"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 556.
 
AXEL W. AXELSON

     Prominent among the hardy Norsemen who have won enviable success in the
industrial development of Skagit county is the worthy citizen and successful
farmer whose name initiates this article. Born in Sweden in the year 1861, he
passed there the first twenty-six years of his life, and his father, Axel W.
Magnusson and mother, whose maiden name was Sophia Nygren are still residents of
that far-away northern land. In 1887 he arrived in the state of Iowa, where
he lived three years, coming at the end of that time to Mount Vernon,
Washington. His first employment in Skagit county was clearing land, then for
three years he worked for R. E. Whitney, building dikes, but in the fall of 1893
he went to Seattle, where for some time he was employed in different brick
yards and by the railroad company. Returning at length to Whitney island, near
La Conner, he spent a half decade there in the business of raising cabbage on a
five-acre garden tract. The ensuing three years were spent in general farming
first on Samish flats and then on the Beaver Marsh, then three years more were
spent in farming on Whitney island. In 1901 he purchased his present place in
the vicinity of Mount Vernon, known formerly as the Lindsay farm, and to its
cultivation and improvement he has ever since devoted himself zealously, making
a fine farm and a comfortable home. Every acre is in condition to yield a crop.
A convenient, moderately large house adds materially to the value of the farm
and the comfort of living on it, while a nice little orchard supplies fruit of
all varieties for family use. Realizing the value of stock on a farm, Mr.
Axelson keeps a goodly number of both cattle and horses.
     In Skagit county in March, 1895, our subject married Sarah, daughter of
James and Eliza (Bradley) Williamson. Her father is a native of Scotland, but at
the early age of eight years came with his mother to the United States, settling
ultimately in Dungeness, Washington. Though deprived of educational advantages
in his youth, he has, by his native shrewdness and application, accomplished
more than many more favored men, and today he is one of the most highly
respected citizens of La Conner, of which he is a pioneer, having helped to dike
in the land upon which the town or a portion of it stands. Mrs. Axelson's mother
was a native of Missouri, but was brought by parents to this state when only
three years old, and passed here almost her entire life. She died in December,
1903. Mrs. Axelson was born on La Conner flats May 17, 1877, but was educated in
the public schools of Port Townsend, where her family lived for ten years,
during which time her father was a custom house official under Bradshaw. The
children of Mr. and Mrs. Axelson are Anna, Helen, Herman and Katherine, all born
in Skagit county. Our subject is a member of the Methodist church, and in
fraternal affiliation an Odd Fellow, but he acknowledges no allegiance to any
political party, preferring to determine for himself without bias to whom his
support should be given. He is one of the most substantial men in the county,
and in the past few years especially has been one of the most successful in his
line of business. He belongs to that class of Europeans who are always welcome
to the land of the free because they employ both brain and brawn in pushing
forward the industrial and social progress of whatever community they may
choose as a place of abode.

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in May 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.