Olson, Peter

Peter Olson was born near Engelholm, Skaane, Sweden, on September 19, 1857, to parents Ole Person and Asseneva Foss. After working as a baker and sailing internationally for six years, he survived a ship wreck off Newfoundland and migrated through Quebec, New York, Chicago, and Minnesota before reaching California. He arrived in San Francisco in 1891 and settled in Kingsburg four years later, bringing his parents and siblings, Jane and Hildah, to America along the way.

In Kingsburg, Fresno County, Peter worked as a carpenter before transitioning to fruit farming and raisin curing on his multiple ranch properties. He married his first wife, Emma Louisa Svenman, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1882, raising four children named Virginia, Esther, Wesley, and Lawrence. Following Emma’s death in 1909, he married Nettie V. Person later that year, built a bungalow residence in 1913, and actively served as a trustee for the local Swedish Methodist Church.