John Nelson

NELSON, BRENNAN, JENSEN, THOMPSEN, PETERSON, FOSTER

Posted By: Cathy Joynt Labath (email)
Date: 7/9/2006 at 17:36:15

John Nelson Family

John Nelson was born June 24, 1847 in Denmark. He immigrated to America in 1866 at the age of nineteen and located in Racine, Wisconsin. He stayed there for three years and in 1869, in company with Lars Christensen and Lars P. Duhn, he came to Palo Alto County, Iowa and located on a homestead in the Fallow neighborhood. On January 4, 1881, he was married to Elizabeth Mary Brennan, who was born in Canada on March 6, 1861. They were married by a Catholic priest in the John Nelson home. There were only a few guests and they danced all night. Elizabeth died on April 9, 1882 of consumption.

On October 25, 1883 John was married to Johanna Mary Jensen at the Jensen home. Mary (as she was called) was fourteen years of age when they married. It is remembered that she had a beautiful singing voice. John and Mary had eight children: Andrew, Alfred, Johanna, Nels, John, Christine, William and Martha. Mary passed away on February 9, 1911.

On June 4, 1913, John was married to Kirsten Larson Thompsen. She was born August 23, 1869, in Denmark. Kirsten had previously been married to Jens Thompsen and he had passed away January 2, 1910. She and Mr. Thompsen were the parents of eleven children, one died in infancy. The marriage of John and Kirsten took place at her farm, where they lived until 1919. They then moved to Graettinger and lived on West Main street, now known as Robbins Avenue. Kirsten and Mary (John's previous wife) were cousins as their mothers were sisters.

John was stricken with a stroke and died two hours later on July 10, 1924, at the age of seventy-seven. He and Kirsten had been married eleven years. At the time of his death, he had two sisters: Mrs. Soren Peterson of Nebraska and Mrs. William Foster of Oregon. John was a resident of the community for fifty-five years and engaged in farming most of the time. Kirsten passed away November 27, 1961.

--From Graettinger Centennial 1893-1993 p. 255