Placer
County
Biographies
WALTER JANSEN
There is, in the anxious and
laborious struggle for an honorable competence and a solid career of the
business or professional man fighting the every-day battle of life, but little
to attract the idle reader in search of a sensational chapter; but for a mind
thoroughly awake to the reality and meaning of human existence, there are noble
and immortal lessons in the life of the man, who, without other means than a
clear head, a strong arm and a true heart, conquers adversity, and, toiling on
through the work-a-day years of a long career, finds that he has won not only
wealth but also something far greater and higher, the deserved respect and
esteem of those with whom his years of active life placed him in contact.
Such a man, and one of the leading
citizens of Lincoln, is Walter Jansen, who was born in Germany, on the 5th
of November, 1862, near the city of Apenrade. His father, Henry Jansen, was also born in
that country. He served in the German
navy and was a seafaring man, spending his entire life upon the waters. He attained the age of eighty-one years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna
Marie Olsen, was of Danish lineage. They
had seven children, six of whom are living, three sons and three daughters, and
the mother also survives, in the seventy-seventh year of her make, making her
home in her native country. Walter
Jansen, of this review, was the third in order of birth. He was educated in the schools of the fatherland
and in 1877 came to California. He was
then but fifteen years of age, a poor boy who was forced to gain a fortune for
himself or else enjoy none of the comforts that a competence can bring. He was wise in choosing for the scene of his
labors a land in which opportunity and effort are not hampered by caste and
class. He came to Placer County and
worked as a farm hand for ten years. On
the expiration of that period he worked for the Buckeye Mill Company, of
Maysville, and was with that company at their branch office in Lincoln for five
years. Then, forming a partnership in 1893,
he became the proprietor of the business at Lincoln, and after two years he
purchased his partner’s interest and has since been alone in the
enterprise. He deals in farmers’
hardware, grain, hay and flour, and has a large warehouse. He buys, sells and
stores grain and does nearly all the grain business in this part of the
country. His sales on farm implements
and farmers’ hardware are also extensive and his patronage is steadily
increasing.
In 1890 Mr. Jansen was joined in
wedlock to Mrs. Emma Jenkins, who by her former marriage had a daughter, Eva by
name. Of the second marriage there is
one son named Walter K. Since coming to
Lincoln Mr. Jansen has taken an active interest in the upbuilding of the town,
and was elected a member of its board of trustees in April, 1900, so that he is
the present incumbent and is filling the office most creditably. Widely known in the Masonic fraternity, he is
a valued member of Gold Hill Lodge, No. 32, F. & A. M. He rapidly became thoroughly posted in the
work and tenets of the order and served as the master of the lodge for five
years, during which time the organization which he represented made a
creditable advancement. He is also a
Royal Arch Mason, holding membership in Delta Chapter. Of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows he is
a representative, and has passed all of the chairs in the subordinate lodge and
has been a representative to the grand lodge.
He likewise holds membership in the Independent Order of Foresters. He is one of Lincoln’s most energetic and
successful business men. Of strong
individuality and indubitable probity, he has attained to a due measure of
success in the affirs of life and his influence has
ever been exerted in the direction of the true and the good. His life history is an illustration of what
may be accomplished in the land of the free.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 662-663. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.