- REV. OLE ANDREWSON, D.D., deceased. Among the Scandinavian
immigrants who in the
- early forties peopled the forests of southern Wisconsin and
northern Illinois with a thrifty and vigorous class of settlers,
were a few ministers, who thus brought to the new land the revered
religious services and observances of the old homes. The duties
which fell to these spiritual guides were onerous and exacting.
They were leaders in temporal as well as religious affairs, and
too often the chief mainstay of the community during its years
of struggle and long privation. One of the noble clergymen who
thus consecrated in a new land his whole-souled energies to his
countrymen was Rev. Ole ANDREWSON.
- Our subject was born in Hjertdal's parish, Telemarken, Norway,
March 2, 1818, son of Anders
- TOLLEVENSON and Engebor. In his youth he was a shepherd boy,
but he was subsequently educated for the ministry in Hoideseid's
Seminary, from which he graduated. For three years he taught
parochial school, then in 1841 he emigrated to America, and settled
in Racine, Wis. There he remained until 1844, engaged in the
arduous labors of the farm in connection with his ministerial
duties.
- He married June 8, 1843, Miss Ragnhild PAULSEN, and in the
following year removed to
- Jefferson Prairie, Rock Co., Wis., where he settled on a
farm. In 1846 he accepted a call to a parish at Mission Point,
La Salle Co., Ill., and moved there in 1847. He organized congregations
as Leland, Fox River and Lisbon, and in 1851 he also organized
congregations at Racine, Milwaukee and Muskego, Wis. In 1855
he took charge of the Fox River (Ill.) congregation, and the
year following accepted a call from the Evangelical Lutheran
Church at Clinton, Wis., where his pastorate extended through
the long period of thirty years and until his death, on Feb.
23, 1885, at the age of sixty-six years. During these years he
preached also at Muskego, Wis., and Queen Anne Prairie and Leland,
Ill. In 1880 he was elected president of the Norwegian Augustana
Synod, serving as such until his death. Dr. ANDREWSON was a minister
of deep and earnest conviction, deeply devoted to his consecrated
work. He was an eloquent speaker, ranking high in oratory in
the councils of the Synod, but no less noted for the clearness
and strength of his logic.
- To Dr. and Mrs. ANDREWSON were born eleven children, one
of whom, Oscar Norman, the
- youngest, born Sept. 22, 1867, died in 1870. At a family
reunion which was held July26, 1900, at the old homestead in
Clinton, Wis., the entire ANDREWSON family were present, including
the mother, who was born May 23, 1824, and who accordingly was
in her seventy-seventh year, and the ten children, as follows:
Isabella, Paul, Andrew, Annie T., Oliver, Caroline, Rebecca,
Louisa (and her three children), Emma C. and Henry O.
- Isabella ANDREWSON, now the wife of ex-Sheriff MATSON, of
Chicago, married for her first
- husband Daniel RICHOLSEN, a commission merchant of Leland,
Ill., who died in Calamus, Iowa, in 1872. They had one son, Frank,
who died in 1891, aged twenty-three years. The widow married
Dec. 13, 1888, Sheriff Canute R. MATSON.
- Paul ANDREWSON, the eldest son, was born Sept. 7, 1846, near
Clinton, and married Oct. 26,
- 1882, Miss Emma OLESON. He is a farmer by occupation, owning
forty acres of land in Clinton township, Rock county. He enlisted
Nov. 15, 1864, in the United States navy, at Chicago, serving
on the Mississippi river on the Commodore C. M. Davis squadron,
engaged in patrol duty. After his honorable discharge at Mound
City, Ill., in 1865, he resumed farming. He is a member of Alexis
Tollman Post, No. 70, G.A.R. He is a member of the Lutheran Church,
and in politics is a Republican.
- Andrew ANDREWSON, the second son, was born near Ottawa, Ill.,
Nov. 24, 1848. He
- removed to Clinton with his parents, working on the farm,
and later for several years was salesman in the Clinton stores.
