundaries of his property by an additional purchase of forty acres.  A well kept grove and orchard enhance the attractive appearance of the place, and Mr. Helberg is widely recognized as one of the successful and enterprising agriculturists of the community.  In addition to the work of general farming he is also engaged in raising and feeding stock and likewise conducts a dairy business, meeting with a gratifying and well merited measure of prosperity in all his undertakings.

Mr. and Mrs. Helberg have two children, namely:  Helmer, who assists his father in the work of the home farm; and Esther, the wife of Ed E. Jones, of Alta.  In his political views Mr. Helberg is a stanch [sic] republican and has served as school director, the cause of education ever finding in him a stalwart champion.  Coming to the new world in order that he might take advantage of the broader business opportunities here offered, he has worked diligently and persistently to achieve the .success which he now enjoys and which entitles him to representation among the substantial citizens of his adopted county.