Otto A. Hansen, M. D.

HANSEN, KJOS, DONALDSON, MOE

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/26/2010 at 04:24:09

OTTO A. HANSEN, M. D.

Liberal educational training well qualified Dr. Otto A. Hansen for the onerous and responsible duties which devolve upon him as a general medical practitioner of Forest City, where he has resided since 1896. He was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota, March 24, 1865, a son of Andrew and Martha (Kjos) Hansen, who were natives of Norway and came to the United States about 1854, settling first in Chicago, where they resided for but a short time, for the cholera was epidemic there and the grandmother fell a victim to the disease. The family afterward removed to Houston county, Minnesota, and the father, who was a carpenter by trade, later took up the occupation of farming in Faribault county, Minnesota, in the Blue Earth settlement, there residing up to the time of his demise.

Dr. Hansen acquired a public school education in Minnesota and afterward attended the State Normal School at Mankato. Determining upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he matriculated in the Iowa State University as a medical student and was graduated therefrom in 1896, at which time his professional degree was conferred upon him. For three years before his graduation he practiced in Sioux City under the preceptorship of Dr. J. Hermann and on the 12th of March, 1896, he located in Forest City, where he has since remained. In the interval of twenty-one years he has built up an extensive practice and has constantly promoted his knowledge and efficiency through wide reading, study and investigation, as well as through practical experience.

In 1894 Dr. Hansen was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Donaldson, who passed away in 1902, and in 1909 he was again married, his second union being with Miss Bertha Moe, of Thompson, Iowa. By his first marriage he had a daughter, Adela, and the children of the second marriage are Olive, Conkling and Franklin.

Dr. Hansen holds membership in the United Lutheran church and in politics he maintains an independent course. He served for seven years, from 1903 until 1910, as coroner of Winnebago county, was health officer for many years, and has also been a member of the city council, discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity. For several years he was president of the Waldorf College Association. Along the line of his profession he has connection with the Hahnemann State Medical Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy. He is very conscientious as well as capable in the performance of his professional duties and holds high rank as a man and citizen in Winnebago county.

Source: History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II. Pioneer Publishing Company (Chicago), 1917. pp. 140-141.