Andrew Jepson
Andreas
Leonard (Andrew) was the second child born to Peter and
Lovisa Jepson. He was born in North
Bend, Oregon on January 28, 1872. North
Bend is located on the Pacific coast in Coos Bay. He
was
four when the family moved back to Sweden.
Shortly after his mother died in 1880 his father brought him, his sister and two brothers back to the United States. His father bought a farm near Mead in Saunders County, Nebraska. Andrew lived here until about 1900 when he and his brother, Frank, went to North Dakota. They did some horse ranching in the Badlands in the western end of the state south of Dickinson.
Dickinson is on I-94 between Bismarck and Beach
On July 28, 1906 Andrew, who was then 34 years old, married Ella Harris, 33, in Dickenson.
The following year he went to Adams County, North Dakota, south and a little east of Dickinson. Andrew was in Hettinger Township, Adams County, in 1915 living with a father and son, W. D. and Fred Stevenson. We do not know where Ella was.
In the
1917 Adams county atlas the Reeder Township map shows 158
acres of land owned by Ella Jepson.
Andrew’s residence was directly across the road west of the
property on
land owned by Lee McKesson. A stream
ran through the Jepson property, east-west from the central west
boundary to
the northern east boundary. The Chicago,
Milwaukee, & St. Paul RR crossed the southern part of the property,
also
east-west.
According
to the 1920 census Andrew was living on a rented farm in Reeder
Township, Adams County, North Dakota. Again, Ella was not
there, but a
family of four were living there with Andrew. The
husband was Andrew’s hired hand, the wife cooked, and they had two
small sons. Andrew was listed in the
census as being a
widower age 47.
Andrew
died on November 14, 1922.
The Adams County Record
printed the following obituary on
Thursday, November 23, 1922. It was on page 1 of the newspaper.
PIONEER OF REEDER COUNTRY
IS VICTIM OF PNEUMONIA
Andrew Jepson, after about a week's
illness passed away November 14th, the cause of his death being
pneumonia. After waiting for nearly a week
for the
arrival of his wife from Ohio, the funeral was held Monday at 11 a.m.,
Rev.
Dickey of Dickinson preaching the sermon.
Andrew Jepson came to this country
in the
fall of 1900, and in company with his brother, Frank, who has since
died,
engaged in horse ranching, they having a ranch in the badlands near
Beach and
another here, although Andrew moved several times before locating on
the place
where he has lived for the past fifteen or more years, having first
located on
what is known as the Lemmon ranch north of town and afterward on the L.
F.
ranch which he sold to Albert Leff.
A few years ago he opened a coal
mine on
his farm and since then has supplied many residents with coal and also
furnished the village with ice, besides shipping the latter in car lots
to
nearby points.
He was
fifty-two years old, of a modest
and retiring disposition, making many friends, but few confidants.
Mr.
Jepson was a great friend of the boys
and it was regarded as the greatest possible treat to be permitted to
go out to
the Jepson ranch to ride the ponies. In
order to allow them to pay their last respects to their old friend
school was
dismissed for the funeral hours. Mr.
Jepson at different times kept sheep, cattle and horses on the ranch,
but his
greatest love was for a good horse and it was very fitting that a
handsome span
should draw the sleigh that bore the remains of their master to his
last
resting place. Mr. Jepson was in love
with the prairie country and never lost faith in its eventually making
good. He
was just such a type of citizen that is an asset to any country,
honest,
industrious, and friendly in all his relations with his fellow man.
His known relatives are his wife, who of late years has made her home in Ohio; a brother, John L., located in Oregon; a brother, Albert, now living at Beach; a sister, Margaret, and an aged father both of whom live in Nebraska.
Photos
Andrew Jepson [photo from Nancy Hanson]
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Andrew (left) and John (right) Jepson [photo from Nancy Hanson]
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Andrew and Albert Jepson [photo from Nancy Hanson] These two snapshots were possibly taken the same day at the Jepson farm near Mead. Andrew and Albert appear to be wearing the same clothing in both pictures.
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Andrew is on the left. His father, Peter, and stepmother, Charlotta, are on the right. The three youngest Jepson children, Albert, Alice & Edith are in the middle [Photo from Pat Scott]
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