L. PETER NELSON.
Among the thousands of foreign-born citizens of this country, who have found in many instances both fame and fortune and who, in practically every instance, have found here what they would have been unable to acquire in their native lands--a comfortable home and opportunities for their children--it is not unusual to find that elder sons have come first and that they have been followed with in a few years by their parents. Such an instance is to be found in the case of the Nelson family. L. Peter Nelson, now a retired farmer of Oakfield township, who, until a year or two ago, was one of the largest farmers in Audubon county, was the first member ot his family to come to America. Finding this country all that he had hoped and expected it to be, he was followed in eight years by his parents, who also made this their home during their declining years.
L. Peter Nelson, of Oakfield township, was born on August 14, 1844, in Denmark and is the son of Hans and Christina (Larsen) Nelson, both natives of Denmark. The former, a wagonmaker by trade, followed that occupation until he came to America in 1872, when he became a farmer, first in Cass county, Iowa. After having purchased forty acres of land in Cass county, he subsequently added forty acres more and engaged in general farming in Cass and Audubon counties for five years. Before coming to America, he had served his time in the Danish army. Hans and Christena Nelson had six children: Catherine, Mary, Juliane, L. Peter, Nels C. and Charles F. Although L. Peter Nelson came to America in 1864, it was six years before he permanently established himself in the Hawkeye state. Before coming to this country, he had received a good education in the common schools of his native land and had been a wagonmaker, working with his father. After coming to this country, he located temporarily in Michigan, where he worked in the pineries in the winter and at carpentry in the summer. After being in Michigan two years, he went on to Minnesota and lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin for three years, or until 1870, when he moved to Cass county and purchased forty acres of land. There he farmed for six years and in 1878 he moved to Audubon county and purchased eighty acres of land, the farm upon which he is now living. Year by year his profits grew and his savings increased, and as his savings accumulated, he bought more and more land until, when he divided his land among his children, on November 26, 1914, he owned altogether eight hundred acres in Audubon and Cass counties.
Thanksgiving day of 1914 was a joyous occasion for the Nelson family, for, on that day, the loving and generous father of the Nelson children divided his eight hundred acres of land among the children, giving each child eighty acres. Mr. Nelson was married on November 12, 1866, two years after coming to America, to Mary Petersen, the daughter of Peter Petersen. To them have been born ten children: Gilbert P., who married Anna Nelson; John C., who married Rosa Nelson; Julius A., who married Elizabeth Brown; Edward M., who married Mae Jonson; Ludvig R., who married Elsie Madison; Alfred A., who married Bessie Brown; Alma C., who married Harry Traum; Christina, who became the wife of Evans Marquesen; Rosa and Martha, who are unmarried. The mother of these children died on January 14, 1908.
During his lifetime, Mr. Nelson has been a member of the Danish Lutheran church and has been identified with the Republican party, although he has never been especially active in its councils. Few men show a more commendable spirit of generosity than L. Peter Nelson, who, by his gift to his children, has thoroughly proved his keen and abiding interest in their welfare. Mr. Nelson divided his property with the spirit of the father who wants to see his children enjoy while he still lives, the things which, to some extent, they assisted him in accumulating. Very few fathers in Oakfield township arc more dearly loved today than the venerable L. Peter Nelson.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 721-722.
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