Pictured above are Ole and Anna Else Sorensen, pioneer settlers of Daneville Twp.  It was Ole Sorensen, who recommended the name Viborg after an ancient city in Denmark. Ole and Else Sorensen immigrated to America from Denmark, and settled on a homestead.  Mr. Sorensen died Oct. 17, 1893, and Mrs. Sorensen died Oct. 3, 1918.  Their children were:
Mrs. J. P. Hendricksen;
Mrs. E. Knudsen;
Mrs. F. A. Marcussen;
Mrs. J. W. Peterson;
Soren Sorensen;
L. B. Sorensen;
Miss Hattie Sorensen.
[In 1968] One of the children, Mrs. Anna Marcussen is living in Sioux City, Iowa.

Source: The Viborg Enterprise, 75th Anniversary Historical Supplement, Thursday, May 30, 1968 (Photograph of Ole & his wife published in this history supplement on front page)

Ole and Else (Lauridsen) Sorensen Family  
Written by Ardis (Lauridsen) Knudsen

Ole Sorensen was born in Viborg, Denmark, January 18, 1835.  Else was born December 23, 1840, in Harnem, near Horsens, Denmark.  They were married December 23, 1866, in Denmark.  In the year 1879 they immigrated here with their five children to the NE quarter of Section 3 in Daneville Township, which they homesteaded.  They lived with Mads Rasmussen, whose homestead was south of theirs, until their house was built.  Fortunately, they had dug a basement under it.  It was told that it was so cold the first winter that they had to put the cow and horses down in it so they wouldn’t freeze to death.  No shed for livestock had been built yet.

They became members of the Methodist church.  Ole felt this was a great counry and was very active in promoting things for the better of the community.  He helped to get the first blacksmith here, as there was a need for someone to repair the primitive implements used then.

In 1890 he purchased land across the road from his homestead, in Section 2, known as Daneville.  Ole was among the men who fostered the dairying and creamery business.  He and other men in the area worked hard to get the railroad between Yankton and Sioux Falls.  When it became evident the railroad would bypass Daneville, he felt it very important the town be built on the railroad.  He donated 12 acres from the northeast corner of his land and three other men donated land to start the town.  He named the town Viborg.  Ole saw the work trains but the first passenger  train came through Viborg the day he was buried.

To this union seven children were born:
Hattie was a seamstress and later moved to California.
Kate married J. Pete Henricksen—he ran a poolhall in Viborg and later moved to North Dakota.
Soren married Mary Jorgensen—he operated a store in Viborg and farmed the homestead a while but preferred ranching so moved to Wall, South Dakota.
Johanna married Erik Knudsen.
Laurence B. married Anne Jorgensen—he and his brother Soren had a livery barn in the area of the Aggargaard garage.  Their could be several teams of horses in there at one time.  Barn boys preferred bringing the horses out to their owners as they had to watch very close that no fire was started in the bedding from the pipe and cigar smoking.  He also farmed a short time but preferred working with cattle.  He moved to a homestead near Wasta, South Dakota.
Anne married Fred Marcussen—they owned and operated a general store, where Jones Food Center is now (1993) for several years.  A few years after her husband’s death, Anne and her daughters moved to Sioux City, Iowa.
Tillie married James W. Petersen—after he served in the Spanish American war they moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Ole Sorensen died October 17, 1893.
Else died October 3, 1918.  Funeral services were held in the Methodist church and burial at Rosehill Cemetery.

Source : Viborg History Book, 1893-1993, pg 649