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


NELS SWANSON. � A viticulturist who has been very successful and 
now owns one of the best-improved ranches in the vicinity of Fresno, is Nels 
Swanson, who was born near Laholm, Halan, Sweden, December 7, 1872, the 
son of Swen Paulson, a farmer there, now deceased, and Ingri Paulson, who 
is still living, the mother of eight children. As the fourth eldest, he was 
brought up on a farm and at the same time attended the public schools of 
his neighborhood. 

In 1892, Nels crossed the ocean and the continent to Fresno, arriving 
here on May 17, and he soon went to work in a vineyard at Oleander, contin- 
uing in that field of endeavor until 1898 when the news of the new discovery 
of gold in Alaska urged him, with others, to hasten to the Klondike. 

He reached Dyea and then packed over Chilcoot Pass and reached 
Sheeps Camp soon after a big snow slide, and finally got to Lake Luideneau 
and Bennett. With the help of a companion or two, he made a scow, and they 
floated down the Yukon to Dawson. They obtained claims, but not enough 
gold to make it pay; and he was glad, in the end, to work for others at one 
dollar per hour. After two such winters in the extreme North, Mr. Swanson 
came back to Fresno County on October 4, 1900. 

He then bought thirty acres at the corner of Johnson and Belmont Ave- 
nues, and there he engaged in viticulture for five years. In 1906, however, 
he bought his present place of twenty acres on Madison Avenue three and a 
half miles west from Fresno, which he soon devoted to the growing of raisins, 
� muscat and Thompson seedless. He early joined the movement for a bet- 
ter raisin association, and is now an active supporter of the California Asso- 
ciated Raisin Company. In 1908 he made a trip back to his old home, visiting 
his parents and friends, returning home three months later, after an enjoy- 
able trip. 

While in Fresno, Mr. Swanson was married on February 18, 1903, to 
Miss Ida Gustafson, a native of Westmanland, Sweden, who came to Fresno 
with her parents in July, 1892. This union has proven singularly happy, and 
four children have come to bless the Swanson fireside. Carlton Sherwood is 
the eldest; and the others are Freda, Edith and Nels, Jr. Mr. Swanson is a 
Lutheran, and the family attend that church, and are active in its various 
good works.