My Genealogy Hound

Rasmus Christensen. Our list of the leading farmers of Novi township, Oakland County, would be decidedly incomplete without the addition of the name that heads this personal sketch. He resides on his handsome farm of 239 acres situated in section 34. He was born in Denmark in 1855, and is a son of Christian and Helena (Hansen) Christensen, who lived and died in Denmark.

Rasmus Christensen received his education in Denmark and remained there until 1875, when, being drafted into the German Army, he came to America to escape military service under a flag he did not love. He landed in Philadelphia in the fall of that year and immediately came to Michigan, locating in Livonia township, Wayne County, where he remained some time and then removed to Novi township, Oakland County, where he purchased his present farm, which he has since been actively engaged in cultivating. He has one of the most productive as well as one of the largest farms in his township, where he is highly respected and honored by all who know him. He is a Democrat and a member of the Danish Lutheran Church.

Mr. Christensen was married to Mary Milroy, daughter of Charles and Eliza (Shaw) Milroy, and seven children were born to them, namely: Charles, born March 17, 1878, who was married to Marie Rockwitch, of Detroit; Alexander, born June 29, 1879, who lives with his parents on the homestead farm; Frederick, born November 3, 1880, who lives in the State of Wyoming; Helena, born in November, 1882, who died in October, 1892; and John W., born October 22, 1884, Elizabeth, born August 21, 1886, and Ruth born July 22, 1892, who live at home with their parents. Our subject’s wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church and takes great interest in religious work.

Charles Milroy, the father of Mrs. Christensen, was born in Scotland in 1821, came to Michigan the year before it became a State and took up government land in Livonia township, Wayne County, where he engaged in clearing and cultivating his property. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1889, he had one of the best tilled farms in Michigan. He and his wife were the parents of four children, namely: Mary (Mrs. Christensen); Ann Eliza, who married Hans Christensen, brother of our subject, and is now deceased, — they were the parents of one child, Ann, born June 24, 1897; Ina, who now resides in Germany and is attending the Berlin University; and Charles Frederick, who lives in Livonia township, Wayne County, engaged in the lumber business, having rented his farm, — he was married to Lizzie Johnson and has one child, an infant. Mrs. Christensen’s mother was born in Nottinghamshire, England, and came, in 1837, to America with her parents, who settled in Livonia township, Wayne County, Michigan, where they purchased a tract of timber land that has since been developed into a fine farm. Both the Milroy and Shaw families are numbered among the pioneer settlers of this region.