Removing to Chicago after the fire of 1871, he there learned
the printer's trade, which he has since followed. He now lives
on a farm of forty acres, which he owns, located five miles southeast
of Clinton. He married Nov. 4, 1875, Miss Nellie HAWKINSEN, a
daughter of Ole HAWKINSEN, a farmer of Manchester, Ill., and
of their ten children seven are now living, Ruth Amelia, Hannah
Irene, Sarah Louisa, George Henry and Grace Henrietta (twins),
Otto Paul and Emma Helena. The two eldest live in Sharon, Wis.
- Annie T. ANDREWSON, the second daughter, was born at Ottawa,
Ill., Aug. 18, 1851, was
- educated in the public schools of Clinton, and in 1877 removed
to Chicago, where until 1888 she was employed by Judson &
Co. On December 1, 1888, she was appointed matron of the Cook
county jail, a position which she still holds. Miss ANDREWSON
inherits the devotion and deep religious convictions of her father,
and her religious influence has been of estimable benefit to
many of the unfortunates who have come under her charge in the
department over which she presides.
- Oliver ANDREWSON, the third son, was born near Burlington,
Wis., April 28, 185-, and lives
- at Racine.
- Caroline ANDREWSON, the third daughter, was born March 10,
1856, and lives at home with
- her mother and her brother Henry.
- Helen Rebecca ANDREWSON, the fourth daughter, was born April
25, 1857, and married
- April 19, 1884, Elling ARENSEN, a farmer. They have four
children, Olive Agnes, Margaret Rachel, Andrew Norman and Harold
Elling.
- Louisa ANDREWSON, the fifth daughter, was born Oct. 14, 1860,
and married April 19, 1884,
- O. W. CHRISTENSEN, of Chicago. She and her sister Helen were
married the same day, her father officiating at the double wedding.
Mr. and Mrs. CHRISTENSEN have three living children, Rhoda Irene,
Oliver Winfred and Paul Luther. One son died in infancy.
- Emma C. ANDREWSON, the sixth daughter, was born Feb. 13,
1863, and married May 8,
- 1889, Ole L. LINDREN, of Chicago, an engineer on the Illinois
Central railroad. They have had three children, Agnes Isabel,
Anne Louisa and Sophia Caroline; the last named died in infancy.
- Henry O. ANDREWSON, the fourth son, was born July 20, 1864,
and was educated in the
- public schools of Clinton and at Beloit (Wis.) College. For
some time he worked as a fireman on the Northwestern railroad,
but after his father's death, in 1885, he took charge of the
home farm, which he has since managed. He is a thorough-going
business man, polished and genial in address, and popular wherever
known.
- Canute R. MATSON, son-in-law of the devoted pioneer clergyman
mentioned above, was born
- in Norway, April 9, 1843. He came to America in 1849 with
his parents, who settled in Walworth county, Wis., and subsequently
moved to Dane county, and there he attended the local district
schools. His early education was supplemented by study at Albion
(Wis.) Academy and Milton (Wis.) College, at which latter institution
he was the classmate and bosom friend of Knute NELSON, afterward
governor of Minnesota. Mr. MATSON served through the Civil war
as a member of the 13th Wis. V. I., enlisting Aug. 16, 1861,
serving a full term of three years, and re-enlisting, and was
mustered out in Texas in December, 1865, with the rank of lieutenant.
He served in the Army of the Cumberland. In 1866 he located in
Chicago. There he was for a time clerk in the post office, and
later he published the "Postal Record." He became influential
in politics from the first, and served successively as clerk
of the police court (to which office he was re-elected on the
celebrated Fire-proof ticket after the fire), justice of the
peace, coroner and deputy sheriff, and in 1866 was elected sheriff,
serving four years. It was during his administration of this
office that the anarchist riot and the Cronin murder occurred
in the city, and he officiated at the execution of the convicted
anarchists. The Chicago "boodlers" were also convicted
during his term of office. At the expiration of this service
Mr. MATSON began the practice of law in Chicago, having been
admitted to the Chicago Bar prior to his election as sheriff.
He is a Mason of high standing, and one of the most prominent
members of the A.O.U.W. in the United States.
- Mr. MATSON owns a well-improved farm of 160 acres and a handsome
summer home near
- Clinton, Wis. His family consists of four children: Marie
Isabelle, Frederick Rognald, Canute Royal and Gertrude Rachel.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901; pp. 4-5.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|