LIFE SKETCH OF NIELS PETER NIELSEN (Great-grandfather)

Written By Orville Elias Nelson (son) 1996

My Grandfather on my Dad's side of the family

Age didn’t stop Father from working. In his 75th year he was headed for a beet field that had some alfalfa growing in it--object of course was to hoe out the alfalfa--when a heart seizure struck him down. I think this active life contributed much to his good health. Before his heart attack, he had only one sick spell. This was during the flu epidemic of 1918. Along with the flu he contracted pleurisy. This kept him in bed for a longer period and was so painful that he could not move for a time. Doctors would become beggars if everybody used them as much as Father. Father had a natural skill for building. Without any formal training he was able to build his own house, which still stands, and a number of barns and other buildings in the ward. Father was a typical Danishman who liked to have the barn and other buildings quite near the house. Father lived a clean life--kept the word of wisdom religiously. At threshing time when beer was drunk on occasion, I noticed that he never partook of it. I could also add here that he was not a profane man. He was not perfect, but usually minded his own affairs. Now, I’ll try to give you a word portrait of him. Most Scandinavians are light and fair of complexion but, unlike most Scandinavians, Father’s skin was somewhat dark and his hair black and his eyes brown. He never wore a beard but always a mustache. His hair thinned as he grew older and a trace of gray showed about the temples. He was plagued with a tumor that grew on the bottom part of the back of his head. At the time of his death it had become quite prominent. (You know how Father liked doctors.) In size he was about like me (5’10”), minus my “bay window”. In fact, he was very flat across the stomach to his dying day. That’s what hard work will do for you. His height then as about 5 ft. 8 or 9 inches and weight about 170 pounds. He was just an average-sized man who was quick in action. Having a product of pioneer days, he had to accept the disadvantages of pioneer life--little schooling, hard work, and not very much recreation as we know it.