| Summary: | COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 707 posed of his effects. In the fall of 1890 went to Fair Haven, Washington, where he was eniploysd in the Fair Haven machine shops eight months and then returned to Foster county and in the spring of 1892 he began farming again. He purchased land in section 28 and section 22, township 145, range 66, bought horses, machinery, etc., and has since prospered in his calling. He has e.xperienced exciting times, fighting prairie fires and facing blizzards which have visited the coun-try. He lost four hunared acres of crop in 1899 by hail, but despite every discouragement he has steadily moved forward to comfortable circum-stances. He is now the propriet^or of a farm of six hundred and forty acres and cultivates about six hundred acres annually and has all necessary machinery and horses and stock. Mr. Blinsky has always taken an active part in the advancement and development of his township and county. He is a stanch Republican and has attended as a delegate some of the conventions of his party. JOHN JOHNSON, engaged in diversified farming in section 18. in Gardar township, is one of the progressive and intelligent younger members of the farming community composed mostlv of na-tives of Iceland. The familv of which he is a mem-ber were among the first of that land to take up their residence in this country, and have become worthy citizens and men of active public spirit, manifest-ing American progress in connection with the ad-vance of civilization. Air. Johnson was born in Iceland, November i, 1862, and he and an elder sister were the only chil-dren born to John and bigurbjorg ( Stephanson"! Jbhnson. The parents now reside with our sub-ject. In the fall of 1873 they joined the first Ice-landic emigration colony bound for America and arrived at Quebec, August 25, and were among the ten families who pushed on to Milwaukee. They remained in Dane county, Wisconsin, one year and then removed to Shawano county, Wisconsin, and in the spring of 1880 our subject, with two companions, came to Pembina county. North Da-kota, seeking land for a small settlement of some five families of Icelanders. Mr. Johnson located on the land where he now resides and made some im-provements antl the following fall the father went there and filed claim thereon. The men composing the colony drove overland with cattle from Wis-consin, a distance of nine hundred miles, and the farm which our subject located was on the north fork of the Park river and a beautiful site was chosen and a log house erected, which stiU stands there among the trees. Three years later a better log house was erected and in 1899 a handsome and commodious residence, fitted with furnace heat and modern improvements, was built and the furnish-ings and appointments of the home are perfect in every particular and furnishes a home of great com-fort and one of the pleasantest in the township. The wealth of the family in the earl\- days consisted of nine head of stock and during those days our sub-ject worked for others and clerked in a store at Gardar for about two years. Our subject was married, in 1886, to Miss Gudbjorg Peterson, a native of Iceland. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, named as follows: Emelia, Stephan, Fredrick, John, Fjola, Sigrun and Clara. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and Alodern Woodmen of America and also holds membership in the Lutheran church. He was elected county commissioner from the second dis-trict in 1888 and is a man of active public spirit in county and township affairs and keeps pace' with the times and wields an influence for good in his community. CHARLES L. KING, president and general manager of the North Dakota Telephone Electrical Company, is a gentleman of good business qualifi-cations and has become thoroughly identified with the advancement and progress of the Northwest. He resides in Harvey, Wells county, and is well and favorably known throughout that region. Our subject was born in Jackson, j\Iichigan, April 2J, 1862. His father, James H. King, was born in the same place, his parents having settled in Michigan in an early day, removing there from New York. They were of Dutch descent and the grandfather of our subject, Finner King, was a farmer and went to Michigan in 1836 and took government land on which the city of Jackson is now built. On the maternal side, the grandfather, An-thony Burwell, was a farmer and raiser of fancy horses and the mother's family were from \'er-mont. Our subject was the eldest in a family consisting of two sons and one daughter and was raised on a farm. He also resided at times in Parma, Homer, Tecumseh and Jackson, as his father was engaged in the hotel business at different times. Our sub-ject attended the city schools and also the Adventist College at Battle Creek. Michigan, four years, and in 1882 went to South Dakota and located at Mil-bank, purchasing land there. He also bought wheat at Milbank and in that vicinity three years for St. Anthony & Dakota Elevator Company and also for himself, and in the spring of 1802 he sold his land, comprising three hundred and twenty acres, for twenty-five dollars per acre, and moved to Minne-apolis, where he engaged in the commission business one year. He went to North Dakota in the spring of 1893 and was employed during the summer as civil engineer on the "Soo" Line, then being built to Portal. North Dakota, after which he was em-ployed at Harvey as clerk and cashier at the railroad station and in the summer of 1894 erected the hotel known as "King's Place," and conducted the liusi-ness until November. 1896, when he disposed of his interests, and in June, 1898, organized the North Internet Archive
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