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Below is a family biography included in the book,  Biographical Souvenir of the Counties of Buffalo, Kearney, Phelps, Harlan and Franklin, Nebraska published in 1890 by F. A. Battey & Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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NELS OLINE, the subject of this biographical sketch, is an early settler of Kearney county, and the owner of one of the best improved farms in Sherman township. He was born in Sweden, near Christianstad, October 19, 1846. His father, Olof Oline, was a farmer by occupation and born in Sweden in the year 1818. He came to America in 1880 and died in 1886. His mother, Susie Oline, was likewise a native of Sweden, born in 1812. The paternal family was a large one and consisted of eleven children, (seven boys and four girls) eight of whom are now living.

Nels lived in his native country until twenty-two years of age. He attended the district school until fifteen years of age and received a good common-school education, after which his time was occupied on the farm. In 1869, he, in company with a sister, came to America, locating first in Henry county, Ill., where for five years he worked as a common laborer on a farm and for two years thereafter farmed on his own account. He spent the summer of 1871 working on the Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota railway. In the spring of 1876 he came to Kearney county, Nebr., and settled on an eighty-acre homestead claim, on which he had filed August 2, 1875. At that early date the country was new and barren, there being no settlement between his claim and the sand hills except James’ Ranch. The country teemed with antelope, and deer was plentiful along the Platte river. He built a sixteen by sixteen dwelling, and having brought out a car load of stock and farming implements he was soon busily engaged at breaking up his land. He broke out fifty acres and planted corn, wheat and oats. His crops flourished and gave evidence of an abundant yield, but August 10th the grasshoppers came and totally destroyed his corn. The hoppers were so thick on the ground that a team could not go on account of them flying in their faces. They sat on his board fence and ate holes into boards an inch thick. The failure of crops the first year was discouraging indeed, and most of the settlers that had come that year left. Mr. Oline, although somewhat discouraged, redoubled his efforts and the following year raised and harvested an abundant crop. Prosperity has attended his sturdy industry and he is to-day the owner of by far the finest and best improved farm, consisting of four hundred and eighty acres in Sherman township, and one that will compare favorable with any in Kearney county. He built his large barn in 1882 and last year completed his magnificent residence.

Mr. Oline married January 20, 1875, taking for a life companion Miss Nellie Clauson. This union has been blessed with seven children, six of whom are living — Oscar, Edward, Victor, Ethel, Arthur and Emma. Mr. and Mrs. Oline are both members of the Lutheran church at Fredericksborg. In politics Mr. Oline is a republican and a strong believer in the principles of his party. He was township treasurer for five years and school director for a number of years, being one of the first chosen at the organization of the district, he has also acted in the capacity of administrator in the settlement of two estates.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in the book, Biographical Souvenir of the Counties of Buffalo, Kearney, Phelps, Harlan and Franklin, Nebraska published in 1890 by F. A. Battey & Company. 

View additional Kearney County, Nebraska family biographies here: Kearney County, Nebraska Biographies

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