Tag Archives: South Dakota

The Nelson Family

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The nine children of Fred and Christine (Schmidt) Nelson of Tabor, Yankton County, South Dakota pose together here circa 1915. These six sisters and three brothers span nineteen years in age; from eldest to youngest, they are Anna, Julia, Ole, Andrea, Louise, Helena, Mary, Fred, and Myron Nelson. [Update: Since writing this piece, I have located another copy of this photograph with a date of December 1917 handwritten on the back.]

FredNelsonChildren1915

Family of Fred and Christina (Schmidt) Nelson, ca. 1915, Yankton County, South Dakota; digital image 2010, privately held by [personal information withheld], 2013.

A strong family resemblance can be seen in the nine Nelson siblings. Anna and Julia stand at center; they are wearing plain buttoned blouses and skirts, as is Andrea, seated left. Louise and Helena, standing at left and right, wear almost identical dresses with wide collars, pleated bodices, and belted waists. Their dresses were almost certainly sewn by hand from the same pattern.

Mary, the youngest sister, seated at right, is dressed in the most striking manner in a plaid dress with a ring of beautiful braids coiled atop her head. As the story goes, while they were growing up, the Nelson sisters would line up each morning to braid the hair of the sister standing before them.1 Someone clearly spent extra time on Mary’s hair on the morning that this photograph was taken!

The brothers, regardless of age, wear sturdy wool jackets. Ole’s jacket is open over a dark shirt or sweater that seems to be in the style of a turtleneck, while young (and very blond) Fred and Myron wear their jackets buttoned over shirts and ties. They lean towards Ole, their arms propped beside his on the arms of his chair.

In 1915, not all of the Nelson children remained at home, although all continued to live in the area. Anna, the eldest, was married, and had started a family.2 Julia was a schoolteacher,3 the profession pursued by her younger sisters, Andrea and Louise, who were students at the nearby Springfield Normal School.4 They would soon be followed by Helena and Mary, who at this point likely still attended the local school with Fred and Myron. Ole, the eldest brother, was a carpenter, and worked on the family farm.5

Was there an occasion for this photograph? In March of 1915, Fred and Christina (Schmidt) Nelson would have celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.6 Perhaps a photograph of their progeny was in order, either by their request or as a gift from their children. Regardless, this is the last known photograph of all of the Nelson children together, and it’s a lovely one.


SOURCES
1 Phyllis (Wiese) Adam, conversations with the author, 2012; notes in author’s files.
2 1920 U.S. census, Yankton County, South Dakota, population schedule, Mission Hill, Enumeration District (ED) 251, p. 6151 (penned), sheet 1-B, dwelling 10, family 10, Anna Jorgensen; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 November 2013), citing National Archives microfilm T625, roll 1726.
3 “South Dakota, State Census, 1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 04 Nov 2013), Julia Nelson, Tabor, Yankton, South Dakota, United States.
4 The Echo, Vol. 1 (Springfield, South Dakota: Springfield Normal School, 1916); private collection of Brian Adam [personal information withheld].
5“South Dakota, State Census, 1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 04 Nov 2013), Ole Nelson, Tabor, Yankton, South Dakota, United States.
6“In Memoriam: Christine M. Nelson,” undated clipping, ca. January 1961, from unidentified newspaper.

The Little Postmaster on the Prairie

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After reading today that the cost of stamps could rise yet again, I was reminded that my third great grandfather, Niels Olsen of Lakeport, Yankton County, South Dakota, once served as a postmaster.

Niels Olsen photograph, 1893, Yankton, South Dakota; digital image 2010, privately held by Melanie Frick, 2013.

Niels Olsen (1827-1908) photograph, 1893, Yankton, South Dakota; digital image 2010, privately held by Melanie Frick, 2013.

Niels Olsen emigrated from his native Denmark in 1874,1 settling on a farm in what is now southeastern South Dakota. His wife and six children accompanied him on the ocean crossing; his two eldest sons had already left Denmark, paving the way, and another daughter was born the following year.2

In the fall of 1890, Niels would have been sixty-three. With two grown sons and a daughter still at home to assist him and his wife, Juliane, with the farm, Niels may have found himself with some extra time on his hands. Lakeport, an unincorporated village, was the nearest place to buy supplies and receive mail; it even boasted a hotel for weary stagecoach travelers. While the post office did not seem to have a permanent location, as it reportedly bounced between the hotel, the general store, and a grocery store, regular mail deliveries were undoubtedly a major attraction for the Czech and German settlers of the area.3 On 24 October 1890, Niels Olsen signed on as postmaster of Lakeport, a position he held for four years.4

nielsolsenlakeportpostmaster02

“U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2013), entry for Neils Olsen, Lakeport, Yankton, South Dakota; citing National Archives microfilm publication M841, Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971.”

Although Lakeport has all but vanished, due to competition from other trade centers and the rerouting of a major highway,5 in the final decade of the nineteenth century, Niels Olsen would have played an integral role in this village as its postmaster. He may have been attracted to the position as an opportunity to earn extra money, or he may have fallen into it if no one else in the community was interested or eligible. At the very least, it tells us that Niels was literate, an American citizen, and that he may have had a sociable personality. I like to think that Niels would have known all of the latest gossip – after all, who else would have had the opportunity to interact with so many members of the community on a regular basis?

How can you find out if one of your ancestors was a postmaster? Ancestry.com makes this easy with the collection, “U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971.” If you want to locate this collection, you will find it categorized under “Schools, Directories, and Church Histories.” Then, you can search for an ancestor by their name and/or location. Niels Olsen held his position as postmaster until 18 October 1894; it was just a few years later, in 1901, that the Lakeport post office closed its doors for good.6


SOURCES
1 “New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2013), manifest, S.S. Humboldt, Stettin, Germany, to New York, arriving 4 August 1874, Niels Olsen; citing National Archives microfilm publication M237, roll 392, line 149.
2 Harold W. Jorgensen, “Olsen, Niels,” in Ben Van Osdel and Don Binder, editors, History of Yankton County, South Dakota (Yankton, South Dakota: Curtis Media Corporation and the Yankton County Historical Society, 1987), 53.
3 Sister Verena Kaiser, “Lakeport, South Dakota,” in Ben Van Osdel and Don Binder, editors, History of Yankton County, South Dakota (Yankton, South Dakota: Curtis Media Corporation and the Yankton County Historical Society, 1987), 605.
4 “U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2013), entry for Neils Olsen, Lakeport, Yankton, South Dakota; citing National Archives microfilm publication M841, “Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971.”
5 Kaiser, “Lakeport, South Dakota,” 54.
6 “U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971,” digital images, Ancestry.com, entry for Neils Olsen, Lakeport, Yankton, South Dakota.