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


JOHN OSLUND. � A very estimable man, who has improved a fine 
farm in the district where he was a pioneer, and has the distinction of being 
one of the developers of Vinland, is John Oslund, who came to Fresno almost 
at the beginning of the present eventful century. He was born in Hede, 
Hjemtland, Sweden, on December 26, 1851, the son of Sven Halvarson. a 
farmer, who died there, and Ragnhild Halvarson, the mother of two children, 
who also passed away in that country. John, the younger, is the only one in 
the United States. He was reared on a farm, during which he attended the 
public schools, and he early worked at lumbering. He also learned the car- 
penter's trade. When twenty-one, he spent two years in the Swedish army, 
joining the infantry ; and after additional service in lumbering, he came to the 
United States, in 1884. 

At first Mr. Oslund settled in Grant County, Minn., where he worked as 
a carpenter and builder ; and then he located in Hoffman, where he advanced 
to contracting and building. He also bought eighty acres there, and by 
steady, progressive work made his mark in the community. 

In November, 1903, Mr. Oslund came to Fresno County, accompanying 
the Reverend Nordstrom and others, a small but select company, of whom 
only three are now left. He bought his place of twenty-five acres on the San 
Joaquin River, then quite raw land, located on it and at once began improve- 
ments. He built a residence, set out a fine orchard and vineyard, and has 
continued there in prosperous business ever since, raising, among other su- 
perior fruit, Muir, Lovell and Elberta peaches. He also grows good crops of 
alfalfa. He is a member and stockholder in the California Peach Growers, 
Inc., and a member of the California Associated Raisin Company. 

At Hoffman, on July 20, 1889, Mr. Oslund was married to Mary Elfberg, a 
native of Hjemtland, who came to Grant County in 1882 with her parents, 
who were early settlers of that section. She is the daughter of John C. Elf- 
berg, a farmer who first brought his family to Red Wing, Goodhue County, 
and two years later located at Hoffman, where he died. John Elfberg's wife 
was Karen Larson before her marriage, and she also died in Grant County, 
the mother of seven children, five of whom grew up. Five came to Minnesota, 
and Mrs. Oslund is the fourth. 

Mr. and Mrs. Oslund have had four children ; two died in infancy, and 
the others are: Josephine Eugenia, the wife of M. A. Trukken of San Fran- 
cisco and the mother of two children � Marjorie Eugenia and Doris Mariane ; 
and Edgar L., who has been assisting his father in ranching, is now a ma- 
chinist. Mr. and Mrs. Oslund both helped to organize the Swedish Lutheran 
Church at Vinland and to build the handsome edifice there, and Mr. Oslund 
was a member of the first board of trustees ; while Mrs. Oslund was Sunday 
School teacher when the congregation was organized and the services were 
held in Mr. Nordstrom's home and she was also secretary of the Ladies' Aid 
Society for ten years. In national politics Mr. Oslund is a Republican, al- 
though he supports local measures regardless of party.