Nelson Wilcox Biography


	This biography appears on pages 862-863 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (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


				NELSON WILCOX. 

	Nelson Wilcox is identified with farming and manufacturing 
interests at Sisseton, and his life record constitutes a feature in the 
business development of his district. He was born in Jackson county, 
Iowa, on the 9th of March, 1857, and is a son of Abner T. and Lydia 
Almira (Chandler) Wilcox. The paternal grandfather, Ebenezer Wilcox, 
was a native of New York but removed to Canada and thence to Iowa, 
where he died at the age of sixty six years. The father was born in New 
York city in 1820 and the mother in Elmira, Canada, in 1822. He was a 
youth of seventeen years when he went to Iowa after having lived for a 
period in Canada, from which place he journeyed to Iowa on foot, his 
father having previously taken a homestead in that state. Abner T. 
Wilcox also secured a homestead claim and developed and improved the 
farm, which he converted into a valuable property. It was in Iowa that 
he wedded Lydia A. Chandler, and they became the parents of thirteen 
children, of whom six are yet living: Joseph, who has devoted his life 
to school teaching and is now in Baldwin, Iowa; Noble, an extensive 
farmer and stock-raiser living in Maquoketa, Iowa, from which place he 
sent a train load of fine cattle to Chicago at the time of the World's 
Columbian Exposition; Nelson, of this review; Delos B., who resides 
upon a farm near Baldwin, Iowa; Edwin, who owns and operates a large 
farm near Wyoming, Iowa; and William, who is also following farming 
near Wyoming. The father of these children passed away in 1904 and the 
mother's death occurred in 1906. They were active and acceptable 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Wilcox was also a 
stalwart supporter of the republican party. 

	Nelson Wilcox was educated in the schools of Iowa, pursuing his 
studies at Baldwin, Millrock and Maquoketa. He afterward took up the 
profession of teaching, which he-suceessfully followed for ten years. 
Later he turned his attention to farming and afterward engaged in 
freighting in Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana, devoting three years to 
that business. He then became connected with the water works at 
Chadron, Nebraska, and was also successful in that undertaking. In 1891 
he removed to Watertown, South Dakota, and the following year 
established his home in Roberts county, securing a homestead claim. He 
paid a man fifty dollars to get in line at the opening of the 
reservation and secure for him his land. He obtained one hundred and 
sixty acres near the limits and he now has one of the best improved 
farms of the county, on which he erected a beautiful residence in 1910, 
just on the outskirts of Sisseton. Upon this place he has a very large 
spring and supplies Sisseton with all of its water. In March, 1915, he 
also established a large bottling works and in addition to his other 
interests he manufactures lemon soda and ginger ale and other soft 
drinks. His attention is now devoted to his farming and manufacturing 
interests and both lines are bringing to him a gratifying measure of 
prosperity because of his careful management, his keen business 
sagacity and his unfaltering enterprise. In all business affairs he 
readily discriminates between the essential and the nonessential and 
while discarding the latter utilizes the former to the best possible 
advantage. 

	In 1879 Mr. Wilcox was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Miller, 
who was born in Airdrie, Scotland, and was brought to the United States 
by her parents when a little maiden of seven summers, her father 
becoming editor of a paper at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. where his last 
days were spent. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox are three 
children: Noble E. who is in business in Wadena, Saskatchewan, Canada; 
Bert A., who conducts a barber shop at Grand Forks, North Dakota; and 
Bessie C. I., who attended the high school at Crookston, Minnesota, and 
All Saints school in Sioux Falls. 

	Mrs. Wilcox, her daughter and one son are members of the 
Episcopal church, while Mr. Wilcox and one son hold membership in the 
Methodist church. Fraternally he is connected with the Brotherhood of 
American Yeomen, the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men, 
the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. 
His political endorsement is given the republican party and his fellow 
townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability, have called him to 
several local offices, so that he has served as assessor, as a member 
of the board of trustees of his county and a justice of the peace, in 
all of which positions he has discharged his duties with promptness and 
fidelity, his record reflecting credit upon himself and bringing 
satisfaction to his constituents.