George E. Jensen Biography


	This biography appears on pages 556-557 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				GEORGE E. JENSEN. 

	George E. Jensen, a farmer of Clay county, was born in Wisconsin 
on the 7th of January, 1882, a son of Andrew and Bertha (Johnson) 
Bjornson. The father was killed by a kick from a horse when his son was 
but two years of age, and the mother subsequently married Erick Jensen. 
As he grew up our subject was known as one of the Jensen boys at school 
and elsewhere, and when he came to South Dakota in 1900 the name of 
Jensen followed him, so that he finally decided to adopt the name and 
is therefore known as George E. Jensen. 

	He was reared upon his father's farm and attended school until he 
was fourteen years of age. He then devoted his entire attention to 
assisting in the farm work until he was seventeen years old, at which 
time he entered the employ of others. He worked on farms a part of the 
time and also in the lumber camps. After his removal to this state he 
purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Clay county and his 
father-in-law gave a one hundred and sixty acre tract to him and his 
wife, making a total of two hundred and eighty acres. Mr. Jensen does 
general farming and raises high grade Durham cattle for the market and 
also specializes in Poland China hogs. He is progressive, energetic and 
forehanded in his farm work and as he watches the market carefully, 
receives good prices for his grain and stock. He was one of the 
organizers and is a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator of Vermillion 
and also in the elevator at Wakonda. 

	Mr. Jensen was married on the 11th of December, 1901, to Miss Ida 
Knutson, a native of this state and a daughter of Fred and Anna 
(Johnson) Knutson, both of whom were born in Norway. The father 
emigrated to this country when he was eighteen years of age and the 
mother came in young womanhood. Mr. Knutson is a pioneer farmer of the 
state and is still living in Clay county, but his wife passed away on 
the 21st of June, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Jensen have two children: Freyola, 
who was born June 13, 1905; and Hazel, born September 3, 1907. 

	Mr. Jensen is a republican and is chairman of the township board, 
of which he has been a member for six years. He has taken a great 
interest in educational affairs and is now clerk of the school board, 
but is not an office seeker in the usually accepted sense of the term. 
He is treasurer of the Lutheran church, of which he is a devout member, 
and his fraternal connections are with the Modern Woodmen of America. 
His life of well directed industry and strict integrity has gained him 
a high place in the estimation of his fellow citizens and he has many 
warm personal friends.