John Andres Andresen

GEDCOM Note

John Andresen
Facts and Family Stories

At the age of nine, Jurgen Andresen immigrated to the U.S. from Germany with his parents and two younger brothers. His parents, Andres and Saartje (Sarah), homesteaded in Minnesota and raised five sons.

Once in the U.S., Jurgen anglicized his name to John.

John and Bertha married in 1906 and went on to raise four children on the original Andresen family farm in Clara City.

John worked hard and gradually acquired four more farms. John often needed additional workers for the farms and would hire men who were just released from prison. He would teach them about farming and help them acquire farms of their own. He also sponsored men who wanted to immigrate to the U.S. from Germany. One example was relayed by a Clara City man, Ivan Meints. Ivan's father was sponsored by John, who helped pay his passage from Germany. In return, Ivan's father worked for John for a couple of years. Ultimately, John helped him purchase his own farm. John also worked with him to get the farm running smoothly. Ivan's father said his success was directly related to John. He said his father had the upmost respect for Mr. Andresen - the name he always called him.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, most banks in the Clara City area closed, and John lost every dime he had. During the depression, Bertha had an extremely large hen house. She sold eggs in town and used the money to purchase anything they could not grow or raise on the farm.

When John purchased his first automobile, he was worried about the brakes. He decided to keep the car in the granary. This structure had two separate rectangular grain bins with an opening between them, covered with a single roof. When John drove into the granary the first time, he made sure to open the door on the other end in case the brakes didn’t work.

On Sundays, John would get up, do chores, and then dress in a suit for church. He remained in his suit all day until chores needed to be done that night. They went to church twice each Sunday for morning and evening services.

John and his brothers all had farms in the same area. John owned the only threshing machine and would take the machine to each brother’s farm for harvesting. Only John would run the equipment.

Joe said his father was pretty strict and quiet. One time, Joe was told he could go into town for a basketball game. Joe was so excited, he jumped off the bed in his upstairs bedroom. John thought the furnace had blown up and ran downstairs. When he found out it was Joe jumping, he was not happy with Joe and there was no basketball game. Another time, Joe fell while working and broke his arm. He could not stop working so he never told his father. His arm gradually healed but was shorter than his other arm.

John had the first remote control television. It was a small square metal devise that could turn the tv on and off. It was attached to a long cord that ran all the way to the television on the other side of the room.