Merced County Biographies

NIELS LARSEN

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        The life story of Niels Larsen has been one of toil and ceaseless 
endeavor since early boyhood. His father, Jorgen Larsen was a carpenter and 
cabinet-maker who lived his entire allotted time in Denmark, dying at the age of 
sixty-eight. His mother, Marie (Nielsen) Larsen, died there at the age of 
forty-nine. They had fifteen children, two of whom died in infancy. Those living 
to grow to maturity are: Lars, Hans, Margaret, Niels, Christina, Anna, Thomas, 
Christian, Ingaborg, Theodore, Johanna, Jens, and Laura.
        Niels was born at Sjeetland, Denmark, on October 9, 1871, and was 
educated in the schools of his native land. When he was nineteen he came to the 
United States, in 1890, and soon after his arrival made his way out to Douglas 
County, Neb., where he secured employment for three years on a farm, then he 
undertook to farm some land on his own account, leased 160 acres on the Elkhorn 
and Platte Rivers and raised corn, cattle and other stock. The lure of adventure 
and the possibility of making more than he could make on a farm, decided him to 
go on a whaling expedition in 1907. He was gone eight months in the north 
Pacific and five whales were brought back to San Francisco. His percentage of 
the profits was one dollar net for the eight months' work. In 1908, he first 
came to Los Banos. Returning to Nebraska he worked a year and went back to 
Denmark. In 1909, he was back again in Nebraska and worked there until 1911, 
when he came to California and followed carpentering for a short time. He next 
worked a year on the canal and then undertook a dairy which he carried on for 
five years near Los Banos. In 1917, he went to work for the San Joaquin-Kings 
River Canal Co. and has been on that job ever since. He is foreman of the Los 
Banos Outside Division of this canal.
        On May 6, 1909, Mr. Larsen was married in Fremont, Neb., to Miss Inga 
Jensen, a native of Sjeetland, Denmark, and daughter of Jens and Sine (Sivensen) 
Jensen, born in Denmark and Sweden, respectively. She was the eldest of five 
children, the others are Sven, Carl, Alma and Apel. Mr. and Mrs. Larsen have had 
four children: Laura (died in infancy), Laura, Margaret, and Evelyn. Mr. Larsen 
is a Democrat. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America in Fremont, Neb.
 
History of Merced County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 891-892