The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-07-29

The news of the death of Mrs. Ches-
ter Tellefson of Rockdale will be re-
ceiyed with sorrow by all who had the
good fortune of knowing her, and they
are many. Her eldest son, C. o. Tel
lefson, who contributed an interesting
account of the observance of her birth
day, printed in The Reporter last JAM
uary, has kindly written the following
obituary and sketch of the life of the
deceased:
Mother, one of the few pioneers left.
passed away Thursday, July 81, 1921,
at the age of 80 years, months and %
days. She enjoyed good health until
the last few months when she failed
gradually. Six days before she was
called away she was up and took walk
on the lawn; after this she was con-
fined to her bed ard grew weaker day
by day until Thursday noon when she
slept away with her eight children
present at her bedside.
The funeral was held Saturday at 2
O'Clock at the church. Rev. Halvorson,
her present pastor, preached sermon
in English and officiated at the grave;
Rev. Ristad of Edgerton, her former
pastor, preached sermon in Norwe-
gian. Rev. Able Lien spoke in behalf
of the children of the deceased. Five
of the grandsons and one great-grand-
son acted as pallbears. Seven grand
daughters and one great-grandson acted
as flower bearers. The floral offerings
were many and very beautiful. The
funeral was largely attended. Those
attending from out of town were Mr..
and Mrs. G. w. Jones of Milwaukee;
Mrs. Some of Chicago; Mr.. and Mrs.
G. Christianson and Herman Mathison
of Madison; DR.. and Mrs. Suby of
Stoughton; A. j. Suby of Madison;
Sarah Suby of Stoughton; John Torger-
son of Fort Atkinson; Mr.. and Mrs. T.
A. Ellingson, MIR. and Mrs. P. nj. Ell
lingson, Mr.. and Mrs. Cox and daugh-
tiers of Edg erton; J. Pringle and son of
Milwaukee; Mr.. and Mrs. P. L. john
son, Mrs. Slagg and Ole Venaas of
Cambridge; Mr.. John Kaasa and daugh-
tiers, Mrs. Oscar Johnson of Utica;
Mrs. Peter Thompson of Deerield.
Mother was born up in the mountains
of Telemarken, Norway, of poor par
ents, on Dec. 10Th, 1880. She was the
5th child of family of II. Two died
in Norway and nine of the family and
the parents emigrated to America;
mother and a brother Hans, the young
est of the family, are the only two sur
viving. With such large family as
this and only their labor to depend on
for support, it often happened that the
food was very scant. Mother says they
never starved but there were times
when they did not get all they would
like to eat and many times went to bed
hungry. AS soon as child was old
enough so he could be of any use he
was sent away from home to work for
his board and few scanty pieces of
clothing. Mother was staying with
family by the name of Skater, and
when she had reached the age of IA
years she began to prepare herself for
confirmation. In the meantime the
Skater family and others there had
decided to emigrates to America. The
folks she was staying with made her a
proposition to advance her passage for
her if she cared to go with them. She
accepted and came to America in 1916.
They came over in a sailing vessel and
the trip had taken such a long time
that their food gave out and they were
starving when they landed After
coming here to the Koshkonong settle
ment she continued her preparations
for confirmation and after she was
qualified she was confirmed by Rev.
Clausen. And after this she went
out to work and for number of years
she worked at a hotel in GAINESVILLE.
Father and mother were married Feb
IA, 1850 (St. Valentines day.. They
commenced housekeeping at Cambridge.
Father was then clerking for one DAN
lei Devidson. In 1853 they moved to
Clinton (now Rockdale) where they had
built stone house; in the front room
they started in the store business and
the other rooms and upper story were
used as a dwelling. And in this build
ing she has made her home for 81
years; here all her children were born
and brought up except the eldest sister
who was born in Cambridge. There
have been II children in the family.