Olaf Westerberg

WESTERBERG, HOCKINSON, CLAUSON

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 2/7/2010 at 17:41:20

OLAF WESTERBERG

Olaf Westerberg, who follows farming on section 5, Ellington township, Hancock county, and is meeting with excellent success in his chosen occupation, was born on the 7th of March, 1879, in Sweden, of which country his parents, John and Anna (Hockinson) Westerberg, were also natives. In 1882 the family came to the United States and took up their abode in Hancock county, Iowa, where the father purchased a farm, but he and his wife are now living in Forest City. They have two sons, the older being E. J. Westerberg, whose sketch appears on another page of this volume.

Olaf Westerberg was only three years of age when brought to this country by his parents and upon the home farm in Hancock county he grew to manhood, his education being acquired in the district schools of the neighborhood. He was only fifteen years of age when his brother married and the responsibility of carrying on the home farm devolved upon him. Success has attended his well directed efforts and he is today one of the prosperous farmers of the community. After his marriage his parents removed to Forest City and he remained on the homestead, which he had purchased of his father the year previous. This place comprises one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 5, Ellington township, Hancock county, and he also owns eighty acres on section 8, one-half mile south of the home farm, all under excellent cultivation.

In 1901 Mr. Westerberg was united in marriage to Miss Anna Clauson, a daughter of Nels Clauson, of Forest City, who was one of the early settlers of Winnebago county. They have become the parents of two children, a son and a daughter, Arvid R. and Ruth E.

Mr. and Mrs. Westerberg are faithful members of the First Swedish Baptist church of Forest City and are people of prominence in the community where they reside. The republican party finds in Mr. Westerberg a staunch supporter of its principles and he does all within his power to promote the moral and material welfare of his community. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Co-operative Creamery Company of Forest City and is one of the substantial farmers of Ellington township.

Source: History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II. Pioneer Publishing Company (Chicago), 1917. pp. 26-27.