California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


C. EDWARD FOSBERG.� An able and influential member of the 
board of city trustees of Kingsburg, is C. Edward Fosberg, the retired mer- 
chant, whose business judgment is often sought. He was born at Jonk- 
oping, Sweden, the "Chico" of that country, where the safety match origi- 
nated and is still extensively manufactured. He is a son of Carl and Inga 
(Anderson) Fosberg. The father was a foreman for a spool factory, and he 
lived and died in Sweden, passing away in his seventieth year. The mother 
once came to America on a visit, to see her sons in Texas ; and returning to 
Sweden, died there. 

Five children were born to this worthy couple, one of whom, Esther, 
died single in Texas. Carl Edward, the subject of our sketch, was the eldest, 
and the next was Annie, who married Ernest Johnson, a railroad man in the 
employ of the Swedish government, and who now resides in Sweden. Vic- 
tor, the husband of Annie Lund, a native of Ohio, is a cotton-planter in 
Texas ; while Emil, still single, is a stockman in the Pan-Handle country, 
now serving in the United States Army on the Mexican border. 

Born on February 3, 1867, Carl Edward was educated in Sweden, where 
he received a good elementary training, followed by courses in business 
college. When eighteen, however, he left home and his native land, and set 
sail for Boston, where he arrived on May 1, 1885. Soon afterward, he went 
on to the Gulf Coast in Texas. For the first few years he worked by the 
month on stock-ranches around Austin. He then went to Georgetown, Texas, 
where he clerked for four years, after which he bought into a grocery busi- 
ness; and off and on he sold and bought and ran other general merchandise 
concerns. Next he became general ticket agent for the Atlantic and Gulf 
Steamship Company, and as such he did a large business, having an ex- 
tensive and loyal acquaintance. He prospered and saved up some money. 
Altogether he was in Texas twenty-one years, and while there his brothers 
joined him, coming from Sweden at a later date. His mother also came to 
visit him, as has been narrated. And in Texas, in 1890, he was married to 
Miss Annie Anderson, a native of Sweden, who had grown up in the Lone 
Star State. 

In 1910, Mr. Fosberg came to California, and after a year in business in 
Pasadena, as a stockholder in the Model Grocery, came on to Kingsburg 
and immediately proceeded to conduct the business for which he had already 
contracted. The firm had been known as Carlson & Broline, and it then 
became Broline & Fosberg. That partnership continued until January 1, 
1918, when Mr. Fosberg sold out to F. O. Roosman. 

In high favor among all who know him as a neighbor, and a wide-awake 
man of affairs, Mr. Fosberg has twice been elected to the city board of 
trustees, and he is still serving in that capacity. He is a member of the 
Swedish Methodist Church in Kingsburg, and of the Odd Fellows, having 
affiliated himself with the Crown City Lodge at Pasadena. His two children 
are married and are also prosperous : Maimie Mary is the wife of G. E. 
Andrews, manager of the California Peach Growers, Inc., at Kingsburg; and 
Annie Laura is the wife of Ralph Scott, of Fresno.