Bio of NELSON, Benjamin F. (b.1843), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 282-286
BENJAMIN F. NELSON
When one starts to think of the builders of Minneapolis and the makers of the
industrial history of Minnesota, the mind naturally turns to Benjamin F. Nelson,
a leading manufacturer of this city. He came to Minneapolis almost sixty years
ago, a poor boy, asking only for a chance to make his way in the world. Today he
is generally recognized as one of the foremost men in the paper industry in the
United States, and is the leading spirit in a number of manufacturing and
financial concerns in this state. There is no phase of manufacturing in which
Mr. Nelson has not had experience, and for a half century he has been
demonstrating daily the value of his sound training in the rudiments of the
industry gained on the Ohio river and in the pine forests.
This captain of industry spent his boyhood in an environment far different from
that of the northern country which was destined to become the scene of his
notable career. He was born in Greenup county, Kentucky, on the fourth day of
May, 1843, the son of William and Emaline (Benson) Nelson, who were natives of
Maryland and emigrated across the mountains in their younger days. Benjamin F.
Nelson was not even able to gain all of the scanty education afforded by the
public schools of Greenup and Lewis counties, where he was reared, for the
family was in very moderate circumstances, and when his father's health failed
he was forced to help his brothers support the family, although he was but a lad
at the time. When he was seventeen years old he began the work of cutting logs
and floating them down the Ohio river. This was a strenuous and hazardous
occupation for a young boy, but it appealed to him and furnished him with
experience that later proved valuable. A year later the long smouldering
controversy between the north and the south broke into flame and every man of
military age was forced to take a stand on the issue of the great Civil war. A
southerner by birth and edu­cation and a resident of a slaveholding state, it
was but natural that the young man should follow the leadership of older and
wiser men than he, and take up arms in defense of the Confederacy. In 1862 at
the age of nineteen, he enlisted in the Second Kentucky Cavalry and experienced
a long period of service under Gen­erals Morgan, Forrest and Wheeler, and after
having participated in many exciting campaigns he was taken prisoner in
November, 1864, and was detained at Camp Douglas until March, 1865, when he was
sent to Richmond, Virginia, for exchange just before Lee surrendered at
Appomattox. He returned to his home, where he found the country exhausted by the
ravages of the war. There was little chance for a young man with neither, money
nor property to make headway against the terrific odds. Accordingly, in
September, 1865, Benjamin F. Nelson came to Minne­sota to start life anew,
locating in the city of St. Anthony, now Minneapolis. Here he naturally turned
to the occupation with which he was already familiar-lumber­ing. He went into
the woods at Watertown and cut cordwood until the winter's snows melted, when he
returned to Minneapolis and worked in the sawmills as a common laborer. Soon
after he secured a contract for manufacturing shingles, which proved to be much
more remunerative than working by the day. In 1868. when the great water power
of St. Anthony Falls was in danger of being destroyed, the United States
government took charge of preserving the Falls and required timber which could
not be secured in any other way than by being manufactured in Minneapolis, as at
that time there were no railroads to bring lumber to Min­neapolis. Mr. Nelson
secured a contract from the government to supply what timber was required, and
by cutting the logs out of the ice when the mercury was forty-three degrees
below zero, he had no trouble in keeping himself warm from six o'clock A. M. to
eight o'clock P. M., with the prospect in view of his profit on the contract,
which amounted to fifty-six dollars per day during the time required to deliver
the amount of lumber contracted for.
In 1873 he purchased an interest in a planing mill and later commenced
manu­facturing lumber. The business increased very rapidly until one year the
firm manufactured nearly one hundred million feet, but as the source of supply
of logs became exhausted, Mr. Nelson turned his attention to the manufacture of
paper. At that time there were three paper mills in Minnesota, all three in
financial difficulty. He purchased one of the paper mills, located at No. 401
Main street Northeast, Minneapolis (now employing about five hundred men and
women). After making suitable changes the paper mill proved to be very
profitable. Soon after­ward he and Mr. T. B. Walker purchased a print paper mill
in Minneapolis, but on account of its location it could not be operated
profitably, so it was moved to Little Falls, and it is now the Hennepin Paper
Company, doing a very profitable business. The other paper mill, at Fergus
Falls, on account of its location did not prove successful.
In 1910 Mr. Nelson, Brooks Brothers and M. J. Scanlon secured a concession from
the Canadian government in British Columbia, and developed a water power and
built a large paper mill requiring an investment of more than twelve million
dollars and employing two thousand men, which has been a very profitable
investment for its stockholders.
For fifty years Mr. Nelson has been continuously engaged in the manufacture of
lumber and paper, during which time he has gradually increased his holdings and
developed his interests to include various branches of the industry. He is now
president of the Hennepin Paper Company and chairman of the board of directors
of The B. F. Nelson Manufacturing Company. Mr. Nelson has also taken an interest
in and given financial assistance to the development of other concerns in this
city and state. He is a director of the Northwestern National Bank, and the
Northwestern National Life Insurance Company. As the owner of extensive tracts
of land in the northern part of Minnesota, he has the control of some very
valuable mineral lands, one being the Bray Iron Mine now being operated, and
another mine from which he is receiving royalties but no ore is being shipped at
this time.
Four years after coming to St. Anthony and Minneapolis, Mr. Nelson was united in
marriage to Miss Martha Ross, who died in 1874, leaving two sons, William Edwin
and Guy H., who are associated with their father in business. Mr. Nelson was
married a second time in 1875, when Miss Mary Fredenberg of Northfield,
Minnesota, became his wife. By her marriage she became the mother of one
daughter, Elizabeth (now Mrs. Carl E. Sager), also associated with her father in
business. •
Unlike many men of enormous private business interests, Mr. Nelson has always
found time to devote to the service of his community. He has not only seen St.
Anthony and Minneapolis grow from mere villages into one large, prosperous
industrial city, but he can look back with justifiable pride upon his share in
this development. As a member of the city council from 1879 to 1885 he had an
in­fluential part in determining the policy of that body, and it is due to his
vision and that of his associates that such ample provision was made for the
city's future growth. Perhaps the most important and lasting service in
connection with the work of this body was the policy he adopted towards the
railroads as chairman of the ways and means committee and the committee on
railroads. At the time he was occupying this office James J. Hill was building
his vast railway system to tap the untouched resources of the great Northwest.
Mr. Nelson was quick to see that the future of his city lay in her strategic
position at the gateway between this western region and the east, that in years
to come the railroads and not the river would be her greatest asset in
transportation. Hence, he cooperated with Mr. Hill in securing certain
concessions for the railroads that assured Minneapolis sufficient means of
communication for the coming decades, convincing the city council and the
citizens that they could afford to be generous with the railroads for the sake
of the future. Mr. Nelson has lived to see his judgment vindicated time and
again, and in the meanwhile has enjoyed a friendship with the great railway
magnate that remained one of his pleasantest associations until the death of Mr.
Hill a few years ago. As a member of the first board of park commissioners (the
only member of that board now living) Mr. Nelson helped plan the park system
that is today one of the finest in the country and one of the most attractive
features of the city. From 1884 to 1891 he served on the board of education.
Here again he found ample opportunity to exercise his organizing and
administrative ability. Minneapolis was experiencing a period of rapid growth
and the school population naturally far exceeded the provision that the demands
made