Yuba County

Biographies

 


 

 

 

 

NILES VICTOR NELSON

 

 

            NILES VICTOR NELSON.  One of the best equipped livery stables in the Sacramento valley owes its rise from obscurity to the determined efforts of one of the most painstaking and enterprising men of Marysville.  In keeping with his business advancement Mr. Nelson has progressed along other lines of activity open to the public-spirited citizen, has taken a keen interest in Republican politics, and served as mayor pro tem during a vacancy in the office.  During 1890 and 1892 he served as a member of the city council, and again in 1902 was elected to the same body for a term of two years, becoming chairman of the committee on streets and roads.  His services have been practical and lasting, and have resulted in many noticeable improvements in the thoroughfares of the town, in sanitation, schools and general municipal equipment.  In 1904 he positively refused to run for mayor, although earnestly solicited by the townsmen to whom his general fitness had been repeatedly demonstrated.

            Niles Victor Nelson, proprietor of the Nelson stables, began life in Kisa, southeastern Sweden, April 30, 1851, and lived on a farm until immigrating to Chicago, Ill., in 1869.  In 1872 he went to Kane county, Ill., and purchased a threshing machine, his partner in the business being John W. Gates, now at the head of the American Wire Company, and one of the captains of industry of North America.  In 1874 Mr. Nelson gave up threshing and came to California, arriving at Marysville March 3, 1875.  For a year he worked in the Gillespie stables, and afterward for two years in a private stable in the town.  In May, 1878, he started a livery enterprise under the firm name of Nelson & Lowrey, on his present site on E street, between Third and Fourth streets, continuing the same until the death of Mr. Lowrey eight years later, when Mr. Nelson bought out his interest and continued alone.  In 1891 the barn and buildings were burned, only six out of forty rigs being saved from the flames, and as the barn was full of hay, the total loss amounted to $15,000.  Nothing daunted, Mr. Nelson set to work to build upon the ruins, and now has a building one hundred and seventy feet frontage, one hundred and sixty feet deep, and two stories in height.  The second story has a capacity of three hundred tons of hay, which is handled by derrick; and ample provision is made for oats and other feed required by an increasing number of roadsters and carriage horses.  The equipages at the disposal of patrons are modern and of sufficient variety to meet all demands, having no superiors in workmanship in any enterprise of the kind on the coast.  In the rear of the barn is a covered corral, 80 x 160 feet, and the whole equipment of the livery covers more than half a block.  Mr. Nelson is also interested in a dray and express business under the firm name of Nelson & Bresnan, having a number of drays and moving vans.  For the past twenty-three years he has operated the Marysville and Nevada stage line, the largest stage line in the Sacramento valley, and at times has owned and managed practically all of the lines running out of Marysville.  One after the other he has disposed of these lines, at present owning only the Nevada line, which still promises many years of uninterrupted patronage.  Necessarily his experiences have been of a varied and at times exciting nature, and have qualified him to speak as authoritatively upon the early history of this section as any man who has lived here for a corresponding number of years.  In Colusa he is equally well known, being president of the Colusa Livery Company, the foremost livery concern there, which has recently been installed in a building rebuilt at a cost of $8,000.

            The first marriage of Mr. Nelson occurred in Marysville, and was with Nettie S. Harrington, a native daughter of the place, and whose father, E. A. Harrington, late of Colusa, is represented elsewhere in this work.  Mrs. Nelson died in Marysville in December, 1900, after rearing three children, of whom Niles Harrington Nelson is the only survivor.  In Colusa, Mr. Nelson was united in marriage to Mary Geneva Grover, born in Petaluma, Cal., and daughter of J. Grover, a former hardware merchant of Colusa.  Mr. Nelson has been identified with fraternal organizations for many years, and is a member of Corinthian Lodge No. 9, F. & A. M., Washington Chapter No. 13, R. A. M.; Marysville Commandery No. 7, K. T.; Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco, the Order Eastern Star; Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past officer; and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

            Mr. Nelson is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.  In religion he finds a home in the Lutheran Church.  This honored pioneer and business man has invested his enterprises with a wealth of sound judgment and tireless industry, and has succeeded because he studied the public, his business, and the times in which he lives.  Beginning with little in the way of money or influence, he has steadily advanced to