Soren Andersen

ANDERSEN, OXHOLM

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 1/22/2011 at 19:48:48

Soren Andersen, who passed away on the 19th of April, 1913, was one of the leading farmers of Denmark township, Emmet county, where he made his home since 1889. His early life was spent on the other side of the Atlantic, for he was born in Denmark, April 2, 1851, and was a son of Andrew Sorensen, a small farmer in that country. In the family were seven children. The parents never came to the United States, but continued to reside in Denmark until called to their final rest.

In his native land Soren Andersen pursued his education in the district schools near his boyhood home and later devoted a year and a half to military training. As an occupation he followed farming in the employ of others until his emigration to America in 1886. For two years he was a resident of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and in 1889 came to Emmet county, being engaged in farming on rented land in Denmark township for six years. At the end of that time he purchased the southeast quarter of section 20 in the same township and continued its operations up to the time of his death. His remains were interred in St. John’s cemetery.

In 1894 Mr. Andersen was united in marriage to Miss Maren Oxholm, who was born in Schleswig, Germany, June 2, 1865, and of that province her parents, Hans and Anna Marie Oxholm, were lifelong residents. When she was nineteen years of age she came to the new world with her brother Carl, who is now a resident of Tyler, Minnesota. Four years later she returned to Denmark and when she again came to the United States was accompanied by her other brother, Steffen, who is now a banker at Tyler, Minnesota. At the time of her marriage Mrs. Andersen was living in Ringsted, Iowa, with a friend, Mrs. Andrew Larson, with whom she had spent a few months. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Andersen are Anna, Hans, Emma and Alma, who are at home with their mother and assist in the operation of the farm. The place is in a high state of cultivation and the fields yield bounteous harvests for the labor bestowed upon them. Mr. Andersen was an enterprising and progressive farmer and the success that he achieved was due entirely to his own well directed efforts. He was a democrat in politics and acceptably served as township road supervisor for one year.

Source: History of Emmet County and Dickinson County Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, The Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1917.