Anders Nilsson 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 636-637

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

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ANDERS NILSSON is an enterprising farmer residing on section 4, America 
township, Brule county. He was born in Sweden, in 1846, and possesses 
the sterling characteristics of his nation that have ever rendered its 
representatives valued citizens of the republic. He was the eldest in a 
family of three children and was reared upon his father's farm, thus 
gaining a practical knowledge of agriculture. He attended school until 
fifteen years of age, and then devoted his entire time to the work of 
field and meadow. 

When twenty-four years of age Mr. Nilsson bade adieu to the land of his 
birth and crossed the Atlantic to America, hoping to better his 
financial condition in the land of the free. He first made his way to 
Chicago and then went to Michigan, where he remained five weeks, 
working on a railroad. He afterward removed to Minnesota, where he 
sought and obtained employment as a farm hand by the month. After his 
marriage, which occurred about 1875, he purchased a farm in Wabasha 
county, of which fifty acres were under cultivation. A few apple and 
plum trees, gooseberry bushes and grape vines had been planted, and the 
farm, though small, was in good condition. There he resided until 1882, 
when he sold his Minnesota property and came to Brule county, South 
Dakota, securing a homestead in America township. Since then he has 
added the northwest quarter of section 9 in the same township and now 
owns the: south half of section 4. On his arrival he erected a shanty, 
ten by twelve feet, and at once began farming. He had two head of 
cattle, two horses, a wagon and feed to run him for some time, and he 
also put up sod barns. The first season his crops were destroyed by 
hail, but with resolute purpose he continued his labors and now has one 
of the valuable farming properties in the county. In the fall of 1883 
he built a house, fourteen by sixteen feet and ten feet in height. In 1 
894 he erected his present residence, sixteen by twenty-four feet and 
two stories in height. He also has a large barn, sixteen by sixty-eight 
feet, good corn cribs, a granary, cattle sheds and the latest improved 
machinery. He has two hundred and ten acres of land under cultivation, 
and the remainder is devoted to the raising of hay and to pasturage. He 
raises between twenty-five and thirty head of cattle and seventy-five 
head of hogs annually, and through his stock dealing adds not a little 
to his income. Two quarter-sections of his land are under fence, and 
his labors have been most effective in developing a good farm. 

Mr. Nilsson was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Anderson, a native of 
Sweden, who came to America in 1874, and they now have four children, 
two sons and two daughters, one of whom is married. In politics Mr. 
Nilsson is a Republican, and has held a number of township offices, the 
duties of which he has ever discharged with promptness and fidelity. 
Industry is one of his chief characteristics, and although he came to 
America empty-handed, he has acquired through his diligence and 
enterprise a comfortable competence, which numbers him among the 
substantial farmers of his county.