HANS P. RASMUSSEN.
A general farmer and stock raiser of Douglas township, Audubon county, Iowa, and one of the prominent citizens is Hans P. Rasmussen, who owns a hundred and sixty acres of land in the township.
Mr. Rasmussen was born, July 28, 1861, in Denmark, the son of Rasmus and Malen Hansen, both natives of Denmark. The father, a farm hand in his native land, served in the war between Germany and Denmark in 1848 to 1850. Rasmus and Malen Hansen had nine children, Hanna, Christiana, Kerstinia, P. H., Anna, Christ, Christianna, Martin and Christian. All but three members of the family live in Denmark. Anna lives in Cedar Falls; Christianna lives in the state of Washington, and Hans P. is the subject of this sketch.
Hans P. Rasmussen received his education in the country schools of Denmark, which he attended until thirteen years of age. He worked on a farm in Denmark until twenty years old, and then came to this country in 1881, on a Scandinavian steamship line, landing in New York City. After being in New York City for a brief time he came to Exira, Audubon county, living for a time with his uncle. For five years Mr. Rasmussen worked on neighboring farms and for a time worked on the railroad as a section hand near Atlantic. Subsequently, he rented a farm in Oakfield township, Audubon county, and lived there for one year. He then moved to Douglas township, and rented land for seventeen years, eventually purchasing a hundred and sixty acres of land in section 14 at a hundred and fifteen dollars an acre. Mr. Rasmussen has invested about four thousand dollars in improvements to the farm. His principal crops are corn and small grains, the corn averaging about sixty bushels to the acre and the small grain about forty bushels.
In 1886 Hans P. Rasmussen was married to Mary Matilda Rasmussen. The marriage took place at Atlantic. To this marriage have been born six children, Clarence, Nora, Albert, Martin, Martha, and Marinus, who is deceased. Mrs. Rasmussen died in 1898 in Douglas township. In 1900 Mr. Rasmussen was married to Matilda Knudsen, daughter of Christ Knudsen, a native of Denmark. Three children have been born to the second marriage, Joshua, Rudolph, and one who died in infancy.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Rasmussen has served as school director in Douglas township for fifteen or seventeen years. He and his wife and family are members of the Danish Lutheran church, in which he has served as trustee.
Hans P. Rasmussen is a well-known farmer of Douglas township, an enterprising citizen and a good neighbor. He is popular in the locality
where he lives.
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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. 665-666.
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