Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 5 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 17

A lady of motherly qualities and steadfast Christian character, in which she worthily represents her deceased husband, the late Niels Andersen, the pioneer among the Danes in this locality, is Mrs. Anna M. Andersen, like her husband an expert in farming and fruit-raising, and a good organizer and financier, as has been agreeably demonstrated since she took charge of the family estate. She is managing the farm by the help of her sons, all excellent young men, and they have built the beautiful bungalow house in which she now makes her home. Her ranch is about midway between Selma and Parlier, and it is frequently visited by ranch fanciers who enjoy seeing a modest "show-place."

Mrs. Andersen was born in Denmark, the daughter of Soren Sorensen, who married Christini Pedersen, and both of whom were born, married and died in Denmark. She was the fifth of six children, and three of her brothers preceded her to America. Soren P. Sorensen owns a forty-acre ranch three and a half miles from Selma; Niels P. Sorensen is half a mile to the north of her land; and Chris Sorensen, the rancher, is about a mile away in the same direction. Mrs. Andersen came to America in 1897, and took her course westward by way of Canada, in which country she stayed for a while. In 1899 she reached the land of promise of which she had heard so much, and at once built her camp-fire at Selma. The following year she met Mr. Andersen, and after a brief courtship they were married.

He was born in Denmark on September 23, 1860, the brother of Jes Andersen whose biography is sketched elsewhere in this work; he learned the carpenter's trade in Denmark, and in 1880, when only twenty years of age, left Denmark and came out to the middle west of the United States. He worked as a carpenter, and at building and grading a railway in Wyoming, and little by little he made enough progress to enable him to remove further west. When he reached California, he worked in the timber woods at Pine Ridge, Fresno County; and continuing to save his money, he was able to make his first investment in a California ranch. At the same time that his brother bought twenty acres, he also purchased twenty adjoining, both tracts being wheat field. The purchase was made of W. J. Berry, the pioneer of Selma, and has proven an excellent buy. Mr. Andersen had worked for three years at the famous Boston Ranch at Fresno, and there had acquired valuable knowledge and experience that stood by him when he came to develop his new possession.

Later he bought forty-eight acres more, and, as soon as he could, he planted all his land and otherwise improved it. He had always been a very conscientious, careful worker, striving for the highest results and least of all favoring himself, and through overwork and exposure he was taken with pneumonia, which developed into Bright's Disease, and he died on October 26, 1915, aged fifty-five years. He was mourned by a devoted widow, by a whole community, and quite as much by his three children, Hans, Christian, and Edith.

Business-like in managing his private affairs, a man who believed in setting his house in order and in assisting others to do likewise, Mr. Andersen helped to organize the First National Bank of Parlier and was on the bank's first board of directors. Men of far larger affairs reposed their faith in his integrity, no less than in his judgment, and were never misguided.