YUBA COUNTY  Biographies

CONRAD ALBAN

            The property owned and operated by Conrad Alban is located six miles northwest of Yuba City in the Tierra Buena section of Sutter County, and consists of eighty acres devoted to vineyard and orchard.  Mr. Alban also owns twenty acres at Franklin Corners, which he has set to prunes, peaches and almonds.  He was born in Germany, July 22, 1871, the youngest of three children born to Henry and Margaret (Steinhauer) Alban, natives of the same country.  The mother passed away in 1916, and the father, now eighty-two years old, makes his home with our subject.

            Conrad Alban received a good public-school education in Germany, and at an early age learned the butcher’s trade.  In 1890 he left home for the United States and bought his ticket direct to Marysville, where he worked at his trade.  Later he took a contract for watering the streets of Marysville, which he continued for three years, and then sold his outfit to the city.  Removing to Vallejo, Cal., he conducted the Baltimore House for one year.  He then sold his interests there and removed to Vacaville, and with a partner conducted a bakery, which he later sold to his partner.  Returning to Vallejo, he spent three months at the U. S. Navy Yards.  In 1916 he settled in Sutter County and purchased eighty acres, on which he raises fruit and alfalfa.

            In 1902 Mr. Alban was married to Miss Marie Wagner, a native of Germany, who came to California in 1890.  Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Alban:  Elsie, the wife of Walter Byers, and Bernice, Marie, and Margaret, who are still at home.  Mr. and Mrs. Alban have reared their two nieces, Margaret and Elizabeth Klier.  Mr. Alban received his citizenship papers in 1896.  He is a liberal Republican and cast his first vote for President McKinley.  Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Foresters of America.  For twelve years Mr. Alban conducted the Philadelphia House in Marysville; but since 1919 he has devoted his entire attention to his ranch work.

History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924

p . 1303-1304

ALBERT THEODORE OLSON

            As a native son of Sutter County, born on one of the old pioneer ranches of this section, Mr. Olson is carrying on the work for which his early training and environment best fitted him, and is naturally making a success of agriculture.  Born on the old Per Olson ranch, fifteen miles southwest of Yuba City, on October 3, 1895, he is the son of Per and Mary Olson, early settlers and sturdy pioneers.  He attended school in Gaither and Central Districts, and later entered Heald’s Business College at  Sacramento, where he was graduated in 1915.  He then took a position with Cudahy Packing Company, and afterwards was with the Southern Pacific Railway at Sacramento as a blue printer in the drafting department, remaining with them one and one-half years.

            Returning to Sutter County, Mr. Olson went back to farming, and was associated with his brothers on the old home place, cultivating the quarter-section ranch until the call to arms came and he entered the United States Army.  June 26, 1918, marks the date of his entry into the service of his country.  He was sent to Camp Kearney and placed in the 115^th Engineers, Company A, and after training there one month, left on July 26 for France, sailing via Hoboken, Liverpool and Southampton to Cherbourg, France.  On October 1, 1918, he was sent to the front.  On the 3^rd of that month he was injured, and for the remainder of the time was a casual, and was transferred from one place to another.  On March 26, 1919, he sailed from Bordeaux for the United States, and on his arrival was returned to Camp Merritt, N. J., and thence to the Presidio, San Francisco, where he was in the Letterman General Hospital.  Since then his injury, a crushed foot, has been operated on several times, but has not successfully healed; and on July 7, 1919, he was discharged with a surgeon’s certificate of disability.  In November, 1920, Mr. Olson purchased his present ranch of ten acres in peaches and prunes, where he has since made his home.  He has a four-inch pump on the property for irrigation and uses the most modern methods in cultivation; and with the knowledge gained while a boy on the home farm, combined with the practical application of the latest results in scientific agriculture, he is winning deserved success.

            The marriage of Mr. Olson, on May 1, 1921, united him with Miss Sigrid M. Olsson, born in San Francisco, a daughter of Ludwig and Kerstin (Jonson) Olsson, her father a native of Sweden who came to California in early days, and now is in charge of the framing department for Sanborn, Vail & Company of that city.  One son has blessed their union, Albert Theodore, Jr.  Mr. Olson is a Republican, and takes both interest and pride in helping to advance the interests of his section.  He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, of Yuba City, and of Yuba-Sutter Post, American Legion.  He has completed a course at the United States Veterans’ Bureau, and is a member of the Disabled War Veterans.  Mrs. Olson is a member of the Yerba Buena Chapter, O.E.S., in San Francisco, and of the Wilson Woman’s Club.

History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924

p . 1304-1305

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