Ole J. Kirkhus was born in Norway, September 24, 1850, a son of John and
Elizabeth (Olson) Kirkhus, and one of a family of ten children. Of this
family six are still living, three having died in infancy and one at the age
of eighteen years. Three of the sons and one daughter reside in this
country. The father was a farmer, and on a farm in his native land Ole J.
spent his youthful days.
May 18, 1869, before he reached his
twentieth year, he bade good-by to home and friends and started for America,
having borrowed the money with which to pay his passage to this country. His
father could have helped him at this time, but as the family was large and
our subject was of an independent disposition, he preferred not to ask
assistance at home. It is needless to say that as soon as possible after he
came to this country he repaid the debt. Landing at Quebec, he came thence
by rail to Chicago and from there to Ottawa, where he secured work as a farm
hand. For three years he was engaged in farm work, as a wage-earner, and
then in 1873 he married and settled on a rented farm in Adams township,
LaSalle county, the one which he now owns and occupies. After renting this
farm three years he removed to Earl township, in the same county, where he
rented land and lived the next three years, then returning to the first
farm, which he bought in 1880 and where he has since lived. Here he owns one
hundred and six acres, well improved and under an excellent state of
cultivation, the result of his hard work and good management.
Mr.
Kirkhus married a woman of his own nationality, Isabelle Gunderson, who came
with her parents to America when she was six months old. Her father, Thomas
Gunderson, was one of the early settlers of LaSalle county, Illinois, having
located at an early day on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Kirkhus.
Mr. and Mrs. Kirkhus have six children.
Politically Mr. Kirkhus is a
Republican, and has served his district as a school director. He is a member
of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Extracted 13 May 2019 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 606-607.
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