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 NIELS JORGEN HANSEN.� A highly intelligent, very industrious and successful self-made man, who has attained to some of the rewards of thrift and integrity, is N. J. Hansen, who owns forty of the finest acres on the Parlier road, a mile west of Parlier. He was born in Denmark on June 10, 1859, the son of Hans Nilsen who married Annie Jorgensen, like her husband also a native of Denmark. His father, who was a good farmer, owned his farm and became fairly well-to-do ; and when the parents died, they had the satisfaction of having given life and a start to a family of four- teen children, the youngest of whom was the subject of this sketch. The lad attended the Danish grammar schools until he was fourteen, when he was confirmed in the Lutheran Church ; but at that age he began to work out on farms in the neighborhood, since his father had sold his farm and retired. While thus employed and thinking of the future because of his increasing contact with the everyday realities of life, he became intensely interested in the letters sent home by an elder brother, Jens Hansen, who was located in the Central Colony four miles south of Fresno. He had come to America in 1874, had stopped for a few months in Alameda County, and then, with some companions, had made his way up to Fresno County, arriv- ing here in the fall of the year. He thus became one of the very first settlers in the Central Colony, and met and overcame the obstacles then trying the endurance of the pioneer. For example, it was then necessary to haul from Fresno all the water needed for both domestic and stock purposes, and this inconvenience continued until the settlers were able to sink a deep well. Aroused, then, by the desire to see America, the young man, just attain- ing maturity, bade good-bye to home and friends and sailed from Copenhagen on the steamship Thingvalla. He landed at the old Castle Garden in New York, on August 25, 1880, having been nineteen days on the ocean. There were" only ninety passengers on board, but the weather was good and the trip an agreeable one. He stopped over night in New York, and then hurried on by rail to San Francisco. Tarrying three or four days in the bay metropolis, Mr. Hansen continued his journey to Fresno where, on September 11. 1880, his brother, Jens, met him. During the following fall and winter he worked for his brother, and thrice went to the mountains at Pine Ridge and labored in the saw mill. He also worked on the road, and the next summer toiled in the harvest fields at Centerville. He had to acquire the English language, and to master American business usages and methods of agriculture. But he persisted and won out. When he had money enough, he bought a lot at the Central Colony, and since that time he has worked for himself. He improved his lot, bought more and more land, and finally owned forty acres, well-improved, in the Central Colony. Occasionally he worked out a little at odd jobs to get the money necessary for his immediate support, taxes, etc. In 1887, Mr. Hansen married Miss Martha Thomsen, a native of North Schleswig, who came to Minneapolis and thence to California and the Cen- tral Colony. She has since proven such a good helpmate to him that he gives to her, with her good cheer and encouragement the credit for having tided him over his hardships and privations. Until 1914, Mr. Hansen continued to farm in the Central Colony, but he then sold out, and on the following twenty-sixth of March he moved to his present fine property. He had bought this place in 1909. and with the help of his son (who served in the army in France and returned home after an honorable discharge, March 1. 1919). he started to improve the new hold- ing, at the same time that he operated his place in the Central Colony, using the money made by the latter farm to develop the former. Now, on a beau- tiful site overlooking the surrounding ranches, he has a delightful home. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen have had eight children, and six of these are living. two having died in infancy: Mata is the wife of Sophus Hansen, who served in the navy and has returned from the war and resides at Parlier: Syvert, single, is in the army in France ; Hannah is the wife of L. Stoner, an employee of the Griffin & Skelly Packing Company, at Fresno, and resides at Fresno ; Jorgen is a machinist and toolmaker, who has worked at his trade in Cali- fornia, Illinois and Iowa for seven years and is now at Visalia ; Christiana, who graduated from the Easton high school is now society editor on the Parlier News and is also librarian of the Library at Parlier; and Mary, who is the wife of Adolph Lindberg. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen are members of the Lutheran Church, which the children also attend. The generous response on the part of several members of Mr. Hansen's family to the call of the Government for service in the terrible war recalls an interesting chapter or two in Mr. Hansen's own experience when he was a young man. In the fall of 1877, when he was only eighteen, he enlisted in the Danish Navy, and served on the Danish frigate Shetland, as a gunner, doing duty there from August 21, 1878, until May 16, 1879, when he was honorably discharged. He also served in the Danish West Indies, when he was stationed for the most part at St. Croix and St. Thomas. These islands were sold to the United States Government, in 1916, for $25,000,000, and Mr. Hansen believes that Uncle Sam got a mighty good bargain. Mr. Hansen's cosy ranch has become one of the show-places of the vicinity, and is interesting also to the professional agriculturist on account of the way in which it is laid out. Fifteen acres are devoted to peaches, espe- cially Muir and Lovell, as well as Elbertas, and there are nectarines, and also apricots around the border. There are three acres of muscats, eleven acres of Thompson seedless, and four acres of alfalfa. The rest of the place is occupied by buildings, drying grounds, and four acres to grain. A six- room bungalow was erected in 1915.