My Genealogy Hound

NELS P. PETERSON, the subject of this biographical memoir, is one of the earliest settlers on the Divide in Phelps county, and a prosperous and very popular young man. He was born in Sweden, April 11, 1858.

His father, Anton Peterson, was born in Sweden, came to America in 1868, and followed the occupation of a farmer. His mother, Sarah (Oleson) Peterson, was also born in Sweden. There were eight children in the family to which he belonged, six boys, and two girls.

Mr. Peterson lived in Sweden until he was ten years of age, spending his early life, while there, in attending school and working on his father’s farm. In 1868, he embarked with his parents for America. Landing in this country, they located in Knox county, Ill., where for ten years he was engaged at farming and working in the timber. He moved from there to Phelps county in March, 1878, and homesteaded the quarter section on which he now lives. The country at that time presented a wild and barren appearance and was anything but inviting to a new-comer. Antelope roamed over the prairie in droves of twenty and thirty and deer occasionally strolled down on the Divide from the Platte river, twenty miles to the north. The settlers were few and far between and the loneliness of life on the wild, unbroken prairie can better be imagined than described. Mr. Peterson constructed a small ten by twelve sod house in which to live, and began farm life. He had practically nothing to start with, and the first few years of his residence in Phelps county witnessed many hardships and privations. He, being possessed with an invincible determination, stuck to his claim, trusting to the future for better days. He had to haul brush from the Platte river twenty miles to the north, and also use corn-stalks for fuel. He kept “bach” the first three years, and this, together with the scarcity of the settlers, added much to the melancholy of his life. The first year he broke ten acres and raised a small crop of sod-corn. His crops have compared favorably with those of his neighbors. He has succeeded admirably of late years, and does not regret coming to Nebraska.

In politics he is a republican.