San Joaquin County Biographies


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



WILLIAM MORTENSON
 
        Among the more recent agriculturists of the Lodi section of San Joaquin 
County is William Mortenson, who permanently settled in that portion of the 
county in 1912 and there purchased twelve acres, which is devoted to the 
cultivation of grapes and berries. A native of Wisconsin, he was born in Racine 
County on August 1, 1865, a son of James and Karen (Olsen) Mortenson, both 
parents natives of Denmark, and they were the parents of twelve children: Mary, 
Hans, Anna and William, Julius, Ella, Lena, John, Charles, Tilly, Henry and 
Ferdinand. When William was four years old his parents removed to Minnesota, 
forty miles west of Mankato, and here the father bought a quarter-section of 
land on the Sioux Indian reservation. He passed away at the age of eighty-four 
and the mother at the age of seventy-six.
        William Mortenson remained at home with the family until he was of age, 
then took up the carpenter's trade. Later he went to Mount Angel, Ore., where he 
established a sawmill which had a capacity of 10,000 feet of lumber per day. He 
conducted this mill from 1889 until 1912, when he sold out and came to Lodi 
where he purchased his present twelve-acre ranch, about one mile south of Lodi 
on South Stockton Street. Six acres of this ranch is in vineyard and the balance 
is devoted to the growing of the Cory thornless blackberry; Mr. Mortenson has 
also built a fine residence on this ranch as well as fine farm buildings.
        The marriage of Mr. Mortenson occurred at Oregon City, Ore., on February 
19, 1894, and united him with Miss Margaret Jensen, a native of Copenhagen, 
Denmark, a daughter of Lars P. and Mary Jensen. Her father came to the United 
States when she was two years old, and settled in Freeborn County, Minn., and 
there the daughter received her education in the public schools. There were five 
children in the family: George, Mrs. Margaret Mortenson, Hazel, Emma, and James. 
Mr. and Mrs. Mortenson are the parents of three children: Alberta, the wife of 
James R. Voris, of Los Angeles, and the mother of three sons; Raymond and 
Florence. The family are members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church of Lodi.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p   1610       
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.