For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 390
A. THOMAS NELSON....A. Thomas Nelson, who has been engaged in the hardware business for fifteen years past, is a native if Cedar county, Iowa, and was born on a farm two miles north of Dutant, November 1, 1867. The father, Thomas Boyd Nelson, was of Scotch and English descent and was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He died at Durant, January 3, 1910. The progenitors of the family upon both paternal and maternal sides were in America before the Revolutionary war. Our subject's Grandfather Nelson assisted the patriots in the great struggle for freedom. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Eleanor J. Brown, was born in Bethel, New York, and is now living in Durant, Iowa. She is of Irish and Holland-Dutch lineage and represents the third generation of the family in America.A. Thomas Nelson is one of a family of six boys and one girl, and his earliest opportunities for education were limited, as his assistance was necessary in providing support for the younger members of the household. His tastes pointed toward mechanical engineering, but he worked on the home farm until seventeen years of age and then entered the postoffice at Durant, where he continued for three years. He then learned the tinner's trade under H. J. Bauch, of Durant, and in the spring of 1890 came to Wilton Junction, where he worked at his trade under K. Blanchard. In 1894 he began traveling for the Gilt Edge Furnace Foundry, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, representing this firm in the states of Iowa, Illinois. Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Later he determined to enter business for himself, and on March 18, 1895, purchased the hardware store of Clarence Walker at Wilton Junction. He has since continued in this business, to which he has added a line of furniture, and is now at the head of one of the well established and prosperous concerns of the county. He is the owner of the store building formerly belonging to Scott & Johnson, and also of a comfortable residence in Wilton Junction.
On the 12th of June, 1898, Mr. Nelson was married by Rev. Barnett at Wilton Junction, to Miss Lena Rose Bauch. and to them three children have been born : Bernice, now eleven years of age ; Thomas Perry, eight years ; and Jennie Eleanor, four years of age.
Mr. Nelson has from the time of reaching manhood given his support to the republican party and now classes himself among the " progressives." He has served two terms in the city council and for twenty years has been an active member of the Wilton volunteer fire department, having filled the office of chief of the department during ten years of that period. He served one year as secretary of the Commercial Club and was a charter member and organizer of the Iowa Hardware Dealers Association. Since his boyhood he has been a Sunday school worker, formerly in the Episcopal church, but of late years in the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a close observer and student and has thus made up for deficiencies of early school training. He is a constant reader and follows closely the trend of events in the world but is especially interested in the progress of education and civilization. He is also a student of human nature and a strong believer in telepathy, having observed its operations many times. He represents the wide-awake, energetic, constructive spirit of the twentieth century and as a growing force in the community commands the respect of all who know him.
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