Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Olson, George L. unknown - living in 1917
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 23, 2005, 12:21 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen

GEORGE L. OLSON.

    John Olson, father of George L. Olson, was born on a farm near the city of
Stockholm, Sweden, October 26, 1839, and his young manhood was spent as a
herder. He later became a coachman and remained in his native land until he was
about thirty years of age, when, in 1868, he came to this country and settled in
Missouri. A year later, in 1869, he came to Kansas and located in Marshall
county, where he ever since has made his home, one of the substantial pioneer
residents of this county. Upon coming to this county Mr. Olson settled in Murray
township, where he presently married, and where he worked as a farm hand until
he had saved about twelve hundred dollars, when he bought a tract of eighty
acres of unimproved land in the Axtell neighborhood and' there established his
home, building a small three-room house on the place. There he farmed for about
eight years, at the end of which time he sold his place and bought a quarter
section of land in Lincoln township, where he made his home until 1912, when he
retired from the farm and moved to Axtell, where he and his wife are now living
and where they are very comfortably situated. During the early period of his
residence in Marshall county, John Olson assisted in the construction of the
Grand Island railroad and also helped in the quarrying of the rock for the
bridge across the Missouri river at St. Joseph, the stones for that bridge being
secured from the quarry near Beattie, this county.

    It was not long after his settlement in this county that John Olson was
united in marriage to Mary Johnson, who also was born in Sweden, March 31, 1859,
and who was but fifteen years of age when she came to this country with her
parents. To that union nine children were born, of whom the subject of this
sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow : Dora, who
is conducting a general merchandise store at Frankfort, this county; Sadie, who
married J. V. Johnson, of Lincoln township, this county; Mrs. Hilma Lamm, also
of Lincoln township; Robert, who is engaged in business at Axtell, in
partnership with his brother, George L. Olson; Etta, a teacher in the business
college at Salina; Louisa, a teacher in the public schools of Marshall county;
Josephine, deceased, and Kermit, who is at home with his parents.

    George L. Olson was reared on the home farm in Murray township and later in
Lincoln township, completing his schooling in the common schools in the high
school at Axtell and supplementing the same by a course of three years in
Campbell College at Holton. He then worked for his father a while and on April
1, 1903, began his mercantile career as a clerk in a general store at Axtell.
Eighteen months later he engaged in business for himself, starting a general
store at Axtell, in partnership with D. C. Henderson, and was thus engaged until
January, 1910, when he sold his interest in that store and bought the William
McMahon store at Beattie, where he ever since has been engaged in business and
where he has done very well. The Olson store is well equipped in up-to-date
fashion, carries a complete line of goods and is widely patronized by the people
of Beattie and the country surrounding that thriving village.

    On June 8, 1910, George L. Olson was united in marriage to Gertrude Grazier,
who was born at Decorah, Iowa, October 29, 1883, a daughter of Darius and Delia
(Taylor) Grazier, natives of Pennsylvania, who are now living at Topeka, this
state, where Mr. Grazier is engaged in business as the secretary of the Topeka
Pasteurized Pure Milk Company, which he helped to organize and of which he is
one of the principal stockholders. Mrs. Olson completed her schooling at the
Kansas Wesleyan College and at Washburn College at Topeka, from both of which
institutions she was graduated, and was the assistant principal of the schools
at Axtell at the time of her marriage to Mr. Olson.

    Mr. Olson is independent in his political views and takes a good citizen's
interest in the general civic affairs of his home community, but has not been a
seeker after office. He is a member of the Masonic lodge at Axtell and both he
and his wife are members of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star,
in the affairs of both of which organizations they take a warm interest, as well
as in the general social affairs of the community in which they live, helpful in
promoting all causes having to do with the advancement of the common welfare
thereabout.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/olson65bs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/

File size: 5.2 Kb