Larson, John Sr.

John Larson Sr.

John Larson, father of John H. Larson, came from Norway in the early 1840’s. He arrived in New York, later he walked to Ottawa, IL. He carried a copper cow bell he had made in Norway.

He married, and lived in a one room house with seventeen other people. About 1844, he built a small log cabin near Leland. His son John H. married Sarah Ann Stevenson. They had four sons and two daughters: John, Edward, Frank, Albert, Nellie and Emma.

Nellie, the only living survivor, now has possession of the cow bell.

Source: Lee Centennial Book