Carl M. Grimstad
Carl Martin Grimstad was a pioneer in Dakota Territory and a dairy farmer in the state of Wisconsin. He also served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Biography
Grimstad was born at Brigham Township in Iowa County, Wisconsin. He was one of seven children born to Knudt Grimstvedt and Mari Grimstvedt. His parents were Norwegian immigrants who had arrived in 1850 from Telemark, Norway.In 1879, he moved to the Dakota Territory. In 1883, he married Gunhild "Julia" Arneson, with whom he had ten children. He served as town clerk of Fertile township and was the county assessor at Grafton, both in the Red River Valley of North Dakota. In 1889, the family moved to Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, where he operated a dairy farm. Dating from 1927, he was engaged in writing down his reminiscences of life as a pioneer in Dakota Territory. His auto-biography was published under the title Memoirs of Carl M. Grimstad, 1856–1940 as edited by his son-in-law Henry Bakken. He died of pneumonia in 1940 and was buried in Mount Horeb Union Cemetery in Dane County, Wisconsin.