Hans Mattson began life as the son of an independent freeholder and successful farmer of the parish of Onnestad, near the city of Kristianstad, in Sweden. As a young man he decided to try his luck “in a country where inherited names and titles were not the necessary conditions of success.” From the time of his arrival at Boston until his final settling in Minnesota, his career is but typical of that of the many sturdy and enterprising pioneers of Scandinavian origin who have contributed so much to the building of the Northwest.