Story
1968
After Nels came to America, he worked in Brooklyn for awhile before coming to Dakota. He was impressed by the Brooklyn Bridge. It had recently been completed (in 1884) and it was famous because of its construction. It was considered one of the wonders of the world at that time.
In South Dakota the blizzard of January 12, 1888. made an impression on him. He was working for Soren Mortenson at Gayville, as was his father, and they could see a storm coming. It struck about two o'clock in the afternoon. Nels hitched the horses to the sled in a hurry and drove to the schoolhouse to get the children. He just got home in time before the storm became blinding. He was lucky; so many children did not get home that afternoon and they had to stay at the school all night.
Nels later worked in Vermillion for the Thompson Company and the Lee & Prentis Ranch one-half mile north of Vermillion. Nels and Anna lived in Vermillion until February 24, 1904, when they moved to Dixon County, Nebraska, where they farmed near Newcastle and Maskell for twenty-five years.
On May 1, 1929, they moved to California, and in October, 1929, they bought a home in San Fernando and settled there. At their home they maintained a garden with plentiful table vegetables and fruits, as well as flowers and perennials of numerous varieties.
A very happy day for Nels was the day Mrs. Susanne Anderson came to visit him during the 1940s. They sat on two chairs as close as possible and talked about their school days in Denmark. The two cousins had attended the same school. Susanne was visiting her daughter Sanna in Van Nuys and in the evening the group, including the Carl Tvedts' and the Marlow Iversons' had a picnic supper at Memory Park, which is a part of the mission grounds in San Fernando.