Biographies for the State of Idaho

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VICTOR E. OLDSON
There are some men whose lives are shaped by circumstances and others who overcome circumstances and shape their own careers, and to this latter class it may be safely said that Victor E. Oldson belongs. Many men there are who, given the same advantages as he, would still have remained in the rut of business mediocrity; he has had the courage and ability to aim higher. Losing his parents when a lad, he was early thrown upon his own resources, but from them he had inherited the best of legacies, health, industry and integrity. These, united to thrift, temperance and shrewd intelligence, were the equipment with Which he has won his way to his present success. Victor E. Oldson was born September 22, 1874 in Giles County, Virginia, and is a son of Dr. Peter John and Christie (Stjernecrance) Oldson. His father, a native of Virginia, and a well-known physician and surgeon of his day, passed away at St. Peter. Minnesota, in 1887, at the age of seventy years. He was a son of John Peter and Annie (Waltham) Oldson, who died aged respectively 90 and 85 years. Mrs. Oldson was a native of Sweden and a daughter of Alvin Axel and Evelyn (Hamilton) Stjernecrance, whose deaths occurred at the respective ages of sixty and seventy years. Mrs. Oldson came to the United States with a brother in young girlhood, settling in Giles county, Virginia, where she met and married Mr. Oldson. She also passed away in 1887, aged fifty-two years, having been the mother of eight children, of whom Victor E. was the youngest.

Victor E. Oldson was five years of age when the family moved to St. Peter, Minnesota, and there attended the public schools until he was fourteen years of age. The death of his parents made it necessary that he make his own way in the world, and he was accordingly apprenticed to learn the merchant tailoring trade, to which he served a full three years. Following this he worked as a journeyman in Minnesota until 1897, in which year he went to Butte, Montana, and in the following year engaged in business on his own account, but after seven years disposed of his interests and went to Havre, where he spent three years. In 1907 Mr. Oldson came to Boise. Idaho, and three years later purchased the established business known under the firm style of Idaho Tailors, located in the Idaho Hotel, one of the leading establishments of the city. At this time

Mr. Oldson is opening a new store at No. 117 North Tenth street, which will be maintained as a first class establishment. The success which has attended Mr. Oldson's efforts attests his sagacity, foresight and financial skill. The life of the merchant is less conspicuous before the world than that of a member of a learned profession, or of one who mingles in public affairs, but is none the less one of arduous labor, thorough engrossment, and requiring a high order of talent. Politically Mr. Oldson is independent in his views, preferring to vote rather for the man than the party, although he has Democratic tendencies. Like all gentlemen of liberal views and broad sympathies, Mr. Oldson holds membership in the principal social organizations of the city, belonging to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Royal Highlanders, the Sons of Herman, and the Scandinavian Brotherhood. With his family he attends the Presbyterian Church.

In 1905 Mr. Oldson was married to Miss Bessie M. Goff, daughter of O. S. Goff, a native of South Dakota, and two children have been born to this union: Cecil and Marion, both born in Boise. The family home is located at No. 1220 North Nineteenth street, in addition to which Mr. Oldson owns other interests that place him among the substantial men of his adopted city.

[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]

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