CHARLES E. BAILEY , who came to Benson county in those early days when courage alone enabled men to become permanent settlers, is a resident of McClellan township 154, range 68, on section 10 of which his pleasant home is located.
Mr. Bailey was born in Washington county, Iowa, October 20. 1865, and was the eldest of four children born to the union of Wesley A. and Martha S. (Cox) Bailey, who are now residents of Seattle, Washington. Of the children one sister and our subject are the only survivors. The family removed to Michigan when our subject was two years old. and there he grew to manhood, working mostly on the farm, later spending five years as clerk in his father's hardware store. In 1886 the family came to Benson county, and the father filed claim to lands which Charles E. Bailey now owns. The following spring Mr. C. E. Bailey took up government land, and two years later, when his parents went to the coast, he took charge of both farms and has since operated them. He came to Benson county when he had few neighbors and little to encourage a young man. and for the first few years crops were such as to render conditions anything but agreeable. In his own language he was induced to remain only because "walking was not good, and he would have had a long way to go." For two years he lived in a 10 x 12-foot shanty, and then erected a frame house 18x20 feet, to which he afterward made additions. He now owns a fine residence, with stone cellar, a two-hundred and fifty-barrel cistern, a fine barn and all conveniences and comforts of country life. His house is beautifully situated, commanding a view of a wide stretch of the most fertile region of Benson county, including ten villages and Devils Lake.
Mr. Bailey is a Republican in political faith, and is a valued citizen and member of the community. He was married, in 1898, to Miss Amarilla Johns. She died without issue May 29, 1900. By a former marriage Mr. Bailev has one son, Lester C.
No one in Benson county is more worthy a place in the annals of North Dakota than Mr. Bailey, coming as he did when the county was a wilderness and with undaunted courage to develop the resources of the country. He is now the owner of eight hundred acres, six hundred and forty under cultivation, making one of the most valuable estates in Benson county. Among the improvements on the farm is a grove of ten acres, containing fourteen hundred trees, some of which are thirty-five feet high. This is undoubtedly the finest grove in the county, and has grown in the last eight years.
HANS O. BLEGEN, a leading citizen of Benson county, and one of its most successful farmers, has his comfortable home in section 23, Normania township. Mr. Blegen was born in Norway, near Lillehammar, February 20, 1853. He was the eldest of four sons born to Ole J. and Anna (Hanson) Blegen. The parents came to America in 1876. The mother died, and the father now lives with his sons in Benson county.
Mr. Hanson was reared on a farm in his native land till he reached the age of sixteen years. He then went to live with the Rev. Mr. Comstrop, where he had the advantages of a good schooling, and where he gained some knowledge of the English tongue. In 1873 he came to America and settled at Rochester, Minnesota, and there engaged in farm work. He worked out two years and conducted a farm of his own for ten years, and finally, in the spring of 1878, he visited South Dakota, and in 1883 visited North Dakota, and examined the country with a view to locating. It was not, however, until 1885 that he came to Dakota for permanent settlement. In that year he came to Benson county and filed a claim on the land he now owns. His family joined him the following year, and as he had some stock and a little ready money, he soon had his farm under full operation. The few years of short crops that followed, together with much sickness in his family, discouraged him to some extent, but he has since prospered and is now the owner of five hundred, and twenty acres of valuable lands, three hundred and fifty acres of which he cultivates annually. He has a comfortable residence and a capacious barn and all necessary out buildings, machinery and stock to do a successful farming business.
Mr. Blegen was married, in 1873, to Miss Christina Olson, and to this union seven children have been born, as follows; Ignet, deceased; Anna, Clara, Ole, farming at home; Oscar, deceased, and Otella, deceased, and Olaf. After the death of Mrs. Blegen, our subject, in 1895, married Miss Mary Erickson, and to them three children have been born, namely, Carl, Helmer and Christena. Mr. Blegen is a Republican in political views, and has been active in public affairs since coming to Benson county. He assisted in the organization of the township in 1890, and became chairman of the first township board, and afterward became assessor, and for the last five years has been chairman of the township board again. He is a member of the Lutheran church, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights of the Maccabees.
