Biography - J. M. Rohe

J. M. Rohe, a partner in the firm of Rohe & Rohe, dealers in agricultural implements at Kenmare, and enjoying the distinction of being the youngest county commissioner ever elected to the office in Ward county, was born in Minden, Kearney county, Nebraska, January 6, 1882, a son of the Rev. M. C. H. and Matta Marie (Larsen) Rohe. The father, a native of Denmark, came to America in 1873, and continued his education, begun in the common schools of his native land, in the Augsburg Seminary at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he studied for the ministry and in due time was graduated. He was ordained a minister of the United Danish Lutheran church and accepted the pastorate of the church at Luck, Polk county, Wisconsin, where he remained for six years. He then accepted a call from the church at Minden, Nebraska, where he continued for five years, and in 1886 he went to St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, where he had charge of a church for three years. In 1890 he became pastor at Osakis, Minnesota, leaving there in 1898 to go to West Branch, Iowa, where he engaged in preaching until 1900. In that year he became pastor of the church at Kenmare, North Dakota, and so continued to the time of his death, which occurred January 16, 1906, when he was sixty-one years of age. His life had been one of great usefulness in promoting the moral progress of the communities in which he lived and labored, his teaching having a marked influence over the lives of many. His widow, a native of Denmark, became a resident of Minnesota in her early girlhood and was there educated. In 1875 she became the wife of Rev. Rohe and since his death she has continued to make her home in Kenmare.

J. M. Robe was the fourth in order of birth in a family of nine children, of whom eight are yet living. He obtained his education in the various towns in which the family resided and in which his father filled pastorates. He left school in 1898, when sixteen years of age, coming with his two older brothers to Kenmare in its pioneer days. He was employed in various capacities around town, also as a farm hand and as a coal miner until 1903, when he established the implement business of J. M. Rohe & Company. Since then the firm style has been changed to Rohe & Rohe, his partners being his two younger brothers. They have an excellent store and are accorded a liberal patronage owing to their thoroughly reliable business methods and unfaltering enterprise. In 1909 he organized the First State Bank of Niobe, of which he became vice president and of which he is now president, having been elected to that office in 1916.

On the 18th of June, 1914, at Kenmare, Mr. Rohe was united in marriage to Miss Henreina E. Elliott, who was born in Walsh county, North Dakota, September 2, 1893, a daughter of Samuel and Jean (Stuart) Elliott, who are natives of the province of Ontario, Canada, where they were reared, educated and married. They became early settlers of Renville county, North Dakota, where the father homesteaded near Grano, and Mrs. Rohe, who was born in Walsh county, North Dakota, September 2, 1893, largely acquired her education in the schools of Renville county. The parents continued to reside upon the old home farm there until 1913 and then removed to Kenmare, where they now reside. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Rohe died in infancy.

In his political views Mr. Rohe is a stanch democrat and in 1911 was elected alderman of Kenmare, in which position he served for two years. In 1912 he was elected clerk of the school board and yet occupies that position. On the 26th of June, 1914, he was appointed county commissioner of Ward county to succeed F. L. Sanders, who died in office, and in November, 1914, he was elected to the position for a four years' term, so that he is the present incumbent in the office and, moreover, he is the youngest man ever chosen to the position in Ward county. In his official capacity he is paying much attention to the subject of taxation and he gives earnest consideration to all the questions which come up for settlement, seeking ever the welfare of the community. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Kenmare; the Danish Brotherhood, No. 198; Golden Link Lodge, No. 64, I. O. O. F., of Kenmare, of which he has been secretary, and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen at Kenmare. His religious faith is that of the Danish Lutheran church, while his wife is a member of the Presbyterian church, in the work of which she takes a very active and helpful part, being secretary of the Sunday school at the present time. Mr. Rohe built an attractive home in Kenmare and he is also the owner of a farm in Burke county, which he homesteaded and which he now rents. He and his wife occupy an enviable social position and his is a commendable business record, while in public office he subordinates partisanship to the general welfare and personal aggrandizement to the public good.

Extracted 05 Nov 2019 by Norma Hass from North Dakota History and People, published in 1917, volume 2, pages 348-349.