Benedict E. Nelson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 177-178 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				BENEDICT E. NELSON. 

	Benedict E Nelson, who has resided on his; farm in Buffalo 
township, Minnehaha county, for the past thirty-seven years, was the 
first settler in his section and now owns six hundred and forty acres 
of valuable land which he cultivates with the assistance of his sons. 
His birth occurred in Norway on the 20th of March, 1852, his parents 
being Nels Z. and Olena Begorset, both of whom are deceased. The father 
followed farming throughout his active business career. 

	Benedict E. Nelson acquired his early education in the common 
schools of his native land and continued his studies in the United 
States, emigrating to this country in 1871, when a young man of 
nineteen years. He first took up his abode in Dane county, Wisconsin, 
and there worked as a farm hand for seven years. On the expiration of 
that period, in 1878, he came to South Dakota, locating on his present 
place in Buffalo township, Minnehaha county, on the 21st of May of that 
year. He preempted and filed on a tree claim and subsequently added two 
quarter sections to his holdings, so that he now owns six hundred and 
forty acres of rich and productive land. Mr. Nelson operates the 
property with the assistance of his sons, and also devotes considerable 
attention to live stock, keeping eighty head of cattle, one hundred 
head of hogs and eighty head of sheep. He utilizes the latest improved 
machinery in the work of the fields and employs modern methods in the 
cultivation of his land. His was the first house erected in Buffalo 
township, and part of the structure is still standing. As the years 
have gone by he has won a gratifying measure of prosperity in the able 
management of his agricultural interests, and he has long been numbered 
among the successful, representative and esteemed citizens of his 
community. 

	On May 18, 1879, Mr. Nelson was united in marriage to Miss 
Christina Johnson, her parents being Hendrick and Carrie Johnson, who 
took up their abode in Wisconsin in 1848 and who have passed away. Our 
subject and his wife have the following children: Nora, who gave her 
hand in marriage to Moses Erdahl; and Oscar Lewis, Clarence and 
Benjamin, all of whom are at home. 

	In politics Mr. Nelson is a stanch republican He has served at 
intervals as chairman of the township board, has been treasurer of the 
school board for a period of twenty years, and has also acted in the 
capacity of road overseer, ever discharging his official duties in a 
prompt and able manner. He is a trustee of St. Jacob's Lutheran church, 
to which his wife also belongs. Mr. Nelson is one of the oldest 
pioneers of his locality and has seen it developed from a frontier 
region into a district inhabited by an industrious, prosperous, 
enlightened and progressive people.