Jens P. Jensen

As printed in 1916

JENS P. JENSEN.

Jens P. Jensen, a prosperous farmer of Dane Prairie township, is a native of Tordenskjold township, Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where he was born on March 2, 1871. Mr. Jensen is the son of Peter and.Maren Christine (Jensen) Jensen, who were born in Denmark and who came to America before their marriage, the father about 1867 and the mother about two years later.

Peter Jensen was eighteen weeks on the water in coming to America. Cholera broke out on the ship in which he made the voyage to America and about one-half of the people on the ship died and were buried at sea. The ship was quarantined in the New York harbor for many months before the survivors were permitted to land. After coming to Otter Tail county, Peter Jensen homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land and was then married to Christine Jensen and settled on the farm, living there until ion;. when he sold out and moved to Los Angeles, California, which has been his home since, with the exception of three years spent on a farm near Los Angeles. Peter Jensen was compelled to clear his land and cut off the timber, before he could raise a crop on his homestead farm in this county.

The first white men who came to this country through Tordenskjold were Peter Jensen, his brother, Christopher, Jens and Hans Jacobson. Peter Jensen built a house immediately after coming to this county and a part of this house is still standing. He also built a log barn, but in later years before leaving the county erected a frame barn. He was a school director for many years and also held other important township offices, lie was a Democrat in politics and one of the organizers >>i the Sverdrup Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Roth he and his wife are devout members of the Lutheran church and he was one of the founders of the Tordenskjold township church. They were the parents of nine children, of whom Anna married John M. Clark and lives in Los Angeles, California; Jens P. is the subject of this sketch; Hans is a farmer of Dane Prairie township; Minm is the general manager of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Andrew is a farmer in Orphena, Idaho; Mary. who married Gust Sunday, resides at Ocean Beach, California: Alexander is a farmer in California: Andrea, who was the twin brother of Andrew, died at the age of fourteen years in 1892; and George Franklin died at the age of nine months.

Jens P. Jensen was educated in the public schools of Tordenskjold township and for many years attended school district No. 95. He was reared on the farm, and having learned the carpenter's trade followed this trade for some years, working in both the East and the West. After his marriage in 1906, Mr. Jensen engaged in farming. Previously he had purchased eighty acres of land in Dane Prairie township, and after his marriage settled on this farm. Shortly afterward he erected a modern house and barn and other substantial outbuildings. Mr. Jensen is interested in the local creamery and in the telephone company.

On May 26, 1906, Jens P. Jensen was married to Hannah Christiansen, a native of Dane Prairie township and the daughter of Peter and Mary Christiansen, who were old settlers from Denmark. Mr. and Mrs. Jens P. Jensen have four children, Pearl Marie, George Afton, Kermit James and Harriet Elizabeth Marian.

Although a Socialist in politics, Mr. Jensen has never aspired to office. He is known in this township as a successful farmer and an enterprising citizen.

As printed in History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota : its people, industries, and institutions : with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families (1916). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.