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THE NELSON FAMILY
BY: KATHY PREDMORE
POLLARD
JOHN AND CORA NELSON
John Peter Martin Neilsen was
born at Ula, Denmark in 1868 and came to America at the age of thirteen
years with his parents, Neils and Neilcenna Neilsen, and seven brothers
and sisters. One brother Mariness, went back to Denmark to marry his
childhood sweetheart and never returned. All his sons had a trade
when they came. Augusta was a blacksmith, Chris a tailor, Tom a barber and
John a mason. The four sisters were: Theodora, Mary, Willmenna and
Antonia. Sometime between Denmark and Lincoln John changed the
family name to Nelson, the reason is still unknown.
The family
settled at Mason Basin now known as Mason City about 1882. John, who
was always known as Johnny, married Cora Mansfield in 1890 and moved to
Loup County in 1892. The couple homesteaded a piece of land North of
Talylor near Sebasta's under the Homestead Act of 1862, which provided for
160 acres of land after he farmed it for five years. The family
believes he received 480 acres in 1904 or 1905 under the Kinkaid bill
providing larger land grants in the Sandhills proved inadequate in
the Sandhills region.
Their home was made from chunks of prarie sod
referred to as "the old soddy" by my Grandmother, Rosa Nelson. The
rough pioneer life had nearly disappeard to the east and to the west of
the state, but was only beginning for this new group of settlers in the
Sandhills. Since the hills were largely unsettled in the early 1900.
The sod house dwellers had incredible fortitude, they often went without
meat and many families lived on potatoes, bread and coffee. Food was
scarce and money was practically non existant, but these stubborn and
determined pioneers living in sod houses, which had disappeared elsewhere,
stayed.
Johnny and Cora had ten children: Anna, Edward,
Emmitt, Alice, Bertha, Harvey, Lester, Ralph, Bessie and Ray.All of whom
attended the rural schools in Loup County. Emmitt, Edward, Harvey and
Ralph remained in the Sandhills all their lives and brought up their
families here. Ralph, who lives in Sargent, and Bessie who lives in
Scottsbluff are the only children remaining of this pioneer
family.
Transcribed by: Melody Beery
Source:
Loup County Cenntennial Book 1883-1983
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