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Andreas D. Jansen
Born October 19, 1862
When Andreas D. Jansen arrived in this country not only was he without money to start him on the road to success, but he was even in debt for expense of his passage. He is now one of the substantial farmers of Madison township, whose broad fields are the result of his own industrious efforts. He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, October 19, 1862, and is a son of Hans and Marie (Dickson) Jansen, both natives of the same province of the fatherland. The father died in the land of his birth, but in 1885 Andreas Jansen returned to his old home and brought his mother to this country, where she died in May, 1892, at the age of seventy-six years.
Until he was sixteen years of age, Andreas D. Jansen remained under the care of his parents, obtaining a fair education in the public schools. At that early age he decided to leave his home and come to the new world, where it was said larger opportunities awaited the boy who knew how to grasp them. Accordingly in 1878 he crossed the Atlantic to the United States. He made his way almost immediately after landing to Bryant, Clinton county, Iowa, where he secured work as a farm hand, and then, two years later, in 1880, came to Jones county, where he worked by the month for a period of eight years. In 1888 he married and began life as an agriculturist. For seventeen years he rented land, and then having practiced strict economy, in 1905 he was able to purchase the Wasson farm in, Madison township. It is a tract of one hundred and eighty acres, lying about a mile west of Onslow, and has been his home for the past four years. The soil naturally rich and arable, through careful cultivation has been made to produce most abundantly, so that Mr. Jansen has reaped harvests which have brought him renown as a tiller of the soil as well as an income which places him among the more prosperous men of his township. Industry has been largely accountable for this progress but not more so than has the good management which he ever showed in conserving his resources.
In 1888 Mr. Jansen wedded Miss Anna Von Spreecken, of Wyoming township, this county, but a native of Germany. Five children have been born of this union: Mary D., John C., Martha C., William T. and Frieda M. The parents are members of the German Lutheran church and are rearing their family in that faith.
Politically Mr. Jansen inclines more to the democratic party than to any other, but he is liberal in his views, usually voting at local elections for men and measures as his judgment dictates, for being a man of progressive ideas he is anxious to see in office the best man who has the best interests of the community at heart. The home in which Mr. Jansen lives is one of the handsome country houses of Jones county and is but another indication of the success which he has won for himself, and which entitles him to be called a self-made man, an appellation that is highly esteemed by all citizens of this country, whether they be her native sons or those coming from foreign lands, who have sought to share in her bounty.

Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 264.

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