THURSTON KNUDSON, one of the most successful and progressive farmers of Rock Run Township, is the proprietor of a fertile farm on section 13, contiguous to the village of Davis, which comprises 160 acres of highly improved land with first-class buildings, including one of the most beautiful residences in this part of the county. He also owns thirty-eight and one-half acres on section 12, lying at the north of the main farm. His operations here have been conducted with more than ordinary skill and intelligence, and the fact that he began in life at the foot of the ladder is a strong evidence of his natural ability, perseverance and good judgment. Mr. K. is also the owner of twenty acres of valuable timber land in Laona Township, Winnebago Co., Ill.

Mr. Knudson came to this county in1842, and in company with his mother's family, took up a claim, and at once proceeded to cultivate the soil and make improvements. He has not always had fair sailing, but has met with some misfortunes. At the time of the construction of the Western Union Railroad, many mortgages given to secure stocks in the road were afterward settled, and a large number of the settlers lost heavily, Mr. K. being among the number, but he spent no time in bewailing his misfortunes. He was mainly prosperous, however, and what he lost in one direction, was soon made up in another. After he had brought his land to a good state of cultivation, he began to turn his attention to stock-raising, and from this branch of agriculture realized for several years a handsome sum annually.

The first recollections of our subject are of the country beyond the sea, where he first opened his eyes to the light (near the town of Kongsberg) at Flesberg, Nummedal, Norway, on the 25th of June, 1825. His father, who was a native of the same country, followed agriculture all his life, and spent his days upon his native soil. He did not live to be an old man, but died when our subject was a child three years of age. The mother was afterward married to Ole Nelson, and in 1842, with her husband and family, emigrated to the United States. The father was taken ill while on the voyage across Lake Michigan, and died before they could reach land. His remains were buried in the city of Milwaukee. The mother and her children soon afterward took up their residence in this county upon a tract of land in Rock Run Township. The mother after a time made her home with her son, our subject, where her death took place from pneumonia, in February, 1880, at the age of eighty-three years.

In 1852 Mr. Knudson, in company with several friends and his half-brother, took an overland trip to California. The parties from this neighborhood were Nels Nelson, Gunder Halvorsen, Christopher Kittilson, Thurston O. Kittilson, Narve Stabest, Svale Nelson and Gunder Teigen. They started April 27, and reached Ft. Reading October 29, following. They encountered no difficulties with the Indians, except a loss of five oxen stolen by them.

Mr. Knudson remained until the spring of 1856, when he started by steamer via Panama, where his party was detained nine days, waiting for a steamer. During this time a riot occurred, in which our subject's half-brother, Nels Nelson, was robbed of all his gold and clothing, and narrowly escaped with his life. They reached home May 5, 1856.

Mr. Knudson, soon after coming to this county, commenced to earn his own living, and after his return from California, was married in the fall of 1857, to Miss Anna J. Olava Rockstead. Mrs. K. was a native of the same Province as her husband, and was born at Kongsberg, Norway, Jan. 1, 1840. She came to the United States with her parents in 1853. They settled first in Chicago, then removed to Rockford, Winnebago County, and in the summer of 1856 removed to this county. After a brief residence in Rock Run Township, they returned to Winnebago County and settled at Durand, where the father died on the 3d of July, 1880, aged sixty-two years. The mother is yet living there at the age of sixty-seven.

Our subject and his wife became the parents of nine children, two, Carrie and Nellie, now deceased. Malinda married John Nelson, a farmer of Jewell County, Kan.; Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have one child, Aubrey O. Anne is the wife of J. W. Johnson, a prosperous farmer of Rock Run Township, and they have one child, Ora A. Charles is a student at the University of Wisconsin, and is now at home; John is clerking in a drug-store in Kansas; Emma, Sophia and Nels W., are at home with their parents. Mr. K., with his family, is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, in which he has officiated as Deacon a number of years. Politically, he votes in Republican ticket, and has served his township repeatedly in holding various offices. Mr. Knudson's dwelling is one of the most tasteful and beautiful farm residences in Northern Illinois, and we are pleased to give a view of it as affording a fine illustration of rural architecture.

Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888), p. 605