Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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


MARTIN OLSEN.
 
        The subject of this sketch is one of the business men of  Sierra Madre, 
and has a boot and shoe store on Central avenue east of Baldwin avenue. Mr. 
Olsen established this store in November, 1887, and by his straightforward 
dealing and courteous manner has built up a substantial trade, and is well 
patronized by the community in which he resides. He is a native of Norway, and 
was born in 1858. His parents are Andrew and Trira Olsen, also natives of 
Norway. His father was a seafaring man. Young Olsen was given the benefits of a 
good schooling until fifteen years of age, and was then apprenticed to the trade 
of a boot and shoe maker, at which he worked until reaching his majority. He 
then entered upon a seafaring life in a merchant's vessel, and spent six years 
as a sailor. In 1885 he left his vessel in Nova Scotia, where he spent a few 
months, then coming to the United States and locating in Concord, Massachusetts. 
There he obtained employment at his trade, and was employed in the boot and shoe 
stores of that city until 1887, when he came to California and established 
himself in  business in Sierra Madre. He is a self-made man, a thorough 
mechanic, and master of his calling. Mr. Olsen is a member of the Congregational 
Church, and is a supporter of any enterprise that tends to
advance the interests of the community in which he resides. Politically he is a 
Republican. Mr.  Olsen was married in Norway, in 1882, to Katrine Pettersen, by 
whom he had one son, Andrew. She died in 1883, in Norway. In 1886 Mr. Olsen was 
married in Concord, to Miss Olive Larsen, also a native of Norway, the daughter 
of Johanes and Karen Larsen. They have two children: Elida and an infant son.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 582
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler