Jens (James) Nielsen (Figure 41) and Ana Johanne Hansen (Figure 47) were married in Haraldstead, Denmark on 18 Nov 1882. He was 24 years of age and she was 18 years of age. He worked on an estate called Skjoldenaesholm (Figure 1) near Ringsted. I believe he worked as a farm laborer. Their first child, Jens Peder Pauli Nielsen, was born 25 Jan. 1883. He died on 14 Jul 1883. Their second child, Elise Jensine Petrine Pauline Nielsen, was born in 1885. They were very poor in Denmark and did not see anyway to have a better life in Denmark.

       Ane's two brothers, Knud and Andres Peter (Figure 48), had immigrated to America in 1884. They had gone to Racine, Wisconsin because it was the largest Danish settlement in America. They would have fellow Danes to talk to and to work for. I am sure the brothers wrote back about opportunities in America.

       In the year 1885, Jens, Ane Johanne, and their baby girl Elise Jensine sailed for America on the ship Wieland from Hamburg, Germany. Peter and Ane K. Hansen (Figure 45), Ane's parents, and Sofie (Figure 49), Ane Johanne's sister, also sailed on the same ship. They arrived in New York harbor on 6 Jun 1885. Just as they reached New York, Jens and Ane Johanne's little girl, Elise Jansine, died. They had to carry her body to a room on the dock and leave her there. Ane J. always thought her baby was used for medical purposes. In New York when they were doing paperwork, their names became James Nelson and Anna J. Nelson.

       They than boarded a train for Racine, Wisconsin. Knud and Andrew, Anna J. and Sofies brothers, were at the train station to meet them. They held out their arms and said "Where is the baby?" and they had to tell them the sad story.

       James and Anna J. went to work for Danish farmers in the township of Raymond. A local grocer advanced them credit for a barrel of flour and a barrel of sorghum syrup. They lived on that their first winter. Their third child, Victor, was born that December of 1885. Anna J. had only one dress and when she washed it, she wrapped up in a sheet until it was dry. They were very poor.

       Lars Peter Andersen (Figure 46), brother to Ane Kirstine Andersdatter (Peter Hansen's wife) and uncle to Knud & Andrew Hanson, Anna J. Hansen-Nelson and Sophie Hansen-Biesack immigrated in 1886 with his wife and children. They first settled in Yorkville, WI. He preached at a Baptist church in Yorkville and received free housing for that. In 1888 there was a disagreement with the church and he and his wife and children were kicked out of that church. He had eleven children of which only six lived. He then became a farmer in Racine County. He died 6 Nov 1925. His grandson, John Anderson, later became sheriff of Racine County. Lars and his wife are buried at McPherson Cemetery, Raymond township, Racine County.

       In March 1882 James and Anna J. Nelson took out a mortgage to buy an 85 acre farm in the township of Yorkville (Figure 52). I do know they both worked very hard to be able to do this.

       James Nelson had a brother, Rasmus Nielsen (Figure 42), who immigrated in 1909 after James and Anna J. James got him a job with a distant relative, Carl Poulson. Carl was older and had a small farm. He needed a hired hand to help with milking. The problem was that Rasmus did not want to work. He stayed in bed and slept and liked to go and visit the neighbors. Finally, James had to send Rasmus back to Denmark. A relative in Denmark put him in a mental institution. Rasmus sent James a letter saying, "You have me where you want me now". James felt very bad about that.

       James Nelson had another brother named Lars Nielsen. He married Bodil Kirstine Frederiksen 20 Apr 1873 (Figure 44) in Ringsted, DK. He and his wife did not immigrate but their son Claus Johannes Peter (John) Nielsen (Figure 43) born 8 Jul 1878 did immigrate and lived with the James and Anna J. Nelson family on their farm (Figure 54). He was the age of Otto and Elmer Nelson (Figure 56). He was treated like another son and is in a lot of the family pictures with them. Lars and Bodil Kirstine were attending the Seventh-Day Adventist church in Haraldsted in 1874. John served in World War I and he later married Marion. They had a daughter named Viola who died in her 20's.

       It was a good thing if you had a large family for you than had children to send out into the fields to hoe and to pull weeds. There was a man who was the weed inspector. He would ride around in his buggy and look at the fields. If there were too many weeds the farmer would have to pay a fine.

       They planted their crops according to the phases of the moon. They had a lot of saying's regarding the weather. One of Anna J. Nelson's was; "If you could see enough blue in the sky to make a pair of Dutchman's britches it was not going to rain".

       As soon as James and Anna's older children, Victor, Jennie, Carrie, and Otto (Figure 56), were 12 or 13 they were sent off to work for other farmers. A portion of their wages was sent back to James and Anna. They were lucky if they got to come home one day a week.

       Otto worked as a hired hand for Hans Christian Andersen. He was working there when Hans Christian's barn burned. Otto said that Hans Christian was never as happy or jolly afterwards. It was such a financial setback. Otto was good at repairing things. I still have a small metal monkey on a rope toy that Otto repaired for my father, Roy, who was Hans Christian's son.

       The Nelson family was very musical. They loved to sing and as soon as they could afford it, they bought a piano. Carrie, Elmer and Martha all learned to play it. Carrie and Elmer (Figure 57) were church pianists for many years. Max Sorenson, who was a good singer, would bring his family over and they would gather around Carrie at the piano. Someone would hold the lantern close so she could read the music and they would all sing. James also had a concertina that he liked to play. He also played a harmonica.

