Bengt P. Nicholson Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 600-601

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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BENGT P. NICHOLSON. A prominent position as a citizen and member of the 
farming community of Blendon township, Davison county, is held by the 
gentleman above named. He is a native of Halmstad, Sweden, where he was 
born February 19, 1846. His father, Nicholas Larson, is also a native 
of that country and is still living and making his home there. He was 
born in 1820, but is still plying his trade, that of a blacksmith, is 
hale and well preserved for his age. He was married in 1841 to Miss 
Maria Johanson, who was born May 28, 1816, and died April 12, 1888. 
Their wedded life was blessed to them by the presence of a family of 
seven children, of whom we have the following record: Lars, deceased; 
Anna, wife of C. B. Johnson; Bengt P., the subject of our sketch; 
Simon, whose home is in Great Falls, Montana, is employed in a smelting 
works; Johanna, wife of Gus Lundgren, is living in Sanborn county, 
South Dakota; Beata, wife of Andrew Lund, a resident of Mt. Vernon 
township, Davison county, South Dakota; and Anders, deceased. 

Bengt P. Nicholson, our subject, worked at blacksmithing for a while 
during the ear]y part of his life, and subsequently secured employment 
as a farm laborer. In 1869, although he already owed one hundred 
dollars for clothes and other necessaries of life, he borrowed forty 
dollars and came to America, thus without means and heavily in debt and 
without a friend on this side of the Atlantic, he started out to gain a 
livelihood. He first went to Batavia, New York, found no employment 
there, but finally secured a position on a lumber transport and worked 
his way to Cedar Rapids, Michigan. Here he was employed for about a 
year in a sawmill and in the lumber camps when he secured work with a 
railroad construction gang for a few months. At this time he was called 
to the bedside of his dying brother, who had just arrived from the old 
country and was in a hospital in Chicago. In 1870, he secured a 
position with the W. T. B. Reed Ice Company, and was in their employ 
for thirteen years, being in the city at the time of the great fire. In 
1883, Mr. Nicholson came to Dakota, and with the savings of his wages 
he purchased the relinquishment of a homestead and a tree claim, and to 
these he has since added by purchase until he now owns a fine farm of 
four hundred acres of land. Mr. Nicholson is deserving of much credit 
for what he has accomplished, coming, as he did, to this country in 
debt and entirely without means and by his own diligence, thrift and 
economy he has gained a competence to tide himself and his companion 
over their declining years, and he has attained a rank among the solid 
and influential men of the community. Their home compares favorably 
with the finest residences in Blendon township, and the improvements on 
the farm are above the average. The outbuildings are commodious and 
substantial and convenient in their arrangement and the place is 
watered by an artesian well. Politically he is a Republican and an 
ardent advocate of the policy of prohibition. He has served the 
citizens of the community in several of the local offices, among them 
being that of township clerk, which he held for ten years, and also 
some of the school offices. In religious matters he is identified with 
the Scandinavian Lutheran church. 

Mrs. Nicholson, whose maiden name was Miss Christina Matilda Carlson, 
is also a native of Sweden, born October 6, 1842, and she became the 
wife of the subject of our sketch in 1871. To this congenial union have 
been born seven children, upon whom they have bestowed the following 
names: Anna, Charles, Oscar, Ida, George, deceased, Emil, deceased, and 
George (2nd).