Arthur M. McLaughlin. This gentleman is the fortunate owner of one of the estates of Hope township, in Steele county, and is also identified with the financial interests of the city of Hope, and deals in fuel. He was one of the early settlers of that region, and is well known and highly esteemed.
Our subject was born in LaSalle county, Illinois, March 29, 1857, and was the fourth in a family of ten children born to Augustus and Amanda (Stephenson ) McLaughlin. He resided on the home farm in Illinois until after attaining his majority, when he went to Kansas, and later took land in Buffalo county, Nebraska, where he resided two and a half years.' He then returned to LaSalle county, Illinois, and engaged in farming two years, and in November, 1882, went to Casselton, Dakota. He went to Hope, North Dakota, in the spring of 1883, and filed claim to land in Hope township, Steele county. His wife soon joined him in the new home, and he followed farming on the land until 1888, but did not meet with success, and then established a draying business in Hope, and was thus employed until 1896, when he accepted the local agency for the C. N. Nelson Lumber Company at Hope. He continued thus until the spring of 1899 and then established his present business, in which line he has prospered. He owns two hundred and forty acres of land four miles west of the city of Hope, and he rents the land to others. He does an extensive business in the handling of coal and wood, and has a six-horse-power gasoline engine attached to a circular saw for the preparing of the wood for fuel.
Our subject was married in 1882, to Miss Mary Bigelow. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin, as follows: Jesse M., Augustus R., .Arthur P., and Margaret L. Mr. McLaughlin is prominent in secret society circles, and holds membership in the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and its auxiliary lodge, the Daughters of Rebekah. He is a member of the Grand Lodge in the Odd Fellows and was one of the charter members of Hope Lodge No. 19. Politically he is a Republican.
Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota 1900 Page 301