ERLAND W. HESSELROTH
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ERLAND W. HESSELROTH. of
Graham
Lakes
township. is one of the very earliest settlers of Nobles county having resided
here since the April of l870. During the pioneer days be took a very active part
in the
political and social life of the county, and was one of Nobles county's first
public officers.
Mr. Hesselroth was born in Dahlands, Bosure lan, Sweden,
May 28, 1834, the son of
Carl and Anna (Berg) Hesselroth, His parents died in Sweden, his father in 1848,
aged 47 years, and his mother in 1850, aged 50 years. Young Hesselroth
was educated in his
native land and resided there until he was 20 years old. For two years he was
employed as clerk in an iron foundry. He came to
America
with an uncle in 1854 and located at LaCrosse,
Wis.
, where his relative bought land, and that was his home until the outbreak of
the war. Two winters he spent working in the logging camps of northern
Wisconsin
, and during the rest of the time he claimed LaCrosse as his home he was
employed at farm work and in sawmills.
He was enrolled in company A, of the 20th Wisconsin
volunteer infantry, on July 14, 1862, at LaCrosse, and served in that regiment
until Aug. 24, 1863, when he was discharged at Carleton, La., because of
disability arising from wounds received at the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark., on
Dec. 7, 1862. He was in a hospital at
Fayetteville
,
Ark.
, for two or three months, and in February, 1863, was taken to the hospital at
Springfield
,
Mo., in which he remained until early in April. He had then sufficiently recovered
to rejoin his regiment, and with it he took part in the closing acts of the Vicksburg
campaign. After his discharge he was out of the service one year. Then he
reenlisted, on Aug. 30, 1864, in the first battery of Wisconsin artillery, but
saw no more active service. being placed on garrison duty at
Raton Rouge
,
La.
He was honorably discharged at the close of the war. his discharge being dated
June 26, 1865.
After his service with the army Mr. Hesselroth returned to
his
Wisconsin
home, but in the spring of 1866 he moved to
Rochester
,
Minn.
, where for four years he worked in the harvest fields and at other occupations.
In the spring of 1870; with five companions, he set out for the Sioux Falls
country. While the party was passing through the
Graham
Lakes
country they found a few settlers, who induced them to locate there, and about
the 15th of May all took claims. Mr. Hesselroth filed a soldier's homestead on
the southeast quarter of section 34
Graham
Lakes
township, and in the fall of the year built a cabin thereon. For 38 years,
with the exception of five years from 1902 to 1907 spent in Worthington, he has lived there.
At the county's first election, held in November, 1870,
Mr. Hesselroth was elected judge of probate and served until late in 1872, when
he resigned and W. M. Bear was appointed. He was also
Graham
Lakes
township's first justice of the peace, and served several terms. He was the
second
assessor of the township, and served one term. For many years he was a member of
the township board of supervisors.
Mr. Hesselroth was married in Cottonwood county Nov, 23,
1875. to Clarissa Oakes, a native of
Genesee
,
Mich.
To this union have been born three children: Lawrence Hilmer. born Sept. 14,
1876. died when 12 years old; Anna Nacy (Mrs. Roy Rose). born Jan. 31, 1878.
residing in
Graham
Lakes
township; Hilda Lucia, of
Worthington
, born March 29, 1881.
Note; Erland Hesselroth is buried in Seward Cemetery,
Seward Twp., Nobles county Minnesota