Nels J. Brakke Biography

	This biography appears on pages 990-991 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	NELS J. BRAKKE, who is now living retired in the village of Volin, 
Yankton county, where he holds precedence as president of the board of 
village trustees, was born in Norway on the 4th of July, 1844, and was 
there reared and educated.At the age of twenty-one years he emigrated to 
America and settled in Vernon county, Wisconsin, where he found 
employment during the ensuing summer, and in the autumn of the same year 
(1866) he came to Yankton county, Dakota, becoming one of the pioneers 
of the territory. He pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land four 
miles west of the present village of Volin, and some time later took a 
homestead claim five miles northwest of the town. He set himself 
earnestly to the task of improving his land and bringing it under 
effective cultivation, and he continued to reside on his homestead claim 
until 1901, when he removed to the village of Volin, where he has since 
lived retired from active business,though he maintains a general 
supervision of his fine farming property, which represents the results 
of his many years of earnest toil and endeavor. He came to America as a 
poor young man, having had but one silver dollar as the sum total of his 
financial resources at the time of his arrival in South Dakota, and it 
can not be other than gratifying to note the position which he today 
occupies as one of the highly esteemed and well-to-do citizens of our 
fine commonwealth. He was married in 1868, but has no children. In 
politics he gives an unwavering support to the Republican party and has 
been an active worker in its local ranks. He served three years as a 
member of the board of county commissioners. He is a member of the 
Lutheran church, is a man of inflexible integrity and is honored for his 
sterling character and for the ability he has shown in winning his way 
to a position of independence. In 1901 he was elected president of the 
board of trustees of the village of Volin and is incumbent of the office 
at the time of this writing, having proved a most discriminating and 
faithful executive.