DAN E. LARSEN.
Among the citizens of Hamlin township, Audubon county, Iowa, who have built up comfortable homes and surrounded themselves with valuable personal and real property, few have attained a higher degree of success than Dan E. Larsen, a well-known farmer of this county. With few opportunities except what his own efforts were capable of mastering and with many discouragements to overcome, he has made an exceptional success in life. Although a comparatively young man, Mr. Larsen has the gratification of knowing that the community in which he resides has been benefited by his presence and by his counsels. Mr. Larsen is descended from a well-known Danish family of this state and one which has been foremost in the civic, political and social life of Audubon county for many years.
Dan Larsen was born on July 17, 1883, in Lincoln township, Shelby county, Iowa. He is the son of Lars C. and Sena (Christensen) Larsen, who were natives of Denmark, and came from a district known as Jylland, which is near Germany. They arrived in the United States about 1870, and subsequently located north of Avoca, near Cuppy's Grove. They lived in Shelby county for a few years and later purchased new prairie land, getting their start in life as most early settlers did. Lars C. Larsen was first married to Christine Christensen, a sister of his second wife, and by this union there were five children. After his first wife's death, he married Sena Christensen and had five children by this marriage, of whom Dan E. was the second child and the eldest son, his sister, Sophia, being older than he.
Dan E. Larsen received a good education, having attended the Elkhorn College, the academy at Stewart, Iowa, and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. His father was a well-informed man and not only was a firm believer in education but was progressive along all other lines.
With the exception of one year which Dan E. Larsen rented land and boarded, he lived at home. The year before he was married, he rented eighty acres and cultivated until the fall when he operated a corn sheller. In June, 1906, he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in section 30 of Hamlin township, which was only partly improved and he has since added to the improvements a modern eight-roomed house, large barn, cribs, cattle sheds, garage, etc. The farm is one of the best improved in Audubon county and the house is by far the most modern and best constructed within a radius of several miles.
On February 20, 1907, Mr. Larsen was married to Edith Christensen, who was born December 9, 1886, in Oakfield township, Audubon county, Iowa. She is the daughter of Nels and Christina (Hansen) Christensen, natives of Denmark. Her father came to the United States in 1869, when seventeen years old, from Jylland and her mother came from Fynn, Denmark, in 1874, when eleven years old. Nels Christensen was killed in 1913 in an automobile accident and the mother died in May, 1914.
Mr. and Mrs. Dan E. Larsen are the parents of two sons, Floyd, born on February 24, 1910, and Harvey, born on April 13, 1912.
Mr. Larsen does general farming and stock raising. He feeds from one to two carloads of cattle each year and about sixty head of hogs. His family and his farm are his principal interests.
Mr. Larsen's father was killed in a runaway when Dan E. was six years old. He had just come from church and the minister was with him wearing a fur overcoat. The horses became frightened at the appearance of the coat and, bolting, threw Mr. Larsen out, killing him instantly. Mr. Larsen's mother, a few years later, married Peter Knudsen. It is a coincidence that Mrs. Larsen's grandfather on her mother's side was also accidentally killed by falling from a building. Her uncle in Denmark was killed in a runaway accident soon after the death of Mr. Larsen's father. It seems that the family has been particularly unfortunate in suffering so many fatal accidents.
Dan E. Larsen is a Republican, although he has not held office and does not consider himself a politician. Mr. Larsen and family are members of the Seventh-Day Adventist church and are active in church circles. Mr. Larsen is a clean-cut, progressive citizen of Hamlin township and a man of sterling integrity.
|
Transcribed 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, pp. 485-487.
|
|
