George Olsen is my generation's great, great grandfather.  He was father to Clara (and Florence) who married James B. Thorsen.  He was grandfather to Bano/Blanche, Alice and the six brothers.  He was great grand-father to Don, Wally and Nancy Lawder, and great, great grandfather to our generation of cousins.

We mostly think about Emily Olsen, George's wife, but this obituary from 1906 gives a detailed story of his life and accomplishments.

From the Wicker Park Eagle 1906 (Chicago)

Obituary.

The funeral of Geo. Olsen, 36 Le Moyne Street, was held on Tuesday, January 16, interment being at Graceland.

Geo. Olsen of the firm of Geo. Olsen & Son, contractors and builders, was one of the old, extensive, and active builders of this city, although he commenced on a small scale in 1857. He has erected hundreds of structures, partly in full and partly in carpenters’ and joiners’ work only. He began in the fifties, according to his own designs and drawings, the building of cottages, two and three story frame buildings, and continued up to about 1867. In 1868 he designed and built one of the first brick buildings on Milwaukee avenue, a block of six stories and flats, corner of Huron street and Milwaukee avenue, 140 feet front (one-half belonging to himself); also several other brick and frame buildings on that avenue and other streets, principally in the northwestern part of the city. He designed and build the first stone-front building on Milwaukee avenue at the intersection of Peoria street, the Bohemian Turner hall on Taylor street, scores of two story brick houses for Col. Augustus Jacobsen, and several for Geo. H. Severson.  After the great fire he concluded as a business matter to let the architects do the designing, so as to stand a better chance for competition.

Mr. Olsen was born in Denmark February 25, 1825. He came to the United States in 1854 and after six weeks voyage in a sail vessel landed in New York. He worked at his trade there a short time, then went to Boston where he worked eight months in a cabinet shop and was also then employed in the great Chickering piano works. From there he came to Chicago in April,, 1855, but not liking it here remained but a few months, working at home building and in an ice box factory. He then went to Madison, Wis., worked at cabinet and house building till October, then to New Orleans, working there during the winter of 1855 and 1856 in a shipyard and cabinet shop. Thence to St. Louis, Mo., working there about three months at house building and cabinet work, and finally arriving in Chicago again May 10, 1856. In June, 1857, he began contracting for buildings. In 1859, owing to a general stagnation in all trades, he engaged in manufacturing and wholesaling liquors. In the spring of 1869 he went to Memphis, Tenn., and established a factory and sales house of mineral waters. He was very successful for a time, but the rebellion in 1861 sent him back to Chicago again, which from that time was his permanent home. He learned his trade as a joiner and cabinetmaker in Denmark. He served five years as an apprentice, worked seven years at his trade in Copenhagen, and most of that time attended a technical institute in the evenings, were drawing and mathematics were taught and instructive lectures were given. In 1859 he married a Danish lady named Emily Miller. The same year he became a Free Mason. He has been for many years a member of the Builders’’ and Trades Exchange, the Carpenters’ and Builders’ Associations, and several other societies.

He is survived by two sons, Viggo F. [the ‘son’ in the firm Geo. Olsen & Son] and Edwin Olsen (district manager Bankers’ Endowment Association) and three daughters, Mrs. H. T. Grund [Anna], Mrs. J. B. Thorsen [Florence] and Mrs. C. E. Faye [Dagmar]. He was 81 years of age. “

From a Xerox copy of the newspaper belonging to Aunt Alice [Thorsen] Taylor.