Butte County

Biographies


 

 

 

NIELS ANDERSEN NIELSEN

 

 

      NIELS ANDERSEN NIELSEN.By the exercise of good judgment, and by perseverance, Niels A. Nielsen of Gridley, Butte County, has been able to demonstrate that a man starting at the bottom can by industry and well-directed effort attain to a position of prominence, and build up a home. He was born at Aero, Denmark, January 18, 1866, and is the son of Niels Andersen and Bertha Katrine (Henricksen) Nielsen, well-to-do farmers owning a farm near Tverby, Denmark. The mother died at the age of sixty-four years, while the father is still living, aged eighty years. Eight of the children born to this worthy couple are still alive, Niels A. being the third eldest. He was reared on the home farm and educated in the local schools of his native province. When he was old enough, he was set to work as a farm hand, and continued in that occupation, laboring for very small wages. He served the regulation time in the Danish army in 1887, and received an honorable discharge. In the spring of 1888, he landed on the American shore, and ever since he has been a loyal citizen of the land of his adoption. He had but a small sum of money when he reached Kane County, Ill., but he did have the determination to make a success of his labors if it were possible to do so. He readily found work on a farm, and remained there until the fall of 1888, when he had saved enough money to bring him to the Pacific Coast, the ultimate end of his journey.

      When he arrived in San Francisco, Mr. Nielsen entered the employ of the street railway company, and retained his position after the United Railway Company became the owner of the lines, until 1906. During the intervening years he had saved his money, and he then decided that he would strike out as a rancher. He had become familiar with the conditions on the Coast and, with his knowledge of farm work as carried on in his native country and in Illinois, felt equal to the undertaking. Going to Butte County, he invested in fifty acres of land under the Sutter-Butte canal, two miles southeast of Gridley, the same being part of a large grain field, and he at once began making improvements by erecting the buildings necessary for a home. He planted English walnut trees and ten acres of peaches and other varieties of fruits; checked the land, and planted twenty-five acres to alfalfa; installed a pumping plant, with a gasoline engine for pumping water for domestic use; and put in a hay scale, as well as a full complement of modern machinery and implements. Soon he had a dairy of twenty cows that were bringing in a snug monthly income, some hogs that meant ready money in the markets, and in time fruit and nuts to add to his yearly profits.

      In 1897, in San Francisco, Mr. Nielsen was united in marriage with Anna Warming, born near Tondern, North Schleswig, of an old Danish family. Her father, Hans Warming served in the Danish army and took part in the War of 1864 with Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen have two daughters, Bertha and Anita, students at the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Nielsen is a member of Mission Lodge, No. 169, F. & A. M., in San Francisco. In their adopted county, Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen have won many friends, who appreciate their enterprise and public spirit.

 

 

 

Transcribed by Marie Hassard 13 October 2009.

Source: "History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 1249, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.


© 2009 Marie Hassard.

 

 

 

 

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