(This was provided by one of the Hedborg family and appeared in the Eatonville Dispatch in 1942.)
Axel Henning Hedborg, one of the leading farmers and most prominent citizens of southern Pierce County, passed away at his home near Alder Sunday, February 1, 1942 before 6 P.M. Mr. Hedborg was born in Vermdö, Stockholm, Sweden on May 22, 1867, the son of Carl Axel and Mathilda Hedborg. He was the second oldest of ten children, five boys and five girls. His father was a sea captain and in 1846 came to California in the great gold rush of that period. He spent several years there and in British Columbia before returning to Sweden, where he married and reared his large family.
Axel Henning Hedborg was well educated in the public schools of his native land and was then employed four years as a bookkeeper on a large farm there. On June 5, 1887, he arrived in the United States at the age of 20 years and located in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he lived about two years. In the spring of 1889 he came to Tacoma, Washington and was employed on a farm that summer. On September 5, 1889 he USk up a homestead of 160 acres in township15, Section 2, range 4 east.
The land was covered with a heavy growth of timber and brush, through which no roads had been constructed and in that jungle he first built a small log house, after which he began the formidable task of clearing the land. Later he bought an additional one hundred and sixty acres, thus making him the owner of 360 acres of splendid farm land. He had made many permanent and substantial improvements on the place which now ranks as one of the best farms of this locality. He had devoted himself indefatigably to the operation of his farm and was successful to a very gratifying degree. He became a citizen of the United States in November, 1894. On May 6, 1898, Mr. Hedborg was united in marriage to Miss Mathilda Anderson, who is a native of Sweden. Her father had a homestead on Ohop Lake.
Besides his wife, Mathilda, he leaves one son, Curtis of Alder; and three daughters, Mrs. Ida Nagley of Glen Ellyn; Illinois, Mrs. Sadie Cronkhite of Alder, and Mrs. Lloyd Gilbert of La Grande; four grandchildren, Betty, Claribel and Douglas Cronkhite and Robert James Nagley; a sister, Mrs. Elsa Carlson of Seattle; a brother, Einar, of Ohop Valley; two sisters and two brothers in Sweden; and a number of nieces and nephews here and in Sweden.
Mr. Hedborg had been a member of Alder Lodge No. 256, I.O.O.P., since its organization in 1908 and of Ohop Grange No. 812. He had taken an active interest in local educational affairs and rendered effective service for many years as a member of the school board, helping to build five different schools in the district. Mr. Hedborg was a wi if man of progressive disposition, and stood for the best things in life. His soundness of judgment, keen foresight, friendly and cordial manner earned for him a high place in the estimation of all who knew him.
Eatonville To Rainier 