PEARSON, Nels - 1912 Bio (1834-1907)

PEARSON, LARSON, ANDERSON, GROVE, FRIEBURG

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 9/26/2007 at 14:02:38

History of Jefferson County, Iowa -- A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II, Published 1912, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago
Pages 305-306

Nels PEARSON was for many years actively and successfully identified with agricultural interests in Jefferson County but lived retired at the time of his demise, which occurred in Lockridge on the 12th of June, 1907. His birth occurred in Sweden on the 1st of January, 1834, his father being Nels PEARSON, Sr., who was a farmer by occupation and spent his entire life in that country. He passed away in 1871, while his wife was called to her final rest in 1854.

Nels PEARSON was reared and educated in his native land and remained under the parental roof until twenty-three years of age. In 1857, having heard many favorable reports concerning the opportunities and advantages of the new world, he crossed the Atlantic to the United States and came directly to Jefferson county, Iowa. Here he first secured employment as a farm hand and later entered the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, assisting in building the same through Lockridge. Subsequently he removed to Illinois and there worked as a farm hand until the time of his enlistment for service in the Union army in 1862, becoming a member of Company K, Eighty-fourth Illinois Voluteer Infantry, with which he remained until the close of hostilities. His military record was a most creditable one, for he had never faltered in the performance of any task assigned him. When the country no longer needed his aid he returned to Jefferson county, Iowa, and in 1867 was married and rented a farm of forty acres in Lockridge township, operating the same for five years. On the expiration of that period he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in Round Prairie township, cleared and improved the property and cultivated the same for thirty-three years. In the conduct of his agricultural interests he won a gratifying measure of prosperity, gathering the rich crops that found a ready sale on the market. In 1905 he sold his farm and took up his abode in Lockridge, where he spent the remainder of his life in honorable retirement, passing away on the 12th of June, 1907. In him the community lost one of its most esteemed and substantial citizens.

On the 6th of January, 1867, Mr. PEARSON was united in marriage to Miss Emma C. LARSON, who was born in Sweden on the 1st of May, 1848, her parents being Swan and Anna Sophia (ANDERSON) LARSON. They are mentioned at greater length on another page of this work in connection with the sketch of Albert LARSON, a brother of Mrs. PEARSON. Unto Mr. and Mrs. PEARSON were born seven children, as follows Charles Elmer, now fourty-four years of age, who resides in California; Esther Ellen, the wife of William GROVE, an agriculturist of Van Buren county, Iowa; Nellie Sophia, the wife of Frank FRIEBURG, who follows farming in Howard county, Iowa; John E., an agriculturist residing in Stockport, Van Buren county, Iowa; Albert B., a fireman living at Galesburg, Illinois; Anna R., who is at home with her mother; and Edna E., who resides at Fairfield, Iowa.

Mr. PEARSON gave unfaltering allegiance to the republican party, while his religious faith was that of the Lutheran church. He belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic and thus maintained pleasant relations with his old war comrades. His widow, a consistent and devoted member of the Lutheran church, still resides in Lockridge and has a wide and favorable acquaintance here.

[Transcriber's note: The Grand Army of the Republic is the fore-runner of the American Legion.]

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.