Golden Wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Nels Agren, pioneer residents of Litchfield, celebrated their golden wedding last Thursday evening, a score or more of relatives and friends being invited to celebrate the occasion with them. They were married at Jungby, Kristianstads län, Skåne, Sweden, on November 14, 1857. They came to America a few years later, and located at Litchfield in 1869, just as the railroad was being completed through the "big woods" from St. Paul to the prairies of the west. Mr. Agren himself came to Meeker county from St. Paul on foot, walking along the survey and partly completed grade of this line of road. On that trip, which required two or three days of strenuous pedestrianism, he carried a large size wall mirror the entire distance. The looking glass belonged to Hans Mattson, then residing at St. Paul, but who was improving the J. H. Morris farm southwest of Lake Ripley, now owned by Geo. Nelson, and wanted the mirror for use in the dwelling on the new farm. He did not like to trust it to a wagon ride over the rutty roads thru seventy-five miles of execrable timber roads, and commissioned Mr. Agren to carry the fragile article over the distance. Mr. Agren delivered the glass safely at the Mattson farm.

He opened a tailorshop in this place and has continued the tailoring business here almost without interruption ever since that time.

Mr. and Mrs. Agren have three sons, Nels, Swan and Barney, and nine grandchildren. All live here except the eldest son and his family, who are at present in the state of Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Agren are to be congratulated on their long and happy married life, covering a span of years attained by but few married couples.