Biography - Lars Olson
LARS
EUGENE OLSON was born in Sparta township, near Wataga, Ill., Sept. 16, 1862.
He attended district school and took a short course in a commercial college
at Galesburg. Until 1885 he worked in a store owned by his father, Lars W.
Olson, now retired, and then engaged in farming for the next ten years. In
August, 1895, he bought out a grocer in Oneida, where he has since carried
on a thriving grocery business.
Mr. Olson is a Republican and a man of public spirit who has given his services to the community in several official capacities. For eight successive years from his first election in 1898 he has been a member of the aldermanic council of the city of Oneida and from 1902 to 1904 he served on the Republican central committee of Knox county. From 1897 to 1907 he held the office of assessor of Ontario township. He is affiliated with the Swedish Lutheran church of the adjoining city of Wataga, and with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Olson was married in 1891, to Miss Minnie C. Danielson, whose death cut short the union. One son, Robert E. was born to them. Sept. 21, 1896, Mr. Olson entered into a second matrimonial union, with Miss Christina E. Nelson of Soperville, Ill., daughter of Nels P. and Brita N. Nelson. The second Mrs. Olson has presented her husband with six children, as follows: Helen M., born 1900; Laura L. and Lawrence E., born 1901; O. Raymond and Paul W., born 1903, and Charles Leo, born 1906. Four of these survive.
Extracted 17 Sep 2016 by Norma Hass from the History of the Swedes of Illinois, published in 1908 by Engberg-Holmberg Publishing Company, Part 2, Knox County, pages 30-48.
