NILS OLAF LARSEN
NILS OLAF LARSON.--The valuable contribution made by the sons of Norway, toward the settling up and the development of the great Golden State, is well illustrated in the life and workmanship of Nils Olaf Larsen, the popular and successful cement contractor of Sacramento. He was born on October 23, 1886, and when about reaching maturity, arrived in California. His parents were Lars A. and Andrina Nelson, and long before our subject was born, his father came to America and out West, and prospected for gold. Then, when Nils was about fifteen years of age, he returned to his Norwegian home, but he once more came to the United States, and in 1918 he expired. Mrs. Larsen survives him, in the old country, where she enjoys life, the center of a devoted circle.
Nils Olaf Larsen attended school in Norway, and when sixteen and one-half years of age made his first crossing of the Atlantic, to New York, where he remained for a year. Migrating West, he spent two years in Idaho, and pushed on to Oregon for half a year. About sixteen years ago, Olaf thought that California looked sufficiently beckoning to induce him to drop down toward the South; and for a year and a half he followed the stone-cutting trade he had already learned. Then, aware of the great future in artificial stone, he took up cement work; and as it has always happened in whatever Olaf undertook he made more and more of an established reputation for thoroughly good work. He usually confines himself to foundation and sidewalk work, but he is prepared to execute almost any kind of work in cement. Mr. Larsen has just invented and patented a power feeder for sand and gravel for the cement-mixer which will do away with much labor and revolutionize the mixing of concrete. His extensive knowledge of Old and New World conditions, particularly in industrial fields, has been an important factor in his favor.
In 1908, Mr. Larsen married Miss Christina Johnsen, an accomplished and charming woman who died, all to young, on February 29, 1920, the mother of four children, Anton, Bertha, David and Grace. Mr. Larsen is a home man, and devoted both to his own hearth and to that of the old family home; and he has recently returned from a visit to his mother in Norway.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 817-818. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Taylor.