Ole Finnestad, son of Mari (Iversdatter Nord-Skaar) and Ole (Olson) Finnestad Sr. was employed as a farmer according to the 1900, 1910 and 1920 US Census records. Ole most likely worked for his father-in-law, Jon (Sampson) Quitno who had owned farm property in Section 2 of Alto township, Lee county, Illinois where the Finnestad family lived.
In 1900 Ole ran for elected office as constable and tax collector for the township. I first came across Ole mentioned as having been a tax collector in the book, 'The Sage of Sinnissippi' by Kinnie A Ostewig, published in 1907. Ole Finnestad and the list of tax collectors from 1860 - 1908 are listed on page 309 and 310.
Page 4 of the April 4, 1900 edition of the Dixon Evening Telegraph published the results of the 1900 township elections.
Ole received 121 votes and Mortie Smith received 82 votes for tax collector. For the position of constable, Ole received 16 votes and apparently no opponent. The low number of votes for constable seems unusual considering the number of votes for tax collector. (Note: the paper incorrectly printed the name of Ole as 'Abe' Finnestad).
I wonder if Ole was motivated to run for township constable due to his sister, Mary (Finnestad) Bell's testimony as a witness in a murder trial 2 years earlier.
In 1901 Ole ran for re-election for constable and tax collector. The position of constable led to two competitors for Ole, John Taylor and Nat Coleman as reported on page 5 of the March 15, 1901 edition of the Dixon Evening Telegraph.
Page 4 of the March 20, 1901 edition of the Dixon Evening Telegraph reported that Ole Finnestad had turned in his books regarding his service as tax collector. He had collected $8,666.98 with a delinquency of $4.91 and apparently a record for close collections.
The 1901 election results were published on page 5 of the April 3, 1901 edition of the Dixon Evening Telegraph.
Ole Finnestad won his re-election bid for constable with 93 votes. The second constable position was won by John C Taylor with 145 votes. Ole lost his re-election for tax collector by 1 vote, Ole having garnered 75 votes, Fred Grimes having won 76 votes and Charles G Delaney having received 16 votes.
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