Individual 8: Olson, Hans

Individual Record 8

Name} Olsen [Olson], Hans

Family History} Olson

Title}

Race} White

Sex} Male

Birth: Date} Exa 8 Aug 1830

Place} Kallerud, Vardal, Oppland, Norway

Marr.: Date} Exa 11 Apr 1875

Place} Santa Clara, Washington, Utah (Link)

Death: Date} Exa 23 Jan 1921 C

Place} 30 North Third Street, Alhambra, Los Angeles, Calif.

Burial: Date} Exa 25 Jan 1921

Place} San Gabriel Cemetery, San Gabriel, Los Angeles, Calif.

Grave Marker} Yes

Source 1}	10 = Geog histry
Source 2}	2137=Family hstry
Source 3}	2138=Baptism rec
Source 4}	2139=Passenger ls
Source 5}	722 = Marriage rec
Source 6}	27 = 1880 USA cen
Source 7}	466 = Newspaper
Source 8}	1469=Voter record
Source 9}	915 = Citizenship
Source 10}	16 = 1900 USA cen
Source 11}	1141=Newspaper
Source 12}	40 = 1910 USA cen
Source 13}	322 = Business dir
Source 14}	872 = Voter record
Source 15}	468 = 1920 USA cen
Source 16}	324 = Phone book
Source 17}	139 = Death certif
Source 18}	1232=Obituary
Source 19}	2140=Obituary
Source 20}	19 = Cemetery rec
Source 21}	2141=Cemetery rec
Source 22}	181 = Interview
Source 23}	888 = Letter
Source 24}	213 = Photograph
Source 25}	671 = Photograph
Source 26}	834 = Photograph
Source 27}	1136=Photograph

Parents: } Ole Pedersen and Ingeborg Pedersdatter
Relationship No.} 8

1st Household No.} 21 = Spring Valley, Lincoln, Nevada

Occupation 1} Farmer
Occupation 2} Miner

Religion/Church} Presbyterian

Spouses: Prime} Staheli, Mary
Total Number of} 1

Notes: Hans Olsen was born 8 Aug 1830 on the Kallerud farm in Vardal, Oppland, Norway. He was the eighth of ten children of Ole Pedersen and Ingeborg Pedersdatter. He was baptised 22 Aug 1830 at Vardal, Opland, Norway.

Hans Olsen Kallerud, 20, immigrated to the United States in 1850 aboard the Incognito. The ship left from Christiania, Norway and arrived in New York, New York on 17 Jul 1850. Traveling with him was his older sister Pernille, with her husband and two daughters, and a younger sister, Oline. He probably first settled with family members in Wisconsin or Minnesota, but attracted by the discovery of gold in California, he crossed the plains in a covered wagon in 1853.

As told by his grandson Donald Olson, Hans could never stay in one place for a long time. He traveled, mining in Nevada, California and Oregon. Hans was probably prospecting or panning for gold near Gold Beach, Oregon, at the mouth of the Rogue River, between 1852 and 1856. This was during the time of skirmishes with Indians, which culminated in the Rogue Indian war, 1855-1856. On March 26, 1872, he was camped alongside Owens Lake, California, when the hugh magnitude 8.0 Owens Valley earthquake struck. Hans said that the lake just disappeared into the ground, refilling itself shortly.

Hans Olsen married Mary (Maria) Staheli on 11 Apr 1875 in Santa Clara, Washington, Utah.

By the 1880 U.S. census, Hans Olsen, 48, and Mary, 24, were living in Spring Valley, Lincoln, Nevada. Hans was a farmer. They had three children, all born in Nevada: Josephine, 4, Ida, 2, and Henry J., 4 months. Enumerated next to them were Frank C. Walker, 44, also farming, his wife Elizabeth, 28, and five children. Living with them was a servant Barbara Staheli, 18. Elizabeth and Barbara were sisters of Mary.

Spring Valley had just 15 families in 1880. It is now a Nevada State Park. The mining town of nearby Pioche was the center of the silver boom of the seventies.

The family traveled by wagon to Oregon, where Hans was mining or farming. Their son George was born here in Sep 1882, According to a family source, Mary said her son was born in a small community, now gone, on Evans Creek, above present day Rogue River, Jackson, Oregon. Immediately after his birth, they traveled south to California, settling in Alhambra, Los Angeles County, in December 1882.

Alhambra was just a small hamlet when Hans and his family arrived. Hans planted oranges and grapes on his ranch, at the southern edge of town. When Garfield Avenue was cut through to the south, Hans planted the ornamental camphor trees on that thoroughfare from the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks to the Ocean Highway. His son Henry had to help by carrying water to keep these trees alive.

Hans Olson was a registered voter in the California Great Registers, for the years 1884, 1888, 1890 and 1892 in Alhambra, Los Angeles. He was described as a rancher, 5'9½", with a light complexion, blue eyes and white hair. The records indicate that he become a naturalized citizen 8 Mar 1858 in the District Court, Kerbyville, Oregon. In later documents, he receives his citizenship on 1 Mar 1898 in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, with his wife Mary Olson standing up for him. Note that after his arrival in California his surname now appears as OLSON.

In the 1900 U.S. census, Hans Olson, 67, and Mary, 44, were living in Alhambra, the San Gabriel Township, Los Angeles County. Hans was listed as a farmer. Their children were Josephine, 23, Ida, 22, Henry, 20, George, 17, Frank, 15, Lillie, 12, and Mabel, 10.

In January 1905, Hans assisted his son Henry in establishing the Alhambra Milling and Manufacturing Company. The newspaper notice listed 7 directors including Hans and Henry J. Olson. Capital stock was $10,000. with $2,300. paid in. In was known as the Alhambra Planing Mill. In the photograph to the right, Hans is shown in front of the family home at 316 Wilson Avenue, now Atlantic Avenue, taking his grandsons, Donald Olson and Lewis Lawyer, for a wheelbarrow ride in 1908.

In the 1910 U.S. census, Hans, 77, and Mary, 54, were living alone in the family's residence at 316 Wilson, Alhambra. Hans was listed as having his own income.

In the 1920 U.S. census, Hans, 87, and Mary, 64, were now sharing the family residence with daughter, Mabel Ferrell, 30, and her husband Thomas Ferrell, 34. Thomas was a shoemaker working on his own account. Their two boys were Frederick B., 9, and Clifford E., 5.

Hans was a member of the Masonic order, and served on the school board for many years. Although Hans married the daughter of a Mormon family, he did not like the Mormons. According to Donald Olson, when his wife's sister sent a Mormon Bible, he threw it into the fire. On any visits from the Mormon side of the family, he would leave the house.

Hans died Sunday, 23 Jan 1921, at the age of 89 at the home of his daughter Ida Lawyer, 30 N. Third Street, Alhambra. (His obituary states that he died at the family residence on North Wilson). The cause of death was Erysipelas, sometimes called St. Anthony's Fire. It is a bacterial disease of the skin and lymphatic system, now cured by antibiotics.

Funeral services were held at the parlors of Turner, Stevens and Turner on Tuesday, 25 Jan 1921, under the auspices of the Masonic Lodge, the Rev. Kennedy officiating. Hans Olson is buried in the Olson family plot in the San Gabriel Cemetery, San Gabriel, California.