LUDWICK OLDENBURG. – The distinguished orchardist, of whom we now have the privilege of speaking is one of the prominent men of Union county and by his commendable efforts, as well as by his excellent abilities and stanch moral worth, ahs merited the position that he holds, wherein he has demeaned himself with a discretion and wisdom that have commended him to his fellow men, while his most excellent achievements in the line in which he is industrially employed have placed his name among the largest and most capable fruit growers of the entire northwest.
In the northern part of the renowned Anglo-Saxon country of Holland, our subject was born, and there he received his early training, which ceased when he had reached the age of eleven but further research was made by personal effort later in life. He continued with his father, a fruit grower of that country, until he had arrived at the age of twenty and then was forced to serve in the army for three years, following which he returned to his father’s farm for a time and then went to work at different occupations until he was thirty-three, at which time he came to America, landing first in Detroit, Michigan, where one year was spent. Then he came to Ann Arbor, the same state, and for two and one-half years engaged in the fruit business, when he went to Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania. A short time only was spent there and next we find our subject in the Grande Ronde valley, where he rented a farm for a time and then took up a pre-emption later which he also sold, and rented his present place for five years at four hundred dollars per year. He soon saw it was advisable to buy it, the amount being fifty acres, and he did so. Adding later twenty acres more that had good bearing trees. His orchard then was five hundred fruit trees, but he has added until at the present time he has doubtless the best orchard in the valley and one that will compare favorably with anything in the entire northwest. He handles annually nearly ten thousand boxes of apples, one hundred and twenty thousand pounds of Italian prunes, six hundred boxes of pears, two thousands gallons of cherries, three hundred boxes of peaches, besides an immense amount of the smaller fruits, selling as high as five hundred dollars worth from one acre. He irrigates and in addition to fruit raising has made a record in vegetables, raising one thousand bushels of potatoes on one acre, and seventy tones and eight hundred pounds of beets on the same amount of ground. Mr. Oldenburg has improved his farm in a becoming manner, having a fruit house that will hold nearly twelve thousand boxes of apples.
On October 15, 1870, Mr. Odenburg married Miss Lorena Yonker, a native of northern Holland, and ten children have been born to them: Berna, married to Minna Shafer and living in Lagrande; Garret, married to Etta Rollen and living in Medford in the Rogue river valley; Rena, wife of J.E. VanDermuelen, living in Lagrande; Ludwick, deceased, John: William, deceased: Willie: Jerrie; Ludwick, George. Politically Mr. Oldenburg is allied with the Socialists, and in 1896 he was the delegate to the state convention of the Populist party. Our subject and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and they are highly esteemed in the community where they reside.