Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1929-02-21
|. C. Petersen, COMMUNITY
BUILDER, GIVEN final REST
Came to ASkov With First
Settlers in 1907; An Ener-
getic Aggressive Leader;
Funeral Held Tuesday,
Largely Attended.

In the passing of L. C. Petersen the
Askov community has lost another
prominent citiZen-a man who was
one Of the pioneers here and who had
much to do with the development of
this Danish settlement man who
was also we'll known over the county
and in more distant fields to where
his labors took him.
Though never complaining he was
not in the best of health the past two
or three years and was constantly
building up his system to undergo an
operation which was inevitable. He
had suffered some from Bright's dis
ease, but had conquered it through
careful dieting and was then to sub
NIT to an operation for enlarged pros
trate gland and bladder trouble from
which he had been bothered the past
ten years. However, in all that time
he attended to his daily duties at the
bank, real estate work. the various
Offices he held and at times did heavy
farm work. On Jan. 4th he jOurneyed
to Duluth and entered st. Mary's hos
pital, being operated upon there ten
days later. He recovered nicely from
the operation and was soon up and
| around in the hospital, On Feb. 9TH
he took violently i'll with phlebitis-
inflammation of the blood vessels
the family was called and blood
TRANSMISSION performed. He rallied but
grew gradually weaker until the end
came peacefully on Saturday, Feb
10, 1929, in the forenoon at 1915
his immediate family.
Born i'm Denmark.
Laurits Carl Petersen was born at
Utterslev, near Nakskov, Lolland,
Denmark, on May 10, 1862, and thus
would have been 81 years old on his
next birthday. He spent his childhood
in his native country and received
the elementary schooling there. At
the age of II he emigrated with his
| parents to America, settling on large
| farm of 800 acres near Alden in Free
born county. He worked industriously
with his parents, sisters, and brother
until about thirty years DID, when in
the COS he went to Tyler where he
| together with NJ Sondergaard estab-
| lished the first creamery at that place
which later became farmers CO.
operative creamery and is furnishing
today.
In Business at Tyler.
Mr.. Petersen was active in business
circles of Tyler i'm the early days and
| following his creamery venture he
was buyer of livestock for a number
of years and was also in the hard
ware and implement business for a
time. In 1903 he formed partner
ship with A. Gravesen which lasted to
| the day of his passing. They went
| into the general merchandise business
| at Tyler, but Mr. Petersen did not
| seem to fit in so we'll behind the
| counter-inside work-and his oppor-
ktunity for outside work came again in
| 1906. The Danish Folk Society,"
national body in the United States
was looking for place to commence
| another Danish colony. Mr.. Petersen
was chosen as one of the men to scout
around and look up a suitable loca-
| tion. Partridge township in Pine
| county was selected and it was here
that he put in the best and most ar
| dent work of his career Together
| with the late X. H. Duus of Tyler, he
| represented the Danish Folk Society
and sold land to the new settlers. the
influx of which began in the spring.
of 1907.
The AskOv Undertaking.
The Danish Folk Society purchased
10000 acres of land from the Farmers
Land and Cattle Co. and the Theo. F.
Koch Land Co., this being of the cut
over variety but good quality sandy
loan with hard clay subsoil The now
almost barren land had formerly been
forested by white pine, Norway pine,
birch, oak, Eastwood, elm, soft and
hard maple, and some poplars
Tracts of 40 and 80 acres mostly
were sold to the settlers and here Mr..
Petersen showed his good judgment
in not overlooking the settlers with
land. In the early days the saw mill
gave work to some of the people as
there was a little timber left, but
the lumber that was made was mostly
for buildings on the farms, and the
work of clearing from brush, stumps
and stones was soon begun and the
result of the. % years of effort is
plainly evident.
When the first settlers came here
in 1907 the station was then known
as Partridge, carrying the same name
as the township. This was later
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