Larsen, Jorgen

Jorgen Larsen was born in Denmark on July 10, 1860, to parents Lars and Dorotha Jorgensen. After being raised and educated in his native land, he immigrated directly to Fresno County, California, in 1886 to work on local farms. In 1888, he took up a 160-acre government land claim, investing his wages into improvements and living on the property for eight years before relocating to the hamlet of Reedley in 1896.

In Reedley, Jorgen bought an eighty-acre ranch using a three-hundred-dollar unsecured loan from a friend, successfully paying off the property within four years through his agricultural labor. He expanded his holdings by purchasing a 200-acre stock ranch south of Reedley, a twenty-acre improved tract north of town, and building a fine residence in Reedley in 1908. Married in 1889 to Stina Jansen, with whom he had a son named William, he helped organize the First National Bank of Reedley and became a deeply respected member of the Danish Lutheran Church.