Hans W. Jensen

JENSEN, YOUNG

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 2/16/2011 at 17:23:25

For fifteen years Hans W. Jensen has been identified with the farming interests of Ringsted and is today regarded as one of the foremost citizens of that place. He is a native of Ringsted, Denmark, and in his early years accompanied his parents, Hans and Mary Jensen, on their emigration to America. Coming direct to Emmet county, Iowa, the family located on a farm near Ringsted in Denmark township, where the father followed agricultural pursuits until 1890, and then removed to Graettinger, where he was engaged in the buying of grain in partnership with H. N. Osher until 1906, selling out in that year to the Farmers Elevator Company. Mr. Jensen died in the winter of 1911 but his widow is still living.

During his boyhood Hans W. Jensen attended the public schools of Graettinger and for two winters pursued his studies in a night school in order to keep up with his classes while working in a large store at that place. He began his business career as clerk in the department store of H. N. Osher at Graettinger, where he was employed until 1902, and accepted a position as bookkeeper in the Danish-American Savings Bank at Ringsted, where he has since made his home. In 1903, at the early age of twenty-three years, he was elected cashier of the bank and continued to serve in that capacity until the 1st of January, 1905. Mr. Jensen then resigned to engage in mercantile business with Carl Iverson, under the firm name of Iverson & Jensen, and they conducted general stores in Ringsted, Hoprig and Halfa until 1908, when he sold his interest in the establishments to H. L. Iverson. After the sale of the Danish-American Savings Bank to parties in Algona he was again offered the position of cashier, which he accepted June 1, 1909, and which he filled until December 14, 1911. The bank was then consolidated with the Ringsted State Bank and Mr. Jensen was elected assistant cashier of the new organization and served as such until the 1st of January, 1915, since which time he has filled the office of vice president. He owns considerable stock in the Ringsted State Bank and several business houses in the town some besides some valuable farmland.

On the 27th of October, 1909, at Ringsted, Mr. Jensen was united in marriage to Miss Edith M. Young, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar N. Young living near Hoprig, Iowa. Her father, who was one of the most successful farmers in that locality and stood high in the community, served as vice president of the Danish-American Savings Bank, of which he was a director, and in 1915 was elected president of the Ringsted State Bank. He died in July of that year, leaving a wife and two daughters, Edith May and Blanche Irene, and son, Harry. Mrs. Jensen was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and came with her parents to Emmet county in 1896. She was graduated from the Ringsted schools and studied music at Storm Lake, Iowa, in Buena Vista College, after which she engaged in teaching music in and around Ringsted for several years. She is now the organist of the Presbyterian church at that place and is a leader in church work. Mr. and Mrs. Jensen have a daughter, Verda Belle, born December 3, 1910.

During the years 1898 and 1899 Mr. Jensen was one of the most prominent cyclists in this section of the state, being classed among the professional riders, and he won a great many gold and silver medals. He was the champion rider of Palo Alto county and many times won races at Estherville and other places. He took part in the national events at St. Paul, Minneapolis, and other cities, where there were professional riders from all over the United States. During one of these races for the national three-mile handicap there were seventeen starters but only three of them finished the race and Mr. Jensen was one these, coming in third. He is a republican in politics and is a member the Masonic lodge at Armstrong, Iowa. He is one of the leading and prominent members of the Presbyterian church of Ringsted and is now serving as an elder and one of its board of trustees. He occupies an enviable position in business circles, where his true worth is widely recognized and the success that has come to him is but the just reward of his own well-directed efforts.

Source: History of Emmet County and Dickinson County Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, The Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1917.