San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MARY ALICE NELSON
A very interesting and stimulating
example of the ability often shown by women to manage their ranch estates, is
afforded by Mary Alice Nelson, the owner of a choice Delta farm, embracing 367
rich acres near the Kingston District schoolhouse, one of the finest Delta
farms, in fact, in all San Joaquin County.
A native daughter naturally proud of her identification with the Golden
State, she was born at Douglas Flat, in Calaveras County, on March 9, 1867, the
only child of Edward and Jeannette (Powell) Thomas; and in that county she was
reared, that is, for the first few years, for in 1870, on the death of her
mother, she was taken to the home of William Richards, at Washington Flat,
growing up there, and attending both the Angels Camp and Murphys
district schools until she was fifteen years of age.
In this connection it is fitting to
give a brief history of her foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Richards, at
it is very interesting. William Richards
was born in Cornwall, England, and there he was married to Grace Huskin and they immigrated to southern Wisconsin and there
Mr. Richards was engaged in lead mining.
In 1850 he started across the plains in an ox-team along with his wife
and five children. En route they were
attacked by Indians and lost much of their stock, delaying them so they were
obliged to winter in Salt Lake. On a
certain day the father and mother had gone into the city for supplies and while
they were away two of the boys, the second and third in the family, fourteen
and twelve years of age, respectively, went to the Jordan River to gather some
wood. In Wisconsin they had been used to
skate on the ice and one of them tried it and said it was strong, but he
immediately broke through and went under.
His brother rushed to his assistance, and both were drowned. To the credit of Brigham Young it must be
said he sent men to try to recover the bodies but succeeded in securing only
one.
The next spring the family came on
to California. They wintered in
Stockton, 1851-52, then to Washington Flat, where Mr. Richards had a store and
hauled goods and supplies with ox teams from Stockton. His wife kept the store and traded in gold
dust and about every sixty days made a trip to San Francisco, where she sold
the gold dust to the mint. Mr. Richards
was also interested in mining. He
remained there until he died, in 1873.
His widow survived him until 1880.
Of their three remaining children, William died in 1906; Elizabeth, Mrs.
Forsyth, resides on the home ranch; Grace died in 1917.
In 1882 Mary Thomas came to live in
the home of her father, who had established himself as a prosperous farmer near
French Camp, and completed her education in Stockton Business College, from
which institution she was graduated June 18, 1885, after which she assisted her
father in his business and presided over his home until she was married on June
18, 1890, to James A. Nelson, a native of Sweden, who came to California when
nineteen years of age and became a pioneer rancher of San Joaquin County, and
from 1890 to 1915 was actively identified with the development of the district. Immediately after his marriage Mr. Nelson had
located on leased land on Roberts Island from Woods Brothers and engaged in
raising grain. However, he soon
purchased land in the district known as the pocket which, with the aid of his
family, he improved and brought to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Nelson long served as a very
conscientious member of the board of trustees of Kings School District, and
stood high in the Stockton Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America. He was a Democrat in matters of national
politics. At the time of his death, he
had amassed considerable property, and was a prominent figure in Stockton
financial circles. He died on June 22,
1915, survived by his widow and five children.
Ellsworth P. Nelson graduated from
the public schools, and is a Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge and the
Scottish Rite order.
He has been for years the right hand of his mother in conducting the
extensive farming operations, and has more than justified the confidence
reposed in him. Edward Thomas Nelson
also graduated from the public schools and Heald’s
Business College. He served in the 347th
F. A. in the U. S. Army, A. E. F., and has an enviable military war record with
the Army of Occupation, returning to civilian life as a disabled veteran, and
having a hard struggle to regain his health.
Erwin Nelson, the rancher, was educated at the public schools and Heald’s Business College.
He served in Company M., 363rd Inf., in lumber camps in
Washington, and has an honorable discharge from Camp Lewis. He is now at home on the farm, doing his best
to contribute toward the restoration of post-war prosperity. Grace Inet graduated
from the Stockton high school; and James Victor Nelson is a student there,
where he is a prominent athlete, and represented his school on the 1921 and 1922
football teams. He is also a De Molay member. Mrs.
Nelson can be justly proud of her sons and daughters, having been very
successful in rearing them to become useful citizens, a credit to their native
County.
Mrs. Nelson displays excellent
business acumen, and is thoroughly conversant with the modern methods employed
on her Delta farm, where there is so much in strong contrast to the conditions
of early days. She recalls very vividly
the time of her advent to the Delta in 1895, where there were no bridges, and
one had to cross the channels by ferry, if one traveled in a carriage or dray,
as the ferry did not operate for foot-travelers, for whom a row-boat was
employed. She recalls also the first
appearance of a top surrey in the Delta in 1893. Mrs. Nelson, as a veritable pioneer, owns one
of the treasured $50 gold-slugs made in California in the ‘50s; one received by
her foster father, William Richards, when he sold a yoke of oxen he had driven
across the plains. She values this slug
highly, and naturally shows it with pride, for few persons own one like
it. She is a member of the
Congregational Church and of the Auxiliary of the Pioneer Society of San
Joaquin.
Mrs. Nelson has also been the owner,
for twelve years or more, of desirable residence property at 528 West Oak
Street, Stockton, where she spends the winter months, although she has a very
commodious, comfortable and ornate home at the ranch. She is a woman of splendid characteristics,
and is beloved and highly esteemed, not only by her devoted children, but by
her neighbors and business associates as well.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
884-887. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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