History of Fresno County, Vol. 6 - Paul E. Vandor

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interested in the general uplift of the community, Mrs. Lewis has good business ability, and may be found every day at her desk in the office of the Sun Maid Realty Company, attending to the combined interests of that concern, which deals in real estate and insurance, and the firm of E. J. Wells & Co., operators of the seven ranches formerly owned by Lewis & Wells. Through her, in part, the many friends and patrons of the companies have been increased in number, thus affording a fine demonstration of the capability of a woman with a winning personality to make her mark in the business world.

      LAUGE LAUGESEN.

      It is a long way from Denmark to Fresno County, Cal., but many upbuilders of the commonwealth have come from that distant country, and among these is Lauge Laugesen, who was born July 1, 1875, at Brorup, Jylland, Denmark, a son of Christian and Catherine (Christian) Laugesen. The father was a farmer and a patriot, having served two years in the Danish-German War, 1864-1866. He passed away in 1917, the mother is also deceased. Of this union there were four children, Lauge Laugesen, being next to the youngest. Of the second marriage of Christian Laugesen, there were also four children, one of whom is Conrad Anderson, residing in the vicinity of Rolinda.

      Lauge Laugesen was reared in his native land and attended the public schools of Denmark, until he was fourteen years of age, when he was apprenticed for three years to a blacksmith, later working for five years at his trade in Roding, Schleswig, following which he and his brother Anton started a shop at Brorup. Denmark, which they continued to operate for eighteen months, when Lauge sold his interest to his brother and set sail for the United States, arriving at Fresno, Cal., in 1902. In the Rolinda district he found employment at his trade with Carl M. Jacobsen, where he remained one year and following this he was engaged one summer as a blacksmith for Nels Petersen, at Fresno. Later at Kutner Colony he opened a shop of his own, but afterwards was employed for four years as manager of the blacksmith shop owned by M. Theo. Kearney.

      Mr. Laugesen being a very enterprising man and possessing those innate characteristics of his fellow countrymen, thrift and economy, he had by 1910 saved sufficient money to warrant the purchase of thirty acres of land, which he selected at Rolinda and where he established his blacksmith shop which he has run ever since. He erected a residence and farm buildings, improved the thirty acres by setting out a vineyard and planting alfalfa, digging a canal and installing a pumping-plant. In addition to his blacksmithing he conducts a carriage and wagon works, does auto repairing and sells agricultural implements.

      In Fresno, on October 25, 1903, Mr. Laugesen was united in marriage with Miss Christene Nielsen, a native of Denmark. They have two children: Gladys and Einar.

      Mr. Laugesen is a member of the Danish Brotherhood at Fresno; he adheres to the Lutheran faith, and is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company. In 1916, Mr. and Mrs. Laugesen and the children, took a trip to Denmark, to see his father and visit the scenes of his boyhood days. While there his father passed away, and in October, 1917, the family returned, via Christiania and New York City, and upon arriving in the Golden State expressed themselves as more pleased than ever with California and especially Fresno County. Mr. Laugesen is highly respected in the community of Rolinda.

      CHRISTEN A. PILEGARD.

      One of the best known Danish-Americans in Fresno County is Christen A. Pilegard, a native of Fyen, Denmark, where he was born November 1, 1873. His intelligence, probity and energy command the respect of both Danish and American friends.

      Educated in the public schools of Denmark and brought up and confirmed in the Lutheran faith, he grew up and worked on his father's forty-acre farm at Fyen, Denmark, until he attained the age of nineteen, when he bade farewell to his relatives and the friends of his youth and sailed from Helsingfors, Sweden, on the Steamship "Virginia," of the old Scandia line, landing at old Castle Garden, New York, the latter part of April, 1893. He arrived at Chicago the day the World's Columbian Exposition opened, and came direct to Fresno, where he arrived May 5, 1893, and went to work with his brother George, remaining with him about five years. He then made a visit to his old Danish home to see his parents. His father, who was very ill and not expected to live, died January 29, 1899, two months after Christen arrived at his old home. His mother, who was still living, remained on the old home in Denmark until she died in 1902 at the age of seventy. The father, who was highly respected in his native country, was a member of King Frederick the Seventh's body guard and held that position of trust and honor in Denmark.

      Christen returned to Oleander in 1899 and bought forty acres of land for a home. He subsequently added to this by the purchase of twenty acres more. He sold twenty acres, and two subsequent sales of ten acres each reduced his holdings to twenty acres, the area of his home ranch at present. He has bought and sold several places. In 1908 he purchased the twenty acres just east of Bowles. In 1911 he built a beautiful residence on Maple Avenue about midway between Bowles and Oleander.

      April 18, 1906, he was united in marriage with Miss Marian Beck, daughter of Chris. M. and Johanna (Schmidt) Beck, who are now living on Mr. Pilegard's place near Oleander. Mr. and Mrs. Pilegard are the parents of two children, Edith and Carl by name.

      For the past thirteen years Mr. Pilegard has held the responsible position of Treasurer of the Pacific United Danish Lutheran Church, serving in this position with credit to himself and satisfaction to all. He and his excellent wife and family are highly respected and noted for their extensive hospitality. Mr. Pilegard is a member of the Raisin Growers Association, the Peach Growers Association, and the Danish Creamery; in politics he affiliates with the Republican party. He is a typical representative of the Danish-American citizen and is considered one of the most substantial and reliable men of the section.

      WILLIAM DRON.

      Prominent among those who have long worked for the development and advancement of Fresno County, and a man well known for his present untiring efforts to better the conditions and increase the happiness of its people, is William Dron, not only an adopted son, but a Californian who had the good fortune, when first coming to this state in the late eighties, to settle here, in Central California, the most favored of all localities. He was born at Dollar, in Scotland, in 1883, and when four years of age came with his parents to Fresno. Here, then, he was reared and here he received his education in the excellent public schools of the neighborhood; and after he was graduated from the Fresno High School, he entered the employ of Balfour, Guthrie & Co., in Fresno, as a grain-buyer, and worked for them both in that city and in various parts of the San Joaquin Valley. In 1904 he was transferred to Oilfields and their oil company, the California Oilfields, Ltd., as a bookkeeper; and later taking up work in the operating department, he learned the drilling of wells and the actual production of oil, serving as tool-dresser and driller. He spent six years in the operating and gaging department, when he was again transferred and made head of the traffic department. About August, 1913, the Shell Company of California took over the California Oilfields, Ltd., but he did not allow the change of proprietorship to sever him from a region and activity in which he had become deeply interested. He has continued, therefore, with this concern which has more and more attained to national importance.

      At Los Angeles, Mr. Dron was married to Miss Ocie Evans, once popular in social circles of Washington, Pa., and Mr. and Mrs. Dron enjoy the esteem of their many friends in Oilfields.

      Such a life-story as the foregoing is worthy of record, for not alone has California been in need of just such men, in her development as one of the greatest commonwealths, but some of the sturdiest, brainiest and highest-principled of her adopted sons and daughters have come from bonnie Scotland, bringing with them valued gifts for the making of a new and an ideal land.

      WILSON KINNEY.

      One of the earliest settlers of rapidly-developed Coalinga, and among the best known of all the sturdy pioneers in the San Joaquin Valley, is Wilson Kinney who, with his wife, enjoys the esteem of a large circle of friends. Mr. Kinney was born in Ohio on November

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