C. Christenson
C. Christenson, a former agriculturist of Crawford county but more recently of Ida county, who is now living retired in Kiron, was born in Sweden on the 15th of October, 1841, and is a son of K. and Christina (Benson) Christenson.
The parents spent their entire lives in their native land, where seven of their nine children continue to reside. Our subject and one daughter, Johanna, who married Olaf Bjorkman, of Stockholm township, this county, being the only members of the family to emigrate to the United States.
Christenson spent the first twenty-three years of his life in the old country, remaining a member of his mother's household until he had acquired his education. In 1865, however, he resolved to become a citizen of the United States, feeling convinced that better opportunities awaited him here than he could ever hope to have at home, so he took passage and sailed for America.
He first located in Allamakee county, Iowa, where he continued to reside for two years and then went to Wisconsin to work in the pineries and the sawmills. After spending two years in the lumber country he returned to Iowa, this time settling in Denison, where he was employed for one year. At the end of that period he bought two yoke of oxen and engaged in breaking prairie for several years, during which time he saved the necessary capital to buy an eighty acre tract of land where he engaged in farming. He cultivated this for two years and then sold and purchased another eighty elsewhere in this county, to which he was later able to add forty more. He lived there for some time and in addition to his general farming and stock-raising made a specialty of buying and shipping stock.
He finally sold his homestead and removed to Ida county, Iowa, where he bought a hundred and sixty acre tract. He met with a moderate degree of success in his various ventures and later was able to add to his holdings another eighty acres. He continued to reside on this place until 1909, at which time he sold his farm and retired to Kiron, having acquired a competence which enables him to live in ease and comfort. He was always a thrifty, hard-working man and after the self-denial and privation of his early years is able to enjoy the peace of mind and physical ease his ample means , provide him. He owns his residence in Kiron, which is one of the best in town, being provided with modern appointments and conveniences.
It was on the 1st of November, 1871, that Mr. Christenson was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Anderson, a daughter of Andrew and Christina Anderson, and on the 10th of May, 1896, she passed away. Seven children were born to them, as follows: Edward, living in Woodbury county, Iowa; Leonard, who is a resident of Ida Grove; May, who married Frank Ward, of Emporia, Kansas; Mayme, the wife of Joe Hammerstron, of Ida county; Virgil, who is living in Minneapolis; Alice, who is keeping house for her father; and Arthur George, with his sister in Ida county.
The faith of the family is that of the Baptist denomination, with which they are affiliated by membership. Ever since becoming a citizen of the United States Mr. Christenson has given his political support to the republican party. He has ever been a public-spirited man and takes an active interest in all municipal affairs and has held several of the minor township offices, the duties of which he executed in a manner which won the general approval of his constituency.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.