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


JAMES J. TRANBERG. � A prominent viticulturist and orchardist, and 
influential as a Socialist seeking progress and much-needed reforms, is James 
J. Tranberg who, with his estimable wife, hospitable and studious like him- 
self, is much interested in the history of California and the preservation of 
its absorbing annals. He was born at Gudhjem, Island of Bornholm, Den- 
mark, September 1, 1870, the son of Hans J. Tranberg, who went to sea 
when he was a boy, and who sailed to many important cities in the Old and 
New World. Once he rounded the Horn on a voyage to Valparaiso, after 
which he returned to New York. He remained in America awhile, but at 
the outbreak of the Civil War returned to Denmark. He was a patriot, 
through and through, and in 1864 served on a monitor in the Danish Navy, 
during the Danish-German War. In 1867 he was married to Miss Mattia 
Johansen, and was afterwards engaged in the fishing trade, for which he 
owned his fishing-boat. He died at the age of seventy-five, in 1914, survived 
by his faithful wife, the devoted mother of four children. 

The second eldest of these and the only boy in the family, James J. at- 
tended school until he was fourteen, after which he went to work in a steam- 
ship office. Two years later he went to sea, and for six years was a sailor in 
the coasting trade. This prepared him for the half-year of compulsory ser- 
vice in the Danish Navy, in which he distinguished himself for alertness and 
fidelity. He received the coveted honorable discharge. 

Attracted by the glowing reports of life on the shores of the Pacific, Mr. 
Tranberg, in April, 1892, reached the busy city of San Francisco, and soon 
thereafter secured work on a farm near Modesto. He next set sail from San 
Francisco for Alaska to take part, for the summer of 1895, in the cod-fish 
trade, and this he liked so well that he again visited the northern waters in 
1896. Strange to say, however, he did not learn of the discovery of gold in 
the Klondyke until his return to San Francisco, and then he was ready to 
return to Denmark via Panama and New York. 

For eighteen months he was a sailor again in the coasting trade, and 
then he assisted on a fishing-boat. The hazardous life of the sea made him 
long for a fireside of his own, and on October 24, 1899, at Copenhagen, he 
was married to Miss Johanna Hirsch, who was born in that city. Her father 
was William Hirsch and her mother had been Adolphine Reinholtz. They 
were born in Germany of Lutheran families, and were married in 1870; and 
her father, who was a shoe merchant in Hamburg, was a sergeant in the 
Franco-Prussian War. In 1877 he migrated to Copenhagen, where he opened 
a shoe-store and became a citizen of Denmark and there reared a family; 
and there he remained until he disposed of his business. Both the father 
and the mother are still living, the parents of nine children, six of whom grew 
to maturity. The only one in the United States is Mrs. Tranberg. the third 
oldest, who was educated in Copenhagen, where she attended the grammar 
and high schools, and then took a course in the business college. They mi- 
grated to California and on October 21. 1000. Mr. Tranberg and family ar- 
rived in Fresno, stopping over by chance for a few days on the way to San 
Francisco; but he became interested in the county and prolonged his visit. 
He found employment in a vineyard, and liked the work so well that he 
chose it. In fact, in 1903, he bought twenty acres in the Eggers Colony, and 
set to work to level and improve it. He and a neighbor took out a ditch 
from the Enterprise Canal, and there he planted alfalfa and conducted a 
thriving vineyard. He made all the necessary improvements, including the 
erection of a residence and outbuildings, and the place had a vineyard of 
eleven acres, planted to Malagas and Thompsons : also five acres of peaches 
and figs, and the balance in alfalfa. In 1918 he sold the ranch at a good 
profit and moved to a residence he purchased in Clovis, where he resides 
with his family. In April, 1919, he bought ten acres of vineyard, two miles 
north of Clovis, set to Malagas, Muscats and Zinfandels. He is a member of 
the Melvin Grape Growing Association, and also of the California Associated 
Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc. 

Five children bear the honored name of Tranberg: George is a grad- 
uate of the Class of '18 of the Clovis Union High School ; Arthur, attending 
Clovis Union High, class of 1922; and Edith, James, Jr., and Ruth all in 
grammar school, complete the circle. Mr. Tranberg is a member of the 
Danish Brotherhood and Mrs. Tranberg is a member in the Danish Sister- 
hood of America. Mr. Tranberg is a loyal citizen of the United States and a 
warm advocate of the socialistic doctrine.