The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 885 JAMES C. STEENSEN. James C. Steensen is living retired in Yakima but is the holder of valuable ranch property in various sections of the country. He was born in Schleswig- Holstein, Germany, March 9, 1868, a son of Stephen and Margaret Steensen, who came to the United States in late life and passed away on this side of the Atlantic. The father was a miller and for some time operated a mill at West Salem, Wisconsin. James C. Steensen was a lad of eleven years when he crossed the Atlantic with an uncle to New Orleans, where he remained for two years, and for a similar period he resided at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He next went with his uncle to South Dakota, where he resided for three years and at the age of eighteen he became a resident of Wisconsin. In the meantime he had served an apprenticeship to the drug trade, but afterward he worked with his father in the milling business until he reached the age of twenty-four years, when he was married and removed to Hills, Minnesota, where he opened a drug store which he successfully conducted for a number of years, there continuing until the fall of 1909, when he came to Yakima, although he still retained his investments in the drug business in the east. In the meantime he had been dealing in farms and in 1905 had visited the Yakima valley, purchasing a ranch near Selah. He now has fifty acres there planted to fruit and thirty acres in hop vineyards. He also owns a ranch of one hundred and seventy acres devoted to the raising of stock as well as to the production of crops. This, too, is located near Selah and he likewise owns several other large ranch properties. He has an eighty-acre ranch on the Tieton, devoted to grain and alfalfa, and he has eight hundred acres in North Dakota and Minnesota. His investments have been most judiciously placed and his property interests have returned to him a substantial and gratifying income. In Yakima he owns a beautiful home, having purchased a residence which he remodeled and made thoroughly up-to-date in its equipments and appointments. It is situated at No. 206 North Naches avenue. On the 1st of September, 1891, Mr. Steensen was married to Miss Alma F. Darrow, a daughter of Alonzo and Sarah J. (Demary) Darrow, the former being a cousin of Clarence Darrow, a well known lawyer of Chicago. Her great-great-grandfather in the paternal line was a Revolutionary war soldier and Mrs. Steensen is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Steensen have a son, Mark Darrow Stephen, twenty-five years of age, who is a member of Company E of the One Hundred and Sixty-first Infantry, doing active duty in France. He has pursued a high school education and also a course in Pullman College. Mr. Steensen belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is prominent in Masonry. He has membership in Yakima Lodge No. 24, F. & A. M.; Yakima Chapter No. 21, R. A. M.; Yakima Commandery, K. T.; the Consistory, S. P. R. S.; and Afifi Temple of the Mystice Shrine. In politics he is independent and his religious faith is indicated by his attendance at the Presbyterian church. He is widely known in Yakima as a progressive business man and loyal citizen and one who well merits the success that has come to him as the years have passed. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.