Bio: Jacobson, Erick (Commemorative Bio - 1895)

Poster: Crystal Wendt

Erick Jacobson

Erick Jacobson Quite a number of the leading and prominent citizens of Merrill, Lincoln County, are the alien birth, and among these there is none that is better known or more widely respected than the gentleman whose name appears at the beginning of this sketch. He is a native of Sweden, born November 12, 1854, in Dals Land, and is a son of Jacob and Britta S. (Olson) Isaacson. His father was a blacksmith and wagon maker by trade and followed those occupations in Sweden until his death, which occurred in 1892. The paternal grandfather, Isaac Stam, was a soldier in the Swedish army, and by his marriage had five children, three sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters died while young; one son was accidentally shot; and another was killed in a flouring mill. The maternal grandfather, Nels Backfalt, was also a soldier. The mother of our subject was the daughter of Ole Backfalt, and has one brother and three sisters: John, Lizzie, Kassa and Mary S. By her marriage she came the mother of two children, namely: Erick and Sophia, and since her husband’s death she has come to the United States and now makes her home with her son.

Mr. Jacobson obtained his education in the common schools of Sweden and remained at home until 1882, when he decided to come to America. In his native land he had part of the time worked on a railroad. On landing in New York City in April, 1882, he went direct to Chicago, where he obtained a position in a rolling mill. He there remained for a year and a half, or until the fall of 1883, when he came to Merrill and worked in the woods during the winter, but the following spring returned to Chicago an again worked in a rolling mill for six months. At the end of that time he removed to Iowa, where for eighteen months he was employed in a coal mine, after which he again came to Merrill, and has since made this place his home. He obtained a position in a lumber year during the summers, while in the winter he as in the woods for two seasons, and at the same time kept a boarding house. This he followed until, May, 1893, when he opened a temperance saloon, which he conducted for three months, and then put in a stock of groceries, which business he still continues with marked success.

In 1884, in Chicago, our subject was united in marriage with Charlotte Aronson, who was born in Sweden, July 30, 1859, and is a daughter of Aaron and Mary L. Anderson, who were the parents of fourteen children, nine of whom are still living: Anna, August, Charlotte, Ricka, Eliza, Minnie, Charles, John H. and Waifrid. Mrs. Jacobson came to the United States in 1883, but her parents still reside in Sweden, where the father is engaged in farming. Her paternal grandfather, Andrew Anderson, was also an agriculturist, and by his marriage had a family of four children, all of whom are now deceased, with the exception of Anderson.

Mr. Jacobson has never taken an active part in politics, but in performing the duties of an American citizen at the polls votes the straight Prohibition ticket. In religious matters he and his wife are consistent members of Sweden Lutheran Church and their genuine social and moral worth gives them a high place in the regard of their fellow citizens.

---Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin Counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano. publ. 1895 by J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago 1110 pages, illustrated; Page 203-204