California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 BENEDICT OLSEN. His humble home hedged in by the awe-inspiring mountains of Norway, Benedict Olsen was born June 12, 1871, and was reared in a typical home of the peasantry, descended from the historic Norsemen. His education was the best procurable in his home district, and was sufficiently broad to create discontent with his surroundings, no matter how well they had supplied the needs of his forefathers. Yielding to the impulse to immigrate to the United States in 1895, he landed in New York with twenty-four mile posts of his life already passed, and with hope in his heart, and determination in his mind. Crossing the con- tinent to San Francisco, he engaged in the humble occupation of farm hand for a couple of years, and thus demonstrated his ability to till the soil and do with thoroughness and dispatch whatever work was assigned him. As a reward for is ability and faithfulness he was made man- ager of the James C. McDermott ranch March 12, 1897, and has since been identified with this large and important responsibility. The McDermott ranch is located three and a half miles north of Newman, and comprises five hundred acres of alfalfa and seven hundred acres of barley and grain land. The owner of this large property is a wholesale meat merchant, with headquarters at No. 345 Tenth street, San Francisco, and from his farm he receives the greater part of the stock required in his business in the city. About one thousand head of cattle are fattened for market every winter and the su- perintending of these cattle and the planting and harvesting of the grain and alfalfa rest upon the shoulders of Mr. Olsen. That he is thoroughly competent to attend to the task assigned him is intimated by his long retention in the same position, and by the air of thrift and prosperity which pervades every department of the ranch. Painstaking and conservative, thoughtful of the best interests of his employer, he is a man upon whom all rely who have ever been associated with him in whatsoever capacity, and furthermore, he is able to secure from his subordinates the best pos- sible and most willing service. He is an appreciator of fine stock, of fertile, yielding land, and is able to turn it to the best financial account, as becomes a man of his extended and intelligent experience. Thus far on his life journey Mr. Olsen is a bachelor, but an eminently genial and social one, taking his part in the diversions by which he is surrounded, and occupying a prominent place in the lodges of the Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World. In politics he is a Republican. That he has prospered beyond his immediate needs is evident from his ownership of a farm of eighty acres three and a half miles north of Newman, upon which he raises alfalfa, and which nets him a handsome addition to his yearly salary.