HANS PETER
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BIOGRAPHY
BORN: July 1845 in Denmark
MARRIED: 25 April 1883 at Manistee, Michigan
DIED: 4 July 1904 at Fairhaven, Washington
BURIED: Bayview Cemetery, Bellingham, Washington
SPOUSE: Christine Sofia Jensen
BORN: 4 November 1860 in Denmark
DIED: 13 June 1948
BURIED: Greenacres Cemetery, Ferndale, Washington
ACHIEVEMENTS
HANS emigrated from Denmark in 1872 at the age of 28. 
The first record of Hans in America is recorded in the 1883 Manistee, Michigan city directory. He was listed as a laborer who boarded with Peter Julius Hanson. His boarder was listed as a saloon and boarding house operator on Vine Street between ninth and tenth Streets.
ANOTHER record shows that Hans married Christine Sophia Jensen at the Norwegian Lutheran Church located on the corner of Cypress and Fourth Streets. He was 37 years of age and she was 24. The witnesses to their marriage were Peter Hansen and Hans A Christianson. After their marriage, Hans moved to 1405 Manistee Street, which was listed on the 1888 city directory.
IN the archives of the Good Shephard Lutheran Church at Manistee, Michigan, there is a record of the baptism of Alma Kristine born on the 26th of March 1884 whose parents were H.P. and Vilhilmine(Christine) Sofie Hansen from Gowen, Michigan. Witnesses to the baptism were Lars Hansen and Jens P. Jensen who were also from Gowen. At that time, Gowen was a sawmill town, which is located five miles west of Greenville, Montcalm County, Michigan.
THE next record of Hans was the baptism of his son Jens Jorgen born on the 8th of April 1885. Later that year, Jens died on the 30th of August. The following year, there is another record of a baptism for Dorthea (Dora) Kristine Hansen born on the 17th of July 1886. On the record of both baptisms, it shows the age and possible birthplace of the parents. The records were written in Norwegian and, once translated, could be used as a clue to Hans' and Christine's birthplace.
HANS' occupation and address indicates that the State Lumber company employed him in their sawmill operation. For the first half-century of Manistee's existence, sawmills were the only local factories. As a natural corollary, many local men became expert millwrights, skilled at setting up and operating saw mills. Laborer's wages were from $1 to $1.25 per day and rent in the company's housing units was $2.00 per month. When the lumber in the Manistee region was depleted in 1902, many sawmill workers moved to the Pacific Northwest for employment. But Hans had moved there in 1888 while the state of Washington was a territory. The reason for his early departure may be explained by the following account written by Steve Harold, director of the Manistee County Historical Museum copy written in 1981:
EVAN T. DAVIES was one of the founders of the State Lumber Company which started its operation in 1879. In 1888, he was locked out of his company by the other two founders who bought out his shares in the partnership. He later became active in the development of the Klamath River Lumber and Improvement Company in northern California during the spring of 1889. Since he was familiar with Manistee's skilled labor pool, he returned in May of 1889 to purchase equipment and to engage a superintendent along with recruiting well know millwrights of the city.
EVAN T. DAVIES was a popular man among the labor pool of Manistee. His departure from the State Lumber Company along with reports of the vast timber resources in the Pacific Northwest may have influenced Hans to move to Fairhaven, Washington. There were also reports that Washington was a healthy place to live in. The death of Hans' first two children may have been the deciding factor with which to leave a secure employment at Manistee for a better future in Washington.
HANS' family residence was listed in the 1901 Fairhaven City Directory as at the corner of 23rd and William Street where his occupation was as a laborer. He worked at a shingle factory in Fairhaven where his future son-in-law, John Arntzen, was also employed. He died of liver trouble at the age of 59.
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