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 HANS P. PETERSEN. Worthy of note among the industrious and respected men of the San Joaquin valley is Hans P. Petersen, a keen, wide-awake representative of the agricultural interests of this section. A man of energy and high aspirations, he is in every respect a self- made man and the architect of his own fortune, his prosperity being due solely to his own efforts. As a general farmer and chicken raiser, he has fine success, and his large crops of hay and grain bring him in handsome profits each year. The son of a machinist, he was born De- cember 24, 1861, in Denmark, where his parents, Carl and Carry (Christian) Petersen, were born, lived and died. Their family consisted of seven children, .five sons and two daughters, four of whom are living, Hans P. being the third child in order of birth. Having obtained a substantial education in the common and private schools of his native dis- trict, Hans P. Petersen learned the cabinet maker's trade, which he there followed for a while as a journeyman. Immigrating- to the United States in search of more favorable opportunities for bettering his financial prospects, he located at Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1882, and there fol- lowed his trade for two years. Coming to California in 1884, he worked on a ranch in Modesto for two years. In 1886, looking about for a place in which to settle permanently, Mr. Petersen was so impressed with the richness and fertility of the soil of the west side of the San Joaquin valley that he secured a position as a farm laborer on a ranch at Hills Ferry, and while thus employed bought one hundred and sixty acres of the land now included within his present home farm. Three years later, in 1889, he gave up working for wages and removed to his own ranch, which lies nine miles southwest of Newman, and has since been farming on his own ac- count. By the exercise of his native industry and good judgment, he has met with most sat- isfactory success in his labors. He has bought another quarter section of land, having now a valuable ranch of three hundred and twenty acres, on which he raises large crops of wheat and barley. He is also interested in the poultry business, having large chicken yards, houses and incubators, and during the past year raised thirty-three hundred white Leghorn chickens, in this branch of industry, which is a side one, finding profitable returns for the money invested. In Modesto, Cal., Mr. Petersen married Anna Matsen, a native of Denmark, and they have three children, Carrie, Augusta and Emily. Fraternally Mr. Petersen belongs to Newman Lodge, A. O. U. W., and politically he is a strong supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He takes great interest in local affairs, and though not an office seeker has served for a number of terms as school trustee in the Occidental district.