Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 671
JOHN G. NELSON

John G. NELSON, of section 4, Taylor Township, came to Harrison County in the autumn of 1865, and worked by the day getting out railroad ties for the Union Pacific Railroad. He worked in Clay Township by the day and by the month until the fall of 1869, when he purchased eighty acres of land where he now lives, the same being improved. In the fall of 1872 he built a house twenty feet square, in which he lived until 1884, when he built his present residence, consisting of a two-story frame house, 22x30 feet, with an ell 22x25 feet. His farm now consists of three hundred and ninety-six acres. This valuable farmhouse has all been accumulated by hard work, as our subject brought no means to the county with him.

The birthplace of our subject was in that goodly portion of Northern Europe known as Sweden, which country furnishes so many of our best adopted citizens in this country. He was born March 2, 1844, and remained there until the autumn of 1865, at which time he came direct to Harrison County. From the time he was fourteen years old he was a sailor on the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, and also sailed sixteen months on an English ship, making a voyage to the East Indies and return in 1864-65.

He was united in marriage in Harrison County, Iowa, November 30, 1873, to Miss Orella JENKINS, the daughter of Lloyd and Elizabeth (LOVE) JENKINS. By this union seven children have been born to them: Bessie, deceased; Charles I.; Harry L., deceased; Arthur R., Clyde E., Lloyd L., and Mary L.

Orella (JENKINS) NELSON was born in Shelby County, Iowa, June 6, 1856, and when a small child her parents came to Harrison County.

Politically Mr. NELSON adheres to the principles of the Democratic party, and in religious matters both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Modale.

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