Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

ule is kept very strictly, and exceptions
can be made only by special permission.
Swen Neilson, Mr. Swenson's father,
was born in Tarstad, Sweden, and died
about 1870, aged fifty-five. He was a
prominent man in the community, highly-
respected, and owned considerable prop-
erty. He was a gentleman farmer, and
was the father of eight children, of whom
five grew to maturity. 'Three came to
America, Xeils Swenson, Charles Karl
Swenson, and Anna, who married Alfred
Johnson, of West Hartford.
Charles Karl Swenson was educated in
the public schools of his native town, then
worked in a greenhouse for a year. After
that he worked with a landscape gar-
dener, doing work on some very fine
estates. In 1879 he came to America. At
first he worked as a farm hand, as no better
opportunity offered. As he became
accustomed to the ways of the country
and familiar with the language, he sought
work in his special line, and was em-
ployed in greenhouses and on private
estates in a number of cities. This gave
him a breadth of experience in a comparatively
short time. At length he went
to work in the Pierson greenhouses in
Cromwell, Connecticut. He remained
there about three years. Mr. Pierson took
down some small houses to make room
for improvements in his immense plant,
and from him Mr. Swenson bought a
boiler and enough piping for one house.
When the Colt greenhouses in Hartford
were taken down he bought enough glass
to build a house for the boiler. Thus, with
materials that many would have discarded,
he made his modest beginning and
established himself in a place of his own.
That was in 1887. Love of his work,
thorough knowdedge of it, unremitting
labor, personal sacrifice, these were the
foundations of his success. Keenness of
judgment in anticipating the market re-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UH >GRAP1 1Y
l 53
quirements, eternal vigilance in watching
for the insidious dangers and enemies of
plant life, and a mind alert for the 1
and the latest discoveries and inventions
which bear on this line of business, t!
are the forces that have kept him Bteadily
progressing toward the success which he
now enjoys. As the business grew he
added other houses, from time to time,
until now he has ten thousand feet of
glass. He grows mostly a general line of
flowers, potted and bedding plants. Every
spring he has ready a large variety of
vegetable plants, tomato, cabbage, celery,
etc. He docs quite a considerable whole-
sale as well as retail business.
Mr. Swenson married Mary Nicholson,
a native of Sweden, and has six children :
1. Wilbur Karl, who was killed in an
automobile accident at Prescott, Arizona,
in 1918; has a daughter, l.ewanda, in Los
Angeles, California, who was left an
orphan. .
2. Lillie, who married Frank
Carlson, of Hartford, and has one son.
Frank J. 3. Rose, who married Alfred
Messier, of Hartford, and has one son,
Wilbur Lewis. 4. Esther. 5. Edward.
6. Adolph. The family are members of
the Swedish Lutheran church, of which
society Mr. Swenson has served as
trustee.
PETERSON, Carl,
Florist.
New blood revitalizes a living organ-
ism. This is true of nations as well as of
individuals. I'pright, industrious, self reliant
men arc the very material of which
the fabric of our civilization is woven.
When the best men of other nations come
to us and establish in our midst industries
of economic stability and esthetic value,
the impetus for progress is widely felt.
Not only do they make good citizens, they
exert a powerful influence among our