       When Victor, the oldest son, was in his teen years he was very good at playing baseball. He hoped he could make a career of it. Someone saw him playing in a game and told James and Anna J. and that was the end of Victor's baseball career. They had not raised him to be a baseball player. After Victor married Mary Christensen (Figure 61) they farmed for a little while but than moved to Racine. He drove a truck and hauled coal for many years. He always still longed to be a farmer. He would come every Sunday afternoon to visit his sister Martha and her husband Roy Andersen (Figure 28) on their farm. He always went home with an armful of farm magazines and he would sit in the evening and read them.

       There was a family story about Jennie, the oldest daughter, getting mad at her siblings for not helping in the kitchen. She served the food right on the table with no plates because they would not help her wash dishes. Company come to visit and was she ever embarrassed.

       James and Anna's last child, Martha, was born when Anna was 40 years old. Victor was no longer living at home and he came to visit. The younger children ran out to meet him and they were all excited about a new pony. Victor said, "I hear that is not all you have here". He meant my mother, Martha. He was so embarrassed that his parents were still having children.

       The Nelson family and other Danish families in the community attended a small Danish Seventh-day Adventist church in the area. Victor and Otto did not become Adventists. The rest of the Nelson family became Seventh-day Adventists.

       Carrie worked for an English family in Yorkville. She was able to earn enough money to go on to high school at an Adventist boarding school called Bethel at Arpin, Wisconsin (Figure 55). She taught school for a few years at Baraboo, Wisconsin before she went on to Broadview College near Chicago. She earned a two year degree there and graduated in 1927. Broadview still exists but is only a high school now.

       All the Nelson children (Figure 56) attended Yorkville grade school. Carrie, Elmer, Walter, and Martha also went on to Bethel Academy. Elmer went to Hinsdale, Illinois from there and became a registered nurse. Walter became a history teacher and later a manager of book binderies at Adventist schools. Martha was very homesick at Bethel for her parents and the farm and she went back home.

        Young men would ride their bikes up the Nelson lane to visit the Nelson sons. James figured out the boys were really coming to see his daughter's and he would sit on the front porch and fire his shotgun over their heads. They turned those bikes around in a hurry and rode away. Jennie (Figure 58) married Fred Shiflet a man she met while she was working in Racine. Carrie never did marry. Martha had to wait until her parents died to marry.

       When the Nelson siblings would get together they loved to discuss and argue over politics. One family was Democrat and the other Republican and they got into heated arguments. All the horses in the Nelson family were named after United States presidents.

       In the 1930's Carrie developed a severe case of arthritis and had to come home from her teaching job to live with her parents. Martha cared for her at this time. Their parents were getting older and the two girls cared for them. Their brothers would come and help with the farm work.

       James and Anna's son, Walter (Figure 64), was a school teacher and he married a school teacher. They spent their summers helping on the farm because they had no work in the summer. Their son, Elwynn (Figure 65), remembers Anna Nelson being the sweetest woman he had ever met. He said that James and Anna did not speak English, only Danish, but James would make him understand to get in the horse drawn wagon for a ride to take the full milk cans down the long lane to the main road. A larger wagon, or in later years a truck, would come by to pick up each farmers milk and take them to the creamery in Yorkville or North Cape. Each farmer had his name on a little metal plate on his own milk cans. Elwynn also remembers James Nelson going in the barn every morning and praying for hours.

       There was a country doctor named Dr. Hansen. He would drive his horse and buggy around to the farms where there was someone sick or an injury. Anna Nelson's arm was severely gored by a bull. Dr. Hansen cleaned it up and sewed it up and she never had any trouble with it. The two youngest Nelson children, Walter and Martha, would in later years remember sitting up in a tree in the apple orchard and throwing apples at the bull to see him get mad. All the farmer's wives and daughters had to milk cows and work in the fields just like the men. Anna could make good cheese and she raised, ducks, geese, and chickens. Every week James would take her produce to the Racine and sell it. The farmer's wives got to keep the money they earned from this. In later years, Elmer was working as a nurse in Chicago and he would take his sister Martha's eggs to Chicago to sell to his friends.

       Anna died of stomach cancer in the summer of 1934 and James died of a stroke in 1936. Only than could Martha get married and she eloped with Roy Anderson to Waukegan, Illinois. Elmer, who never married, had a little house built in the township of Yorkville and his sister Carried lived in that house. He would come up once a week from Chicago to visit her and he provided her with enough money to live there.

(See Figure 59.)

Victor and Mary Nelson are buried at Graceland Cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin

Jennie Shiflet is buried at Lakeview Cemetery in South Haven, Michigan

Her husband, Fred Shiflet, is buried at McPherson cemetery in Racine County

Carrie Nelson is buried in the Seventh-day Adventist cemetery in Raymond Township

Otto and Carrie Nelson are buried at Graceland Cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin

Elmer Nelson is buried in the Seventh-day Adventist cemetery in Raymond Township

"little" Walter, maybe buried at Seventh-Day Adventist Cemetery in Raymond township

Walter and Mabel Nelson are buried at Rose Hill cemetery, Berrien Springs, Michigan

Martha and Roy Anderson are buried in the Seventh-day Adventist cemetery, Raymond Township.