My Genealogy Hound

GUSTAF A. STRAND, a highly prosperous farmer of Hayes township, Kearney county, is a native of Sweden, and was born September 18, 1842. He is a son of John and Anna (Johnson) Strand, natives also of Sweden. His father was born January 21, 1818, and still lives in the old country, being a small but successful farmer; and yet over thirty-seven years of his maturer life were spent in the regular army of his country. Mr. Strand’s mother was born in February, 1821, and is still living in the old country. Four children were born to these — three boys and one girl, of whom Gustaf A., our subject, is the eldest, the others being John A., Claus O. and Anna C. Three of these are in America.

Gustaf A. was reared in his native country, received a good common-school education, learned the shoemaker’s trade and followed it and railroading until he was nearly twenty-eight years of age. He came then in the spring of 1869 to America, reaching New York May 7th and going direct to Red Wing, Minn. There he found his first employment as a laborer on the railroad, but followed that only a short time, going soon afterwards at his trade as a shoemaker, in Cannon Falls, Minn. Subsequently he went to Burlington, Iowa, and engaged in the nursery business, following it for fifteen years. In the fall of 1880, he came on a prospecting tour to Nebraska, and, after looking over a considerable portion of the southwestern part of the state, he made up his mind to locate in Kearney county, and bought, at that date, the northwest quarter of section 3, township 6 and range 15 west. The country was then new and in a comparatively unsettled condition, and Mr. Strand, not caring to settle his family so far west, returned home to Burlington and continued to reside there till March, 1885, when he came back, bringing his family with him, and settled on his purchase. He built a small farmhouse, 16 by 20, which he occupied till the fall of 1889, when he erected his present large and handsome residence. He has been steadily engaged in farming and the nursery business, having established the first nursery in the county, and having been very successful in the handling of trees and shrubbery.

Mr. Strand has been twice married, and is the father of six children. He married first, March 8, 1869, his wife being Miss Louisa Sampson. She died February 2, 1886, leaving four children — Gustaf, born March 8, 1870; Charles E., born September 24, 1871; Anna L., born February 24, 1883, and Amelia C., born December 29, 1885. Mr. Strand married again November 13, 1886, his second wife being Mrs. Anna Headstrom, widow of Eric Headstrom. She is a native of Sweden, and was born October 24, 1850. She is a daughter of John Johnson and Hettie Miller. Her father and mother were both born in 1818, and lived always in their native country. Mrs. Strand has one child by her former marriage — James W. Headstrom, born April 4, 1872. To the latter marriage have been born two children — Edward, July 16, 1887, and Paul W., May 19, 1888.

Mr. and Mrs. Strand are zealous members of the Swedish Lutheran church.