BIO SAWYERS
SURNAMES: HANSEN, KASTENSEN, JENSEN, DEMPSTER
Among those who have of recent years been attracted to Palo Alto by the
superior educational advantages of Stanford, is the family of Mathias
P. Jepsen, now happily domiciled in their new home at 471 Channing
Avenue, entering heartily as they do into the civic life of the
city. A native of Denmark, Mathias P Jepsen was born near
Tunderin, Slesvig, on April 1, 1863, being the oldest son and child of
the four children of Mathias A. and Paulina Jepsen, the former being a
blacksmith who participated in the war with Germany in 1864, through
the outcome of which, that portion of Denmark was forced under the
German flag. The parents have passed away; while three of their
children are still living; Mathias P., of this review; Hans Christian
Jepsen, the treasurer and clerk of Douglas County, Nev.: Christine who
came to Nevada as a young lady, married in California August Hansen,
moving back to Nevada. She died at Reno in November, 1901,
leaving three children, Margrethe is the wife of Adolph Kastensen, and
lives in Slesvig, which, since the World War, has regained its place
under the folds of the Danish flag. The Jepsens never became
reconciled to German authority, and although they were compelled to
leave German in their schools, yet the spoke mainly the Danish language
in their home.
Resolved never to become a German soldier, Mathias Jepsen left home
when nineteen years of age, for Mono County, Cal., where he arrived in
1883, and entered the employ of T. B. Rickey, the cattleman,
where he worked steadily for seven years and thoroughly learned the
cattle business, Mr. Rickey being the owner of 18,000 cattle on the
average. About this time he found a helpmate in Miss Marie
Jensen, who, as a young woman, left her Danish home and came to
Douglass County, Nevada, in 1885. They married in 1889 and in
1890 Mr. Jepsen bought 150 acres in Douglass County, Nev., and began as
a farmer and stockman. Good fortune attended him and as part of
Nevada developed, the town of Gardenville was located upon his land,
and was needed for townsite purposes. He continued farming for
thirty years, platted a part of his holdings and in 1918 disposed of
all the balance to good advantage. A son being then a student at
Stanford, he and his family moved to Palo Alto and bought their present
resident property on Channing Avenue.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Jepsen has been blessed with six children;
Sophine, graduated from the Reno Normal, taught for a short time and
married Robert Dempster, a storekeeper at Gardenville, Nev., and is the
mother of three children- Kenneth, Gordon and Bobbie; Matilda
graduated from the University of Nevada at Reno, and later did
postgraduate work at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and became a
high school teacher in Nevada. She married Otto Hussman, a civil
engineer, at Grant's Pass, Ore., where they are now living; they have
two children-Margaret and William. Paulina is the wife of H. C
Springmeyere, a well-to-do rancher at Menton, Nev., and they have two
children-Leslie and Paula, Clarence died at the age of twelve; Hans J.,
who was at Camp Fremont during the recent war, received his A. B.
Degree from Stanford and is now a law student at the Law School at the
University of Chicago; Mabel is at home. Mr. Jepsen is a man of
high ideals, an American by choice, and devoted to his adopted
land. He was naturalized while living in Mono County, Cal., and
adheres to the principles of the Republican party.