Married to Bergite "Betsy" Kittleson in Detroit, Minnesota, in 1875. Their children include George, Charley, Lewis H., Oscar (born 1880), Oscar (born 1883), Bennie A., Nellie, Louise, Christine, Henry L., Martin R. and Clara A. Askelson.
FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM OBITUARY:
When Dakota was settled, men and women from the far corners of the world rushed in to participate in the golden future that the Red River Valley promised during the reconstruction period following the American Civil War.
One of the most colorful of these pioneers was Ben C. Askelson, the commissioner from the first district in Walsh County.
He was born September 15, 1847 near Christiania, Norway and in 1865 came to Wisconsin and married Betsey Kittelson at Detroit, Minnesota in 1875. They moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba the same fall where they operated a hotel for one year then moved to Selkirk, Canada and continued in the hotel business until 1878 when he entered the Dakota Territory, a few years before the great influx of settlers who homesteaded in the wide open spaces that leter became Walsh County. The initial trip into this community was made in company with Gunerius Erickson, another Grafton pioneer.
Mr. Askelson homesteaded land upon which part of Grafton now rests and his name was given to "Askelson's Addition", lots in the eastern part of the city limits.
Mr. Askelson was a man of magnificant proportions who relished the manly ways of the pioneers and lived the life of that day with genuine frontier exuberance.
From the outset he visualized the vast horticultural possibilities of this area and was an ardent promoter of all movements for the benefit of the settlers. In recognition of his public service he was appointed commissioner for this district by Gov. Ordway and at the subsequent election his appointment was confirmed by the voters in 1882.
For many years he operated a saw mill and many of the pioneer homes and barns were constructed from oak and elm grown on the banks of the Park River and sawed at the the Askelson mill. During the threshing season he supervised two threshing outfits and gave employment to many struggling settlers.
In 1886 he purchased the so-called Gillman Lykken farm in Grafton township which he sold in 1896.
By this time all the glamour of pioneering was over in Grafton and both business and farming became a more or less tedious routine with the usual profits and losses. Mr. Askelson did not relish this humdrum existence so he disposed of his property in and around Grafton in 1899 and started a sheep ranch 55 miles west in the "mountains", as the rolling prairies of western Walsh county was called in those days.
This ranch was in Ramsey county near Edmore and here Mr. Askelson was again busy with community affairs and served as director of the school district for eight years. After his wife died in 1909, he sold his farm to Elling Skjaveland, his son-in-law and moved to Edmore where he died November 11, 1915.
His surviving children are George of Edmore, N.Dak, born 1876; Oscar of Whitetail, Montana, born 1883; Bennie of Smeaton, Sask., born 1886; Louise, (Mrs. Skjaveland) Edmore, born 1891; Henry of Edmore, born 1895.
FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM OBITUARY:
When Dakota was settled, men and women from the far corners of the world rushed in to participate in the golden future that the Red River Valley promised during the reconstruction period following the American Civil War.
One of the most colorful of these pioneers was Ben C. Askelson, the commissioner from the first district in Walsh County.
He was born September 15, 1847 near Christiania, Norway and in 1865 came to Wisconsin and married Betsey Kittelson at Detroit, Minnesota in 1875. They moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba the same fall where they operated a hotel for one year then moved to Selkirk, Canada and continued in the hotel business until 1878 when he entered the Dakota Territory, a few years before the great influx of settlers who homesteaded in the wide open spaces that leter became Walsh County. The initial trip into this community was made in company with Gunerius Erickson, another Grafton pioneer.
Mr. Askelson homesteaded land upon which part of Grafton now rests and his name was given to "Askelson's Addition", lots in the eastern part of the city limits.
Mr. Askelson was a man of magnificant proportions who relished the manly ways of the pioneers and lived the life of that day with genuine frontier exuberance.
From the outset he visualized the vast horticultural possibilities of this area and was an ardent promoter of all movements for the benefit of the settlers. In recognition of his public service he was appointed commissioner for this district by Gov. Ordway and at the subsequent election his appointment was confirmed by the voters in 1882.
For many years he operated a saw mill and many of the pioneer homes and barns were constructed from oak and elm grown on the banks of the Park River and sawed at the the Askelson mill. During the threshing season he supervised two threshing outfits and gave employment to many struggling settlers.
In 1886 he purchased the so-called Gillman Lykken farm in Grafton township which he sold in 1896.
By this time all the glamour of pioneering was over in Grafton and both business and farming became a more or less tedious routine with the usual profits and losses. Mr. Askelson did not relish this humdrum existence so he disposed of his property in and around Grafton in 1899 and started a sheep ranch 55 miles west in the "mountains", as the rolling prairies of western Walsh county was called in those days.
This ranch was in Ramsey county near Edmore and here Mr. Askelson was again busy with community affairs and served as director of the school district for eight years. After his wife died in 1909, he sold his farm to Elling Skjaveland, his son-in-law and moved to Edmore where he died November 11, 1915.
His surviving children are George of Edmore, N.Dak, born 1876; Oscar of Whitetail, Montana, born 1883; Bennie of Smeaton, Sask., born 1886; Louise, (Mrs. Skjaveland) Edmore, born 1891; Henry of Edmore, born 1895.
