Jens Arthur Jensen (1888-1975)

Arthur Bruce Jensen I (1888-1975) aka Jens Arthur Jensen, Salesman (b. April 02, 1888, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA - d. February 1975, Fontana, Walworth County, Wisconsin, 53125, USA) Social Security Number 347030639.

Name
He was born as "Jens Arthur Jensen", but changed it to "Arthur Bruce Jensen" to avoid confusion with the other Jens Jensens in the family.

Birth
He was the son of Jens Julius Jensen (1859-1903) and Annie Olsen (1859-?).

Chicago
The family appears in the 1900 US Census living in Chicago in the same two family house as their maternal grandparents: Soren Olsen (1832-after1900), the furrier and Anna B. X (1831-after1900).

Marriage
Arthur married Ruth Cameron (1907-?).

Osborne Art Studios
Arthur was the sales manager for Osborne Art Studios before World War I.

Autobiography
He wrote a short autobiography: This is my autobiography which has taken over sixty years to write, not with the blood, sweat and tears of Winston Churchill, but at least with sweat and oil, the midnight variety. It is done piecemeal and through it all you will see the salesman, selling either myself to my beloved Ruth or, or the Good Life to those who will listen, or a great variety of merchandise: pianos (my first ad written in my teens) chemicals for the trades, physical fitness for the tired businessman, artware and china, Ford top converters, clinical laboratory tests, Lake Geneva subdivisions and homes for forty years, co-operative apartments in Pompane and finally, and I promise finally, furnished apartments in Lantana. 'Life Begins at Forty', it has been said, but for me it began at 14. We had just buried father, and or friends and relations had walked away so we could be alone at the grave. We were sad, dismayed and disheartened, but then a group of Christians began singing over the grave of a loved one nearby ... I remember father best walking down the street singing, coming home from work ... Mother with a heart of gold, loved children too, but she kept it for her children, Myrtle, Sigrid and I. She worked hard and managed well, so that our good home life could continue after father passed on, Our most common expression was 'We are now ___ dollars in the hole.', or sometimes 'We are out of the hole.' If we had a pressing bill, we borrowed from grandfather who lived upstairs in their own home like ours, and was an anchor in a storm, or called better a squall. Grandpa was a furrier, learned in Norway, where he was a neighbor of Henrick Ibsen, and we learned about this great playwright. They were peaceful years - 1900 to 1913 - for us and the world.