HON. CARL G. BROWN, a prominent farmer and leading citizen of Benson county, and one of the pioneers of the county, resides on his farm one mile north of the city of Minnewaukon.
Mr. Brown was born in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, December 4, 1858. He was the younger of two sons born to the union of Hon. Orlando and Margaret (Gillfillen) Brown. After the death of the mother, the father re-married, and the step-mother of our subject gave him a mother's care. Mr. Brown was reared on the farm, and attended the public schools, and at the age of eighteen years he took a two years' course in bookkeeping and commercial law at LaCrosse Business College. In 1878 he went to northern Minnesota, and there entered a printing office where he was employed for some time. He returned to Wisconsin in 1883. and in company with his father, went to Ramsey county. North Dakota, with the intention of securing a town site. In a few weeks a partnership was formed, its membership including our subject, his father, Captain Heerman, and Messrs Adams, Benson and Kindred, the object being to engage in the town site business. In April, 1883, they started a town at the west end of Devils Lake, which they called West End, and Capt. Heerman established his steamboat line between that point and the town of Devils Lake, while the Northern Pacific Railway Company had agreed to touch their town site. The railroad company failed to keep its promise, however, and the town of Minnewaukon was started in 1884.
After the organization of Benson county Mr. Brown was appointed deputy register of deeds, and later was appointed deputy county treasurer, and in 1884 was appointed treasurer of Benson county. He was successfully elected to that office, holding same until January 1, 1895. In the fall of 1894 he was elected to the state senate and took his seat at the fourth session of that body. He Served as chairman of the committee on Indian affairs. and was a member of the judiciary committee, the committee on elections and the revenue taxation committee, and on the latter committee the greater part of his work was done. In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican, and has been a leader of his party in the county since his first residence therein. He began farming in 1893, and since that time has devoted much attention to that business. He moved to his farm in 1894, and now conducts a farming business on a large scale, his holdings amounting to about one thousand acres. A fire destroyed his handsome residence during the spring of 1900, but in other respects his estate is well supplied with all conveniences for the conduct of modern farming. It is his intention to again become a resident of Minewaukon in the near future, and devote his attention to his interests there.
Mr. Brown was married in 1886, to Miss Kate Murphy, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Harold. Orpha, Carlton and Phineas. Mr. Brown is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Brown has served the people of Benson county in an official capacity for a longer period than any other man in the county, his official services extending over a period of fifteen years, and he is today one of the most conspicuous figures in the public life of the county.
THOMAS CASCADEN, the pioneer settler inLeeds township, and a prosperous and influential farmer, is one of the substantial citizens of Benson county who have done so much to put that county in the front rank in the matter of prosperity and rapid development. His home is on section 12, Leeds township. Mr. Cascaden was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, December 21, 1850. He was the youngest of four children born to John and Isabella (Wigle) Cascaden, both of whom are now deceased. The grandfather on the father's side was of Scotch descent, and came from the north of Ireland. On the mother's side our subject inherits German blood, the Wigles locating in Canada three generations back.
Thomas Cascaden was reared on a farm in Canada, and got such education as the public schools afforded. He remained at home until twenty-three years of age, and then rented lands and farmed for himself, finally taking charge of the home farm. In 1882 he sold his belongings and went to Manitoba and engaged in wheat raising. This venture proved a failure, and in 1885 he gathered together his resources and came to Benson county. He took up government land, and built a 12x18-foot shanty on the unbroken prairie in what is now Leeds township, his being the first house erected in the township. Devils Lake, thirty miles distant, was the nearest market, and his next door neighbor was eight miles east of his farm. They realized all the hardships incident to pioneer life, both Mr. and Mrs. Cascaden being ill at the same time, with none to look after them and the four small children, while the stock and property went uncared for. They fought it through as best they could, and soon began to prosper. After one year the shanty was supplanted by a small frame house which was their home until 1898, when their present comfortable and commodious residence was erected. Mr. Cascaden's most profitable crop was in 1891, when his wheat yielded twenty-five bushels per acre, and sold for seventy to eighty cents per bushel.
