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


CHRIS JENSEN. � A Californian who has made his way by his own un- 
aided efforts, and has become an upbuilder of the community, is Chris Jensen, 
who came to California in the early nineties. He was born at Vinderm, in 
Jylland, Denmark, on June 20, 1877, the son of Jens Jensen, a farmer who 
had a fine place in his name and title. He sold out, however, and preceded 
our subject to America by a year, coming to California and locating in Fresno. 
He bought a place, improved it and engaged in viticulture and dairying: 
and in the Fresno Colony where his activity and success had made for him a 
reputation, he died, at the age of sixty-seven. His good wife had been Marie 
Christene. and she now resides at Easton in this county, the mother of eight 
children, six of whom are living, the other two having died aboard ship, when 
sickness occurred that caused the ship's quarantine. The parents and some 
of the children sailed for the United States in 1892; and three of the children, 
who were employed in Denmark, immigrated in 1894. 

The third oldest in the family, Chris was brought up on the farm and 
attended the local school. At the age of sixteen, the lad set out for California, 
and reached here on May 19, 1894. He first worked in the Fresno Colony at 
farming, and learned to drive big teams; and during the hard times of the 
two succeeding dry years he drove a twelve-horse team for fifty cents a day 
and his board. A year later he went to work on a farm for $20 a month and his 
board, and later received a dollar a day, and after that $30 a month and his 
board. 

In 1807, Mr. Jensen leased a ranch on Fruit Avenue, devoted to the grow- 
ing of alfalfa, a dairy and a vineyard, and for a year he did fairly well ; then 
he rented another place near Kearney Park, where he raised hay for three 
years. After that he leased a ranch in the Red Bank district and raised grain, 
running 640 acres for three years, but the prices were so low that he "only 
just got by." He next removed to Fresno and for a year engaged in the livery 
business, but sold out and started in as a dealer in hay. He had his ware- 
house on F and Mono Streets and called it the People's Hay Market, and for 
nine years he made a success of it. He bought his hay in Fresno County, and 
sold it both wholesale and retail, shipping to Los Angeles, Coalinga and dif- 
ferent cities. In 1914, he also rented the Dexter Farm on White's Bridge Road, 
of 620 acres, which he has operated since. He leveled and checked it, and 
set it out, partly in alfalfa ; and he has raised hay there from the first season 
he took hold. In 1917, Mr. Jensen sold out his hay business to engage in cat- 
tle-raising on the Dexter ranch. He stocked it with beef cattle, and divided 
the ranch, which is all under irrigation, into different fields for grazing. He 
has about 250 head. He is feeding cattle, but he is also raising hay and sell- 
ing it. In Fresno alone he handled from six to seven thousand tons of hay a 
year. He also raises draft horses of a high quality. 

At San Francisco, Mr. Jensen was married to Miss Lizzie Murk, a native 
of Denmark, and they have had five children: Gerhart, Margaret, Emma, 
Edward, and William. In national politics, Mr. Jensen is a loyal Democrat, 
but is non-partisan in local issues ; and he is one of the best "boosters" for 
Fresno County.