NELS C. JENSEN.
Nels C. Jensen, a very successful farmer of Oakfield township, who owns a farm of two hundred acres, was born in Denmark, February 2, 1862, and is the son of Jens P. and Mary K. (Lostetter) Jensen, both of whom were natives of Denmark. The former was a farmer in his native land and, after coming to America, followed this occupation. After coming to this country, he located in Shelby county, Iowa, temporarily, where he rented a farm for one year. He then moved to Audubon county and purchased eighty acres of land and farmed until his death in 1900. He was a veteran of the Danish War of 1848. Jens P. and Mary K. Jensen were the parents of four children: Nels C., Jens L. and two who died in infancy. After the death of the mother of these children, Jens P. Jensen married Mary Sophia Nelson and to this union there have been born six children: Hettie, Charles, John, Chris, Sophus and Petrea.
After completing a limited educational course in the schools of his native land, Nels C. Jensen worked for a short time on a farm in Denmark, his wages being thirty dollars a year. He then came to America. Settling first in Shelby county, Iowa, he worked as a farm hand for one year and then moved to Audubon county and worked as a farm hand until his marriage. After his marriage, Mr. Jensen rented a farm and farmed for himself for one year, after which he purchased eighty acres of land which constituted the nucleus of the two-hundred-acre farm he now owns, and on which he lives. Here he has invested about ten thousand dollars in various kinds of improvements, including a residence which is thoroughly modern, and outbuildings, drains and fences. Ordinarily, he raises seventy acres of corn a year and thirty acres of small grain, feeding one hundred and fifty head of hogs a year and milking twenty head of cows. Mr. Jensen raises only purebred Poland China hogs and has won many prizes at state and county fairs.
On December 27, 1886, Nels C. Jensen was married to Anna K. Peterson, and to them have been born eight children: Mary, Marten, Arthur (deceased), Lawrence, John, Clarence, Daisy and Elmer. Mary married Peter Jacobsen and has one child, Alice. Lawrence married Dorothy Madsen.
Anna K. Peterson was a daughter of Peter and Mary (Jurgersen) Peterson, both natives of Denmark.
Mr. and Mrs. Nels C. Jensen and family are members of the Seventh Day Adventist church. In politics Mr. Jenson is a Republican and the only offices which he has held are those of school director and road supervisor.
Nels C. Jensen has always taken an active interest in public affairs and public movements and his support in behalf of worthy public enterprises can always be depended upon by the people of his community. Popular with his neighbors and fellow citizens, he has never had an ax to grind with anyone, but has gone on from year to year diligently in his own business and paying strict attention to his own affairs. He has done worthily his part to transform the raw prairie of Audubon county into farms which produce the good things of life.
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Transcribed by Gunter Schanzenbacher, Waynesboro, PA, April 2, 2013 from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pg. 691-692.
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