VIGGO CHRISTIAN PINGEL

Sacramento County

Biographies

VIGGO CHRISTIAN PINGEL

VIGGO CHRISTIAN PINGEL--Among the talented men who have contributed much toward the upbuilding of California, mention must be made of Viggo Christian Pingel, who was born April 8, 1869, in Copenhagen, Denmark, a son of the Danish army official Johan Christian Von Pingel and Maria Elizabeth (Von Dreyer) Von Pingel, of Copenhagen. His mother was a daughter of Major Von Dreyer, of the Danish army. Her mother was a daughter of a Danish princess, who was married to a Danish general. They subject's paternal grandfather was the governor of the island of Barnholm, Denmark.

Viggo Pingel come from a line of aristocrats. The Danish family of "Von Pingel," knighted by the Danish king, is a family of French origin. In France the name was "De Pingel," and the family were extensive landowners, who were driven out of France about the time of the French Revolution, their lands having been confiscated by the Roman Catholic Church. They were French Huguenots and were compelled to take refuge in Denmark. In this country they started life anew, won favor with the Danish king, were knighted "Von Pingel," and became prominent military men. Great-grandfather Baron Von Pingel was made Knight of Danneborg by the Danish king, but retained his French coat-of-arms. This coat-of-arms is still in the family. He also received a charm or royal insignia, and this charm is in the possession of the subject, who has made it into a charm for his watch-chain. The father was a great mathematician and was the inventor of the pointed bullet. He fought in the War of 1848-1850 and also in the War of 1864. He became powerful in politics and served in the Danish Rigsdag for twenty-four years, being a Liberal in his political views. Viggo Pingel was one of nine children in his parents' family, seven of whom grew up. Two died in infancy. Of the seven that grew up Johan Christian died unmarried in the West Indies, while in the British Naval service. Claudius is in the insurance business in Copenhagen, where he is a prominent Mason. Dagmar married Col. Waldemar Gronning, of the Danish Cavalry, and lived and died in Copenhagen. She was a woman of unusual talent and a finished musician, a pianist and organist, and played for King Christian at the Royal Palace. Helga became the wife of Commander Carl Berg, of Ft. Lynetten, Copenhagen. Like her sister Dagmar, she died and left no children. She was an unusually gifted woman, being an author and playwright of note, and some of her dramas had successful runs at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen. After the death of her husband, she spent three years in India as a missionary. Hjalmar Ingolf was a prominent railroad man, and for several years was the station master at Copenhagen. He was married, but left no children at hi death, which occurred when he was twenty-nine years old. Regnar is the proprietor of a drug store and a prominent physician and surgeon in New York City.

Viggo Pingel was educated in the grammar and high schools, and attended the Royal Academy of Arts for five years, where he learned painting and interior decorating. He followed this work in Denmark until he was thirty years old, when he came to America. On his arrival here, he located in New York, where he remained for three years. After staying in Chicago for six months, he came West to San Francisco, where he did some excellent work of the more pretentious kind. He also does much work on dwellings. In 1916 he came to Sacramento. His work has been exhibited at the State Fair, and has received commendation.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Pingel are refined, considerate, generous-hearted, Christian people. Mrs. Pingel is a very motherly woman, and they have recently adopted two orphaned boys, and are providing a good home for them. Mrs. Pingel also comes from a very prominent Copenhagen family. She was educated in Frokem Thaarup's private school for girls, and her maiden name was Minnie Grondahl. When only fifteen years of age she made the trip alone from Copenhagen to Butte, Mont., where for three years she lived in the home of an uncle, the Rev. N. Jorgensen, of the Luthern Church. When eighteen she returned to Copenhagen and was married to Capt. Carl Clausen, paymaster in the Danish navy, by whom she had one child, Carla Clausen, who is now the wife of Mr. J. P. Howell, contractor and builder, and resides at 1837 Forty-seventh Street, Sacramento. When Mr. Clausen died, his widow resolved to return with her child of three years to America, where she made her home in New York City, and where she met and married her present husband, Viggo Pingel. Mrs. Pingel's father was Julius Grondahl, who was an importer and wholesale dealer in cattle and livestock, importing beef and cattle from England. Her mother's maiden name was Catharine Jensen; she is still living at the advanced age of eighty-five in Denmark. Her father died in that country. Mrs. Pingel has one brother, and two sisters. They are Waldemar, in the Danish postal service at Copenhagen; Laura, who became the wife of Christian Anderson, wholesale jeweler in Copenhagen, and died in that city at thirty-four years of age, leaving, besides her husband, two children, Lillian and Carl; and Agnes Emily, who is now the wife of Wilhelm Jefferson, chief of the Danish-American Steamship Company, and resides in Copenhagen, the mother of two children, Werner, a banker in that city, and Ebba, a dentist, also of Copenhagen. Mr. and Mrs. Pingel are the parents of one child, Helga Maria Elizabeth Pingel, a junior in Sacramento High School.

Deeply religious in thought and life, Mr. Pingel has always been a Bible student; while an art pupil at the Royal Academy he also pursued theology. Since Captain Matthews, the late leader of the Volunteers of America, died, in March, 1923, Mr Pingel has been the leader of the Gospel work in Sacramento. Mr. Pingel is especially interested in the collection of antique curios, of which he has many interesting specimens. He is also very fond of music, and occasionally contributes solos, having studied for the opera when he was a young man. He is non-partisan in his political attitude, and casts his ballot in favor of the man and principle, rather than the party. He is deeply interested in his community, and does much for its betterment and uplift.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 700. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.