Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Page 903

PETER CARLSON. Scandinavia, like many other parts of Europe, has furnished many of the most prosperous and industrious citizens of Sedgwick County, and none stands more prominent as a wealthy and well-to-do agriculturist of Attica Township than Mr. Carlson. He is one of the pioneers of the county, having located here in 1871, and has his home upon section 24. He was born in Sweden, July 1, 1842, and is a son of Carl and Betty (Holmberg) Carlson. He was reared on a farm amid the wild and rugged scenery of his native land, and received in the schools of that country the elements of a good education. On attaining his majority, he was, like all the young men of that distant nation, enrolled in the army, and received the advantages of a military training.

            Appreciating the fact that there is but little chance of a man rising above the condition in which he is born in a country under a monarchial form of Government, with a desire to improve his fortunes, in 1868 Mr. C. emigrated to America, and landed at New York City. Scarcely waiting a month in the metropolis, he made his way to Lawrence, Kan., where the first year he was engaged in working at any kind of labor by the month, and then commenced employment at his trade, which was that of stonemason. In 1871 he removed to this county, and took up 160 acres of land, paying $1.25 per acre for the same, where he has his present borne.

            Our subject's parents having died in Sweden before he left that country, and being alone in this country, his four brothers having always remained in that "land of the midnight sun," he felt a wish to gather around him a family of his own, and accordingly, on the 14th of June, 1872, he was united in marriage with Miss Catharine Malmburg, The bride was the daughter of Maus and Ellen (Pearson) Malmburg, and was born in Sweden, Feb. 20, 1846. Her father died in her native land in 1849, and she came to America when in her twenty-fifth year, leaving her mother in the old country, where she is still living. Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Carlson, as follows: Henry, who was born April 7, 1873; Frank, whose birth occurred Aug. 27, 1874; John, whose natal day was March 30, 1876, and Albert, born Dec. 7, 1878.

            Mr. Carlson is a very intelligent man and an industrious and energetic farmer. Being fully convinced that this nation is the poor man's friend, and that under the star-spangled banner every man is what he makes himself, he is intensely patriotic. In his religious affiliations he adheres to the doctrines and tenets of the Lutheran Church, in which he was reared, that being the established church of his native land. Both he and his estimable wife are highly respected and honored by a wide circle of acquaintances, and are representative people of Sedgwick County.

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