Butte County
Biographies
AXEL H. ROOS
AXEL H. ROOS.—Possessing
the fundamental characteristics for which his race is noted, Axel H. Roos is making a success of life through habits of industry
and perseverance, combined with good judgment and enough faith in his own ideas
to carry them to completion. Born at Ystad, Skane, Sweden, May 23, 1886, he is a son of Johan
and Maria (Olsen) Roos. The father, for many years in
the employ of the Malmo and Ystad Railway, is still
following this occupation. Both parents are still living in Sweden, and of
their ten children, five are now alive.
The eldest child in his parents’ family,
Axel H. Roos, after completing the public schools at
fourteen years of age, was apprenticed and served three years at the blacksmith
trade. At the end of that time he took up bicycle repairing, and continued in
that line for a number of years. In 1905 he came to Boston, Mass., where he
became foreman of the drill-press department for Anderson Brothers,
manufacturers of electrical switches and switch-boards. Ten months later he
removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., and was employed in an ammunition factory
there. In November, 1906, he came to California and started in business for
himself in San Francisco, where he had a bicycle agency and repair shop, on Divisidero Street, between O’Farrell and Geary. He also
started a cyclery at Redwood City, and ran both
places until he sold them, in 1909, and returned East
to Rockford, Ill., entering the employ of the National Lock Company as
machinist, and then with the F. H. Noble Company, manufacturers of
jewelry and findings, as tool and diemaker. His
desire and love for California won him back to the coast, however, and wishing
to again engage in his old line of business, he resigned, and,
April 1, 1912, located in Chico. Here he started the Model Cyclery, on Main Street, between First and Second. Wishing
to obtain a larger and more central location, he leased his present place, at
405 Main Street, remodeled it and put in a new front, which gives him
splendid show windows, and moved into the new establishment in 1916. In the
rear he has a well equipped shop for the repair of bicycles and motorcycles, fitted up with machine shop run by electric power,
with lathes and drills, and also does brazing and vulcanizing. In
motorcycles, he sells the Harley Davidson, Excelsior, and Cleveland; in
bicycles, he sells the Crescent, Harley Davidson, Tribune, and Pierce. He also
carries a line of bicycle and motorcycle supplies, sundries and extras. He has
the largest business of this kind in Northern California, north of Sacramento,
and with the rapidly growing territory, it bids fair to rival any in the larger
city.
The marriage of Mr. Roos,
which occurred in San Francisco, united him with Miss Annie Carlson, a native
of Sweden, and one child has been born to them, a daughter, Frances. They own
their own home, a comfortable bungalow on Sacramento Avenue, in Chico Vecino. Fraternally, Mr. Roos
is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Woodmen of the
World, and his wife is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
02 November 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 1287, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies