A lady of motherly qualities and steadfast Christian character, in which she worthily represents her deceased husband, the late Niels Andersen, the pioneer among the Danes in this locality, is Mrs. Anna M. Andersen, like her husband an expert in farming and fruit-raising, and a good organizer and financier, as has been agreeably demonstrated since she took charge of the family estate. She is managing the farm by the help of her sons, all excellent young men, and they have built the beautiful bungalow house in which she now makes her home. Her ranch is about midway between Selma and Parlier, and it is frequently visited by ranch fanciers who enjoy seeing a modest "show-place."
Mrs. Andersen was born in Denmark, the daughter of Soren Sorensen, who married Christini Pedersen, and both of whom were born, married and died in Denmark. She was the fifth of six children, and three of her brothers preceded her to America. Soren P. Sorensen owns a forty-acre ranch three and a half miles from Selma; Niels P. Sorensen is half a mile to the north of her land; and Chris Sorensen, the rancher, is about a mile away in the same direction. Mrs. Andersen came to America in 1897, and took her course westward by way of Canada, in which country she stayed for a while. In 1899 she reached the land of promise of which she had heard so much, and at once built her camp-fire at Selma. The following year she met Mr. Andersen, and after a brief courtship they were married.
He was born in Denmark on September 23, 1860, the brother of Jes Andersen whose biography is sketched elsewhere in this work; he learned the carpenter's trade in Denmark, and in 1880, when only twenty years of age, left Denmark and came out to the middle west of the United States. He worked as a carpenter, and at building and grading a railway in Wyoming, and little by little he made enough progress to enable him to remove further west. When he reached California, he worked in the timber woods at Pine Ridge, Fresno County; and continuing to save his money, he was able to make his first investment in a California ranch. At the same time that his brother bought twenty acres, he also purchased twenty adjoining, both tracts being wheat field. The purchase was made of W. J. Berry, the pioneer of Selma, and has proven an excellent buy. Mr. Andersen had worked for three years at the famous Boston Ranch at Fresno, and there had acquired valuable knowledge and experience that stood by him when he came to develop his new possession.
Later he bought forty-eight acres more, and, as soon as he could, he planted all his land and otherwise improved it. He had always been a very conscientious, careful worker, striving for the highest results and least of all favoring himself, and through overwork and exposure he was taken with pneumonia, which developed into Bright's Disease, and he died on October 26, 1915, aged fifty-five years. He was mourned by a devoted widow, by a whole community, and quite as much by his three children, Hans, Christian, and Edith.
Business-like in managing his private affairs, a man who believed in setting his house in order and in assisting others to do likewise, Mr. Andersen helped to organize the First National Bank of Parlier and was on the bank's first board of directors. Men of far larger affairs reposed their faith in his integrity, no less than in his judgment, and were never misguided.
HORACE E. NORMAN.
A public-spirited citizen, generous to a fault and untiring for the public welfare, is Horace E. Norman, the one surviving son of J. L. Norman, the vice-president of the Bank of Kingsburg. He owns a splendid ranch of about forty acres half a mile north of the Clay school, and besides operating that, he rents forty acres of his father's property. He was born in Saunders County, Nebr., on August 1, 1889, but grew up mainly in Fresno County, having come to California when he was five years old.
His father, who had much to contend with and who, as a successful American of an interesting type, is represented elsewhere in this work, had a career worth noting again. He was born in Sweden, in 1860, the son of Andrew and Johanna Norman who came to the United States in the late sixties and settled in Saunders County, Nebr., where they homesteaded. The tough experiences of a pioneer, in contending against grasshoppers, cyclones, blizzards and panics, undoubtedly hastened Andrew Norman's end, for he passed away in Nebraska, while his widow was able to come west to California, in the middle nineties, bringing her family. J. L. Norman, as a boy in Nebraska, earned his salt and many times over, so that when he became of age he was able to assume the leadership of the family. He farmed, and he also married, taking for his bride Miss Elna Nelson, who was born and reared in Sweden. When he came to California, he bought and improved twenty acres of land, and afterward he bought and improved forty acres. He sold the twenty and bought another forty. On these ranches he set out peach-trees and muscat vines, and became so active as a successful rancher that he was naturally made a trustee of the California Associated Raisin Company. Busy as he has constantly been, he has found time for wide travel, back to Nebraska and then to Sweden, with his family, and so has become a well-informed leader of men. As late as the winter of 1916-17, J. L. Norman had erected for his residence one of the choice dwellings in Kingsburg's select quarter.
After passing his boyhood attending the Clay Grammar School, and doing chores, and growing up. Horace E. Norman was married to Miss Edith Louisa Peterson, at Kingsburg, on January 19, 1916. She was the daughter of Alexander E. and Anna Petersen. Mr. and Mrs. Norman have one child, Horace M.
The association of father and son made Mr. Norman his father's main stay in running the home ranch. He is not only an excellent worker, but a young man of principle, good judgment, and common sense. He is one of Fresno County's most promising young men. Mrs. Norman also deserves her full share of honor, not only for her worthy family connections, but also for her part in the social life of the community, and she is, in more than one sense, a model citizen.
JOSEPH MARTIN.
Born in Ray County. Mo., in 1862, Joseph Martin is a son of William and Emeline (Clark) Martin. His father served in the Civil War and died in Missouri in 1877; his mother is still living and now resides in Fresno. Joseph grew up in Missouri, where he received a good education and in April, 1881, he migrated to California and engaged in ranching in Fresno County.
Joseph Martin was united in marriage at Kingsburg. Cal., on September 7, 1890, with Abbygail Woodmansee, who was born in Ray County, Mo., the daughter of Oliver and Frances (Huddleston) Woodmansee, natives of Ohio and Harrison County, Mo., respectively. Mr. Woodmansee was a soldier in the Union Army and served in an Ohio Regiment of Artillery until the close of the war, after which he came to Missouri where he was married and followed farming and stock-raising until his death, in 1884. Resides his widow he left three children: Abbygail, widow of Joseph Martin; James; and Mary, now Mrs. Kline. After her husband's death Mrs. Woodmansee brought her family to Traver. Cal., in 1886, and two years later located at Kingsburg, Fresno County, where she made her home until her death.
Abbygail Woodmansee was the oldest child of the family: she attended the public school at Traver, but, being the eldest, was early obliged to take up the duties of life and assist her mother with the work at home, becoming her mainstay and greatest help, and remained with her mother until her marriage to Mr. Martin. After their marriage Mr. Martin leased a part of the Alfred Baird place near Academy and engaged in raising grain for three years and then leased a part -of the Simpson place, in the same vicinity. In 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Martin purchased the old Kern place of 1.800 acres on Fancher Creek, where they engaged in stock-raising and soon afterwards they bought another ranch of 556 acres close by. In 1910 they sold the 1,800-acre ranch and purchased the present place of 410 acres in the Round Mountain District and moved there. During these years Mr. Martin also bought and sold other ranches. He also found time to serve as a trustee of the Fancher Creek district.
Five months after they settled on the Round Mountain ranch Mr. Martin passed away, on February 11, 1911, at the age of forty-five years, leaving besides his widow, six children: Harry, who resides in Fresno; Bertha, is the wife of Lawrence Simpson, of Sanger; Walter, assists his mother on the ranch; Elsie, is the wife of Clarence Moore of Round Mountain; Hazel; and Joseph. Since the death of Mr. Martin, his widow continues to operate the home ranch but leases the Fancher Creek ranch. Mrs. Martin is one of the very oldest settlers in this part of the county and, like her late husband, is favorably known and highly respected.