LIFE OF JOHN NELSON

(JANNE NILSSON)

John Nelson was born April 24, 1839 to Nils Olsson and Kjristi Larsson in Össjö, Kristianstad, Sweden. He had two sisters, Botila and Petronilla, and six brothers, Ola, Lars, Christopher, Pehr, Pehr, and Lar. There is not much known about his early life in Sweden. There were two distinct classes in Sweden at the time. The Poor and the Rich. He was of the poorer working class and had to work very hard. Most of the farm work was done by hand as they had very few horses in Sweden. He walked many miles each day to help thresh rye by hand because they had no threshers and then walked back home at night. He owned no land while he lived in Sweden.

He was a farmer and a baker. He taught his sister, Petronilla, the bakery business and she was to help him with the business. She married a Mr. Anderson from Illinois in America and they came to America to live so he had no help.

On May 24, 1861, he married Hester Elena Olsson, daughter of Ola Bengtsson of Ljungby, Kristianstad, Sweden. They were parents of ten children: seven boys, Carl, Oscar, Alfred, Olaff, Antone August, Nels, and Joseph; and three daughters, Amanda, Marie and Amanda.

For a short time after their marriage they ran a small bakery at the crossroads and sold bakery goods to the travelers. He specialized in rye bread. He worked on farms for other people. They never received any money for their work, but received their pay in so many pairs of pants, shoes, etc. The working class were treated almost like slaves by the higher class. He often told his family that when the working class would go in a store they would be ignored until the higher class customers were taken care of.

Two of his brothers were shoemakers in Sweden. Two of her brothers came to America. They were Pehr and Carl Olsson.

Two of his brothers joined the Army and they had to change their names because there were so many soldiers with the same names as theirs. They chose the names of Lindow and Lindall.

In 1871 John and Hester Elena decided to come to America with their five children. They came by steerage and had to bring enough food to last them for the journey which took several weeks. His wife's brothers in America loaned them the money to come to America.

His brother, Lars, had already come to America and had settled in Illinois. His brother had two children but they died in infancy. He later returned to Sweden.

They arrived in Marshalltown, Iowa, and stayed there with some friends. During the first night, their sixth child was born, a little girl whom they named Marie Christina. When mother and child were able to travel they went to Sac City, Sac County, Iowa. They lived here for several years and four more children were born to them. They all worked very hard and were soon able to buy forty acres of ground. they kept adding to it until they had ___ acres, a real large farm. He donated an acre of ground for the first school of Sac County. They were all so busy making a living that the children didn't have time to go to school all the time.

His son, Olaf, was drowned while they were living here. He was about 12 years old. He was out with his brothers herding cows and tried to swim across the stream. His mother had warned him not to.

John had a good singing voice. He would get up early in the morning and make the fire and then walk back and forth singing. he was a very talkative man. He loved to talk and visit with people. He was always bringing people, ministers and others, home from church for dinner. They didn't have much food, but he was always willing to share what he had.

On March 13, 1881, his wife, Elena, died from tuberculosis. She was sick for a long time. When she became worse they sent their daughter Mary to the neighbors for help. When she got back her mother had died and her father was standing over her praying.

He hired a young Swedish girl, Emma Louise Vickbom, to work for him and help care for the Children. Emma had just come over from Sweden a short time before to live with her Uncles, Sol and Gus Peterson. She had one full sister, Mathilda and four half sisters, Catherine Elizabeth, Charlotta Christina, Anna Sofia, and Inga Mathilda. Her parents and sisters had all passed away before she left Sweden.

Emma Louise went to school in Iowa for a short time, but the children laughed at the way she talked so she quit. She would box the boys ears for laughing at her. She was engaged to Carl Nelson but he died of Smallpox.

John Nelson had rheumatic fever and was up to a hot Springs taking treatments. It was while he was here that he decided to marry Emma Louise. They left and didn't tell the children they were going to get married. The lady that was staying with them at the time told them they were going to have a new mother. They were married April 21, 1882, in Sac City, Iowa. They had two children born to them in Iowa. Elena in 1883 and Anthone in 1884. At this time they decided to leave Iowa because this climate was bad for his health. He first went to Alabama to find a home but didn't like it there. They heard that there was a lot of free land in Nebraska, so they decided to go there. He thought the dryer climate here might be better for him. They sold their farm and part of their machinery and livestock and loaded the rest on a railroad car. Grandma was expecting another child at this time so she and some of the younger children stayed in Iowa until he had located a home for them.

He soon sent for his family. They were supposed to arrive in Chappel, Nebraska at midnight, but the train arrived early, at noon the day before, so no one was there to meet them. The man at the station took them out to their farm at Chappel, Duel County. They homesteaded between the North and South Platte Rivers. They lived here for nine years but never raised a crop in all those years. The grain would come up and look real good and then they would either be wind blown or shrink from lack of rain. Six children were born to them while they lived in Nebraska: Oscar, Edwin, Albin and grand daughters Mathilda and Esther.

They used up all the money they had received from the sale of their land and machinery in Iowa. All the creeks would dry up in the summer and Nels and Joe took turns driving he cattle six miles to water. They were just as thirsty when they got back as when they left, but it kept them alive. To get water for household use they would put barrels on their wagons and haul water. They had to go several miles to the water holes. Water was so scarce at one time that they had to crawl down in a big hole and dip the water out with a tin cup.

Once when Grandpa and the older boys were up on the North Platte hauling hay, the family ran out of water, so Mary and Amanda hooked up the horses and went after some. Their Step-mother was afraid to let them go alone so she took the other children and rode part way with them. The road was so rough that she got off at a neighbors and waited until they came back.

One time when they were hauling water, Joe fell off the wagon and one wheel ran over him.

After nine years of hardships they decided to seek a new home. In 1894 they left their home and started West. They had heard of a place in Idaho where a lot of Swedish immigrants had settled near Eagle Rock, now Idaho Falls.

They had an auction before they left and sold most of their belongings. Mary and Amanda had been living in Denver working and had come home to tell the rest good-bye. Amanda caught mountain fever and died the night before the auction. They had six horses, two wagons and one white top buggy and they loaded all their belongings onto these and left. Joe had mountain fever when they left Nebraska and they didn't know whether he would live or not. Arthur (Nels) Anderson, Grandpa's sister's boy, came with them and drove the team Joe was supposed to drive.

They would mix bread in the morning and bake it after they had stopped at night in the stove they had to lift down from the wagon to use. When they got to Green River, Wyoming, it rained so hard Grandma had to stand up to her ankles in mud while she baked the bread. They also did their washing at night when they stopped.

Grandfather had 50 cents in his pocket when they arrived in Idaho. He went to the Anderson Bank and told them he had some land and was going to settle there and needed some credit. He bought wheat for flour, sugar and other staples. He also bought some lumber to make sawhorses and two planks to put on them for their first table. They settled in the area north of Idaho Falls near one of the big canals. Jack was born shortly after they arrived in Idaho and Phoebe was born while they were still living in this area.

They moved to the New Sweden area South of Idaho Falls where they were living when Emil was born. John joined the Baptist church in New Sweden.

They then moved to Lavaside where they homesteaded and in addition bought some land both totaling 300 to 400 acres. John later sold some pieces of this land. Clarence was born while they lived here. In November 1902, John died of pneumonia at the age of 63. Harold was born two months later.

Compiled by Delilah H. Nelson with later contributions by Elsie Campbell and Eva and Emil Nelson.

This document was entered from a copy in the possession of Dorothy Potteiger, Omaha, Nebraska, on May 27, 1996.