Nels E. Nelson Biography This biography appears on pages 267-268 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm NELS E. NELSON. Brown county has been signally favored in the class of men who have occupied her public offices, for on the whole they have been loyal American citizens actuated by public spirited devotion to the general good. To this class belongs Nels E. Nelson, who is now serving for the third term as circuit clerk and prior to his first election he was for some time connected with the office in a clerical capacity. He is a native son of Brown county, born on the 27th of October, 1884, his parents being E. S. and Bertha (Johnson) Nelson, the former a native of Iowa and the latter of Norway. They located in Brown county in 1880, finding there a district largely unsettled and undeveloped. Much of the land was still in possession of the government and E. S. Nelson entered a claim on section 28, range 122, township 62, or what is now Jim township, Brown county. He proved up on it, securing three quarter sections and in the interim he has developed an excellent farm upon which he still resides. His wife died on the 23d of November, 1913. They drove across the country from Watertown to Aberdeen and were closely connected with the agricultural development of this section of the state. They became the parents of seven sons and one daughter, all of whom are yet living and with the exception of Nels E., of this review, the sons are all engaged in farming. At the usual age Nels E. Nelson entered the public schools, where he mastered the branches of learning that usually constitute the common-school curriculum. He afterward attended the Aberdeen Business College and there received the training that qualified him for life's practical and responsible duties. When his school days were over be secured a position as assistant circuit clerk in Aberdeen and later was made deputy circuit clerk, so that throughout the entire period of manhood he has been connected with the office in which he is still to be found. He was first elected to his present position in 1910 and was reelected in 1912 and 1914, a fact that indicates how faithful and prompt he has been in the discharge of his duties and how capably he has performed the work of the office. On the 22d of September, 1908, Mr. Nelson was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Johnson, a native of Edmunds county, South Dakota. They are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church and are interested in the moral development of the community. Mr. Nelson has always voted with the republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and he has been a close and discriminating student of the vital political problems, keeping in touch with the best thinking men of the age. He is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, while his wife is a member of the Royal Neighbors.