Mr. Cascaden was married, in 1879, to Miss Adeline Truax. Their home has been blessed by the birth of the following children: Arthur W., Myrtle B., Thomas Roy, Albert, Cora G., John Bryson, Laura, Luella, Horatio Nelson, Lewis J. and Alice V. In political sentiment Mr. Cascaden has been a Republican since coming to the state. In the past he. has favored the free silver principles, and for a time acted with the Populist party movement. In 1892 he was elected county commissioner for the first district, and during the third year of his term was made chairman of the board. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Modern Woodmen of America. He has shown himself to be an able representative of the people in an official capacity, and his adherence to duty has won his the respect and confidence of all without regard to party lines.
GEORGE DUNCAN, clerk of the district court of Benson county, whose well appointed home is in the thriving city of Minnewaukon, was born in Scotland, June 15, 1862. He was the fourth child in a family of eight children born to James and Janette (Wilson) Duncan, both of whom are now deceased.
In 1879 Mr. Duncan went to Glasgow with the intention of taking ship for New Zealand or the South African mines, but learning that times were rather dull in both those places, he and his two companions determined to try their fortunes in America, and on arrival in this country Mr. Duncan joined his brother in Wabasha county, Minnesota, He found employment in the lumber districts and at farm work for some time. In the spring of 1885 Mr. Duncan went to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and leased a farm for the season, and was unfortunate enough to lose by frost all his crop in which he had invested his earnings from his hard work in Minnesota. In the fall of 1885 he came to Benson county, and the following spring took up land in the county. He worked at odd jobs in Minnewaukon, and by close economy and hard work paid the last of his debts in Grand Forks county. He then laid aside enough of his earnings to enter Sauk Center Academy, and began his studies in that institution in 1889. On completing his work there he returned to Minnewaukon and took a position as clerk in the old Minnewaukon Bank, and in 1893 was appointed deputy register of deeds. In 1897 he was appointed to complete the unexpired term of the clerk of courts, and at the next general election was returned to that office, and is now serving in that capacity. In 1896 Mr. Duncan began dealing in real estate, and he now does a profitable business in real estate and loans.
In 1895 occurred the marriage of Mr. Duncan to Miss Tillie Pierson, and to this union three children have been born, named in the order of their birth, as follows: Walter R., George R. and Mabel. In political faith Mr. Duncan is a Republican, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is a genial and popular gentleman, and a highly respected and esteemed member of the community.
GOTFRED H. GUNHUS. Prominent among the early settlers and prosperous farmers of Benson county is the gentleman whose name introduces this article. His comfortable home is situated on section 35, Leeds township, where he is the owner of a half-section of the most valuable lands inNorth Dakota.
Mr. Gunhus was born in Snorum Modums Prestegjeld, Norway, November 30, 1856. He was the second child in a family of six children born to Hans and Anne (Saastad) Asbjornhus, both parents being now deceased. At the age of fourteen years Mr. Gunhus was apprenticed to a tailor in Drammen and there he remained until he was twenty-four years old. In the summer of 1881. having grown tired of his trade, Mr. Gunhus came to America. He went to Dane county, Wisconsin, and afterward to Eau Claire county, in the same state, working at anything he could get to do. In the summer of 1884 he started to go to the Pacific coast, but on his arrival at St. Paul, Minnesota, he joined an excursion to Devils Lake, and on reaching there he was so pleased with the country that he immediately filed a claim to land in what is now Lake Ibsen township, thus becoming one of the earliest residents of Benson .county. He brought with him about one hundred dollars and this was expended in building a shanty and getting his bachelor home fitted up. The next year he began breaking on his claim and in 1886 took up the homestead claim on which he now lives in Leeds township. In 1888 he practically lost his entire crop, barely getting the amount of his seed from the entire yield. Since that he has prospered, however, and has a valuable estate and his home is furnished with all the conveniences of modern farm life.
Mr. Gunhus was married, in 1889, to Miss Andrina Goldberg. She born at Mabel, Fillmore county, Minnesota , and to this union five children have been born, as follows: Selmer, deceased. Alma, Selma , deceased, Harry A. and Mabel S. Mr. Gunhus is a member of the Lutheran church and in political views is a Republican. He takes an active interest in the affairs of his township and county. He is a member of the board of supervisors and of the school board and takes a deep interest in the welfare of his community.
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