Contra Costa County
Biographies
RAMUS ANDERSON IVERSEN
No defeats nor obstacles have had power to discourage Mr. Iversen in his efforts to acquire that competence which the world owes every man, and through the application characteristic of the Saxon people he has risen steadily to a position of financial importance in the state of his adoption. He is now located upon a large and productive ranch in the neighborhood of Antioch, Contra Costa county, and successfully engages in agricultural pursuits, making parallel, however, his efforts for a personal success with those in the interests of the general welfare of the community.
Born in Denmark, September 1, 1846, Mr. Iversen was reared to manhood in his native country, and after completing the course of the common schools he entered the military school, in which he served four years. He then learned the watch-maker's trade, and in 1872 came to the United States and located at Evanston, Ill., where he first began work at his trade and afterward went into business for himself. Becoming interested, however, in the gold mining possibilities of the western states through the glowing reports which reached him through every possible medium, he decided to try life farther west. He went first to the Black Hills, South Dakota, leaving his family with plenty of capital, but not liking that location he continued his journey to California, arriving in San Francisco in April 1877. He looked around for a suitable location to open up his business, as he did not care for journeyman work, and while engaged in a small establishment which he rented he found an advertisement of a ranch to rent or sell on Jersey Island. After some inquiries as to the location and general desirability of the place, he decided to investigate, after which he rented the property and located upon it. He met with success in his new work and sent for his family to join him. Shortly afterward his property was flooded by the high water, and this misfortune once more put him where he stood at the beginning of his western career. Energetic and ambitious, however, he was not in the least daunted, but set to work to find employment, working in the harvest fields, and at the same time buying hay and grain for feed and seed for his farm on the island. Subsequently he conducted another rented ranch for ten years, and in 1886 purchased the Fuller ranch of one hundred and twenty acres, upon which he has since made his home. He planted it all to fruit, almonds, peaches, pears, plums, etc., and set out a row of olives and palms alternately, from the main road to his home and barns. After they began to bear he was not quite satisfied, convinced that they were either the wrong quality or not adapted to the soil, so took them out and planted a vineyard instead, having met with success in the vines which he had already set out. In 1903 he began a hennery, purchasing a large incubator and building a substantial and commodious house, and is meeting with a gratifying success in his new undertaking. He has put up a fine water plant, and built new barns, etc., and in various ways has added to the value of his property. Much of his land is lowland and contains an abundance of fresh water. In addition to this property he also owns forty acres of fine grain land and one hundred acres of vineyard in Fresno county, from which he realizes a net rental of three thousand dollars per year, and a section of land in Kings county. He rents seven hundred acres of the Los Madanos ranch, which he devotes to the cultivation of grain.
The marriage of Mr. Iversen united him with Annie Jorgensen, who was also a native of Denmark, and to them were born the following children: Garlow J., deceased; Annie Christina, the wife of E. W. Hay, of Seattle, Wash.; Henry, deceased; Josephine, the wife of Arthur Long, of Fresno; and Gracie, deceased.
Transcribed
8-20-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1263-1264. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Contra Costa County Biographies