Married to Bergite "Betsy" Kittleson in Detroit, Minnesota, in 1875. Their children include George, Charley, Lewis H., Oscar (born 1880), Oscar (born 1883), Bennie A., Nellie, Louise, Christine, Henry L., Martin R. and Clara A. Askelson.
FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM OBITUARY:
When Dakota was settled, men and women from the far corners of the world rushed in to participate in the golden future that the Red River Valley promised during the reconstruction period following the American Civil War.
One of the most colorful of these pioneers was Ben C. Askelson, the commissioner from the first district in Walsh County.
He was born September 15, 1847 near Christiania, Norway and in 1865 came to Wisconsin and married Betsey Kittelson at Detroit, Minnesota in 1875. They moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba the same fall where they operated a hotel for one year then moved to Selkirk, Canada and continued in the hotel business until 1878 when he entered the Dakota Territory, a few years before the great influx of settlers who homesteaded in the wide open spaces that leter became Walsh County. The initial trip into this community was made in company with Gunerius Erickson, another Grafton pioneer.
Mr. Askelson homesteaded land upon which part of Grafton now rests and his name was given to "Askelson's Addition", lots in the eastern part of the city limits.
Mr. Askelson was a man of magnificant proportions who relished the manly ways of the pioneers and lived the life of that day with genuine frontier exuberance.
From the outset he visualized the vast horticultural possibilities of this area and was an ardent promoter of all movements for the benefit of the settlers. In recognition of his public service he was appointed commissioner for this district by Gov. Ordway and at the subsequent election his appointment was confirmed by the voters in 1882.
For many years he operated a saw mill and many of the pioneer homes and barns were constructed from oak and elm grown on the banks of the Park River and sawed at the the Askelson mill. During the threshing season he supervised two threshing outfits and gave employment to many struggling settlers.
In 1886 he purchased the so-called Gillman Lykken farm in Grafton township which he sold in 1896.
By this time all the glamour of pioneering was over in Grafton and both business and farming became a more or less tedious routine with the usual profits and losses. Mr. Askelson did not relish this humdrum existence so he disposed of his property in and around Grafton in 1899 and started a sheep ranch 55 miles west in the "mountains", as the rolling prairies of western Walsh county was called in those days.
This ranch was in Ramsey county near Edmore and here Mr. Askelson was again busy with community affairs and served as director of the school district for eight years. After his wife died in 1909, he sold his farm to Elling Skjaveland, his son-in-law and moved to Edmore where he died November 11, 1915.
His surviving children are George of Edmore, N.Dak, born 1876; Oscar of Whitetail, Montana, born 1883; Bennie of Smeaton, Sask., born 1886; Louise, (Mrs. Skjaveland) Edmore, born 1891; Henry of Edmore, born 1895.
FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM OBITUARY:
When Dakota was settled, men and women from the far corners of the world rushed in to participate in the golden future that the Red River Valley promised during the reconstruction period following the American Civil War.
One of the most colorful of these pioneers was Ben C. Askelson, the commissioner from the first district in Walsh County.
He was born September 15, 1847 near Christiania, Norway and in 1865 came to Wisconsin and married Betsey Kittelson at Detroit, Minnesota in 1875. They moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba the same fall where they operated a hotel for one year then moved to Selkirk, Canada and continued in the hotel business until 1878 when he entered the Dakota Territory, a few years before the great influx of settlers who homesteaded in the wide open spaces that leter became Walsh County. The initial trip into this community was made in company with Gunerius Erickson, another Grafton pioneer.
Mr. Askelson homesteaded land upon which part of Grafton now rests and his name was given to "Askelson's Addition", lots in the eastern part of the city limits.
Mr. Askelson was a man of magnificant proportions who relished the manly ways of the pioneers and lived the life of that day with genuine frontier exuberance.
From the outset he visualized the vast horticultural possibilities of this area and was an ardent promoter of all movements for the benefit of the settlers. In recognition of his public service he was appointed commissioner for this district by Gov. Ordway and at the subsequent election his appointment was confirmed by the voters in 1882.
For many years he operated a saw mill and many of the pioneer homes and barns were constructed from oak and elm grown on the banks of the Park River and sawed at the the Askelson mill. During the threshing season he supervised two threshing outfits and gave employment to many struggling settlers.
In 1886 he purchased the so-called Gillman Lykken farm in Grafton township which he sold in 1896.
By this time all the glamour of pioneering was over in Grafton and both business and farming became a more or less tedious routine with the usual profits and losses. Mr. Askelson did not relish this humdrum existence so he disposed of his property in and around Grafton in 1899 and started a sheep ranch 55 miles west in the "mountains", as the rolling prairies of western Walsh county was called in those days.
This ranch was in Ramsey county near Edmore and here Mr. Askelson was again busy with community affairs and served as director of the school district for eight years. After his wife died in 1909, he sold his farm to Elling Skjaveland, his son-in-law and moved to Edmore where he died November 11, 1915.
His surviving children are George of Edmore, N.Dak, born 1876; Oscar of Whitetail, Montana, born 1883; Bennie of Smeaton, Sask., born 1886; Louise, (Mrs. Skjaveland) Edmore, born 1891; Henry of Edmore, born 1895.
