property and now has two hundred and ninety-four. In addition to his landed interests Mr. Nelson is a stockholder in the canning factory at Cambridge and the Charles Publishing Company, of Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Nelson wedded Miss Carrie Tesdall and they have become the parents of seventeen children, eight sons and nine daughters, fourteen of whom are living. They are as follows: Gertie; Leslie Morris; Mattie; Sivrie; Orville; Clarence; Chester, deceased; one who died in infancy; Jessie and Bessie, twins; Benjamin; Florence; Alvin; Verna; Laura; Lillian ; and Beulah.
Mr. Nelson is a member of the socialist party and has always taken an active interest in politics. In 1899, while a resident of South Dakota, he represented the sixteenth district in the state legislature and was re-nominated by the populist party for another term but was defeated. He was also elected to the office of county assessor in Buffalo county, South Dakota, and served as clerk of his township for ten years and two as treasurer. During his residence in Iowa he has been the candidate of the socialist party for the office of railway commissioner of the state, but was' defeated because of the minority of his party. Wherever he has lived Mr. Nelson has shown himself to be a public-spirited, progressive and enterprising citizen.
JOHN Nielsen.
Denmark has contributed thousands of her progressive sons and daughters to America and in this country many of them have found home, friends and fortune, now being numbered among the most honored members of their respective communities. In this class is John Nielsen, a well known miller and grain dealer of Slater. He was born in Denmark, June 26, 1857, a son of Niels and Margaret Madsen, both of whom spent their entire lives in Denmark.
John Nielsen was reared under the parental roof and acquired his early education in the common schools of his native land. At the age of fourteen years, according to the custom of the country, he was apprenticed to a trade and learned the milling business, becoming very adept in an industry which can be usefully applied in almost any country of the world. In 1880, being then twenty-three years of age and ambitious to advance as rapidly as possible in life, he emigrated to America, coming to Sheldahl, Iowa, where he readily found employment at his trade. About 1884 he and a partner rented the mill, which they operated for a short time. He then went to Grinnell and made an effort to rent the mill at that place but was not able to accomplish his purpose and after spending a few months at Sheldahl, became associated with his brother in a clothing store at Fargo, North Dakota. Two years' experience in the clothing busi-