Merced County CA Archives Biographies.....Pearson, John 1864 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 10, 2006, 3:11 am

Author: John Outcalt (1925)

JOHN PEARSON

   When the Fin de Siecle Company launched the Hilmar Colony the first
twenty-acre plot was bought by John Pearson, who still holds the title deed
dated July, 1902 signed by the president, G. B. Bloss, and the secretary, Horace
Crane. He and his good wife hold a high place in the affections of the people of
the colony for their generous hospitality, their activity in the church and
their intelligent efforts to promote the general welfare.

   Mr. Pearson was born in Christianstadslan, Sweden, April 12, 1864, the
youngest of five children, four boys and one girl, born to Per and Bertha
(Oakesdatter) Soneson. John grew up in Sweden* worked on his father's farm,
attended the public schools and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. The father
was a carpenter and wagon-maker as well as a farmer; thus it came about that
John learned the carpenter trade under his father, which afterwards was of great
service to him. He served two years in the military camps and worked on farms
when he was grown up. At one time he was employed on the farm of Rudolph
Stjernsward, who was secretary to Queen Sophia of Sweden. Sone Pearson, John's
elder brother, was the superintendent of that farm for eleven years. Niels
Person Norberg, another brother, was already in Omaha, Nebr., and the favorable
accounts which he wrote home induced John to bid goodbye to his native land and
in the latter part of April, 1891, he embarked at Malmo, Sweden, for Hull,
England; and passing through England to Liverpool, he sailed again on the
"Teutonic" of the White Star Line and arrived at Old Castle Garden, N. Y., May
1, 1891. He proceeded at once to East Orange, New Jersey and got a position as
gardener and coachman with E. B. Brooks, a manufacturer of government and
railway supplies and held it eleven years. He united with the Swedish Mission
Church in East Orange and helped raise the money for the new Mission Church
which was built there in 1894.

   It was in East Orange that he met Clara Wilhelmina Anderson, a native of
Opland, Sweden, the daughter of Anders and Karen Person, farmers in her native
country. She came to America when she was twenty years old and worked in East
Orange, where she met Mr. Pearson. She came to California in 1902, worked for a
while in Los Angeles but soon went to San Francisco, when she accepted a
position in the household of General Hughes at Fort Mason. Thence she came to
Hilmar to marry Mr. Pearson, and was one of the first, if not the first bride in
the Hilmar Colony, the nuptials being performed on April 25, 1903. They united
with the Mission Church in Hilmar. Mr. Pearson brought with him letters of the
highest recommendation from his employer in East Orange.

   The land on which the Mission Church in Hilmar was located was donated by the
Fin de Siecle Company. When the first church built by Rev. N. O. Hultberg became
too small the present magnificent new church edifice was built in 1921-1922, Mr.
Pearson being a donor. His knowledge of carpentry enabled him to build his own
house and other buildings on his place, which is devoted to raising alfalfa,
dairying, hogs and poultry. He has helped along the irrigation schemes of Merced
County. He was a stockholder in the Rochdale store in Turlock. Mr. and Mrs.
Pearson have two children; Ethel Margaret is a student in the University of
California studying to become a high school teacher; Arthur is in the Hilmar
high school and helps on the home farm. Mr. Pearson is a Republican in politics
but at all times aims to vote for correct principles and the man who may be
relied upon to carry them out.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


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