Fresno County, 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


ALBERT JENSEN. � An enterprising and progressive man, is Albert 
Jensen, who owns a well improved stock ranch of seventy acres on the south 
side of the Elkhorn grade road, one and a half miles east of Burrel � a piece 
of exceptionally valuable property which he has possessed since he was 
eighteen years old, and only recently leased to others. His father was the 
late Henry Jensen, who died at Fresno in 1915 at the age of sixty-seven, and 
was a native of Copenhagen, Denmark. He had married Melinda Paul, an 
American and a native of Washington Territory, and in that section of the 
Northwest they were married. In his early life he had been a sailor, but as 
he grew to manhood he desired a home free from the dangers of the sea. 
Consequently, he settled in Washington Territory, and the so-called Palouse 
country, and became the father of six children. 

In 1890, Mr. and Mrs. Jensen moved south to California and the Burrel 
district, where the father bought two quarter sections of land, upon which 
he built his home. However, no sooner had he established himself and his 
family in comfort than an accident, as sad as tragic, occurred to mar the 
happiness of his life. Mrs. Jensen's clothes caught fire while she was working 
around a sheet-iron stove, and so severely was she burned that she died 
soon after. Thereupon the bereaved father moved to Los Angeles with his 
six children, but fate continued to cast a shadow over his path and the 
youngest two of the family died with diphtheria. There were then left the 
sons, George, Harvey, Albert, and Charles. Returning to the Burrel district, 
the father continued to farm, assisted by his boys, then growing to young 
manhood. He was a man of more than ordinary attainment, and was a 
profound Bible student. He had an inquiring and acquiring mind, and never 
rested until he had found, if possible, a solution for every problem. He was 
not only scholarly, but he wrote poetry as well as prose. 

Born on September 29, 1885, Albert's earliest recollections are of Fresno 
County. He attended school in the Elkhorn district, and was brought up to 
farming. When eighteen years of age he bought the land already referred 
to in partnership with his older brother Harvey, and together they pur- 
chased 142 � acres one and a half miles east of Burrel. Upon dividing the 
property Albert took the seventy acres fronting on the Elkhorn grade road 
and Harvey took the seventy-two and a half acres immediately south of it. 
Inasmuch as he came in on the draft calling for men from eighteen to forty- 
five, in the fall of 1918, he leased his land for a term of five years, and he has 
since rented an eighty-acre vineyard at Bowles. On March 11, 1918, Mr. 
Jensen was married to Miss Gladys Hopkins of Fresno. Fraternally, he is 
a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.