Page 129 - Family History

Family Stories

The park is tribute to a young man who came to America from Denmark with
nothing, worked hard in struggling communities, built a successful business,

and started a Poulsen family line here in America. As a family historian, the
really neat thing about this discovery was reading the documents that were
submitted to the town council in support of the park name proposal. They
contain so much information and history. What follows are parts of the park
name proposal. I am hoping to track down the proposal’s author. One of the parts
included is a letter written by none other than Niels Poulsen himself!

I propose naming the new Round Hill town park after one of its earlier residents,
Niels Poulsen, who helped build and shape Round Hill into the great community it

is today.

Niels Poulsen was a hard-working family man who lived in Round Hill from June
1881 until his death in 1938. He left his home in Denmark in February 1872 at the
age of 19 and sailed to New York City on "The Minnesota". In April of that year he
found work in Chicago helping to rebuild the city after the fire. He moved on to
work in Iowa and Pennsylvania but when the work slowed, in his words "thinking
it bad to lay idle and spend in idleness" he started his own ax handle business. On

June 3, 1881, he moved to Round Hill and opened his factory. Niels owned a
spoke and handle factory where the Baptist Church is currently located. When his
factory caught fire, and burned to the ground, he moved the factory and his home
to High St. Niels also owned the property at the corner of Main St. and Loudoun
St. where his employees made monuments and tombstones. He also owned or
had ownership in a Hardware store in town.

Niels married Mary Alice Lunsford from Loudoun County on April of 1882.
Together they raised 11 children at #15 High Street.

The above are some facts we know about my great-great grandfather, but there is
so much more about the man that I have learned from my grandmother and her
loving memories of the greatest man she ever knew.

My grandmother, Jean Poulsen was born in Alexandria, VA. in 1926, the only

daughter of Hubert Poulsen and granddaughter of Niels. Although she spent her
entire life in Alexandria, her fondest memories have always been of Round Hill

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