HANS J. NIELSEN.
Conspicuous among the representative farmers and public-spirited citizens of Audubon county, Iowa, is the well-known Hans J. Nielsen, of Hamlin township. He has made his influence felt for good in his community in Hamlin township and is a man of sterling worth, whose life has been closely interwoven with the history of this township. His efforts have always been to promote the material advancement of Audubon county, as well as the social and moral welfare of his fellow-men. Mr. Nielsen has won the respect and admiration of his fellow citizens, which entitle him to representation in a biographical work of this nature. Like so many of his neighbors in Audubon county, Mr. Nielsen is a native of the splendid little kingdom of Denmark.
Hans J. Nielsen was born on July 6, 1862, in Jylland, Denmark. He is the son of Niels and Anna Nielsen, who were born near the same place in Denmark.
Hans J. Nielsen received a good education wdiile a lad and served in the army of Denmark for about seven or eight months. At that time it was compulsory and all able-bodied young men were compelled to take a military training. Mr. Nielsen followed farming in the old country, working out by the year.
In March, 1887, Mr. Nielsen came to the United States, landing at New York city and, after spending a brief time there, came directly to Audubon county, lowa. He worked out by the month for four years and during that period received fifty cents a day for his labor. He then purchased one hundred and seventy acres of land in Hamlin township, but later sold this farm and purchased eighty acres where he now lives in section 30. Mr. Nielsen has added to his original eighty acres and now owns two hundred and nineteen acres of the best land that can be found anywhere in Audubon county. The land was rather well improved at the time Mr. Nielsen purchased it and Mr. Nielsen has kept apace with the times, having built a large modern home with gas lights, furnace, waterworks, etc. His barn and sheds are all of thoroughly modern construction and bespeak the enterprise and progressive spirit of their owner.
On March 15, 1894, Hans J. Nielsen was married in Audubon county to Mary Jensen, who was born in Aro, an island off the coast of Denmark, and came to the United States three years after her husband arrived. Her parents, Klaus and Bertha Jensen, never came to this country.
To Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen have been born ten children, as follow: Alfred, Clara, Esther, Elmer, Albert, Rosie, Harvey, Violet, Thelma and Leonard. These children, who live at home, are all industrious and have been a great aid to their father and mother.
Mr. Nielsen does general farming and stock raising. He milks about sixteen head of cows the year round. Mr. Nielsen is a lover of his home and family and spends most of his time with them. The glamour and glare of official life have never appealed to him, as he is a man of modest temperament and thoroughly domestic habits. He is unassuming in manners and cordial in his relations with his neighbors and friends.
Mr. Nielsen is a Republican and while he votes this ticket, he is not active in politics because he prefers his home, his family and his farm. The family are all members of the Seventh-Day Adventist church.
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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. 500-501.
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