PEARSON, NELS PETER

PEARSON, HANSON, ANDERSON, ERICKSON

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 10/29/2003 at 16:59:06

Biography reproduced from page 271 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

The late Nels Peter Pearson was one of the respected and valued citizens of Kossuth county, where for many years he was successfully engaged in the cultivation of his farm located on section 2, Swea township. He was born in Stafsinge, Halland, Sweden, March 28, 1842, a son of Per and Bertha (Hanson) Pearson, both of whom were natives of Sweden. The father engaged in digging ditches and other work of varied character. In his family were three children, all of whom are deceased. He and his wife passed away many years ago in their native land.

Nels Peter Pearson was reared in his father’s home and received in his boyhood days but a limited elementary education. At the age of nine years he took up the burden of self-support and was first engaged in herding cattle in the old country. In 1871 he emigrated to America and settled at Titusville, Pennsylvania, at which place he was engaged as a laborer on the railroad for some time and later was employed as a farm hand in Butler County, Pennsylvania, continuing in this work for a period of eight years. He removed to Kossuth county on the 5th of March, 1883, and settled on a farm of eighty acres, located on section 2, Swea township, which he purchased in company with J. A. Erickson, his wife’s uncle. On that property he established his home and later purchased his partner’s interest in the place, after which he added by purchased two hundred acres, making his holdings in all two hundred and eighty acres. After establishing his home in Swea township he continued to be successfully engaged in general farming until the time of his death, which occurred on August 23, 1910.

Mr. Pearson was united in marriage, January 19, 1882, in Butler county, Pennsylvania, to Miss Anna Louisa Anderson, who was born at Marup, in the province of Halland, Sweden. She is the daughter of Peter John and Helen Beatrice (Erickson) Anderson, both of whom were natives of Sweden, where they now reside and where the father is engaged in farming. In their family were ten children, namely: Emma, a resident of Ashtabula, Ohio; Mrs. Pearson; Serena Charlotte, who died at the age of fourteen years; Johanna, living in Akron, Ohio; John, whose death occurred when he was eight years old; Adolph, living at Cleveland, Ohio; Josephine, who passed away in infancy; Charlotte, also living in Akron; Josephine, whose death occurred in Sweden; and Matilda, still a resident of that country. To Mr. and Mrs. Pearson ten children were born, as follows: Two, who passed away in infancy; John Edward, who was born on the 9th of June, 1884, and who is now attending Gustavus Adolphus College at St. Peter, Minnesota, being a member of the class of 1913; Charles Bernard, born April 14, 1886, operating the home farm, of which he took charge at the time of his father’s sudden death; Andrew Peter, whose birth occurred on the 1st of April, 1888, and who is also at home, assisting in the work of the farm; Nels Victor, born February 21, 1890, at home; Bertha Ellen, born April 21, 1891; Hilda Adelia, born December 15, 1892, residing at home; Edna Lovina, who was born June 30, 1895, and is still with her mother; and George Dewey, who birth occurred on the 12th of August, 1899, and who is also at home. The mother of this family still maintains her residence on the old homestead.

Mr. Pearson was affiliated with the republican party and served for three years as director of school district No. 3, Swea township. He was a member of the Swedish Lutheran church of Swea City, as is his widow and their children, and he served for one year as treasurer of the church to which he belonged. Mr. Pearson was one of the most valued and highly esteemed citizens of this part of the state. He was born of poor parents and labored for his living from the time he was nine years of age until he had acquired sufficient means with which to establish himself in a home of his own, and thereafter he gave himself up to unremitting toil in the development and improvement of his property until at the time of his death his farm was one of the most highly improved places in Swea township. He was a devout Christian, whose influence for good was felt throughout the community in which he lived. At the time of his death he was honored not alone by many expressions of sympathy for his family but by the fact that work in the entire community was suspended during the time of his funeral services. The church of which he was a member was property decorated for the solemn occasion and every possible courtesy and expression of sympathy was shown to the bereaved family. The services were conducted by the Rev. Swanbeck, the pastor of the church, and the remains were laid at rest in the local cemetery. His death removed from Kossuth county one of the most highly respected and one of the most useful of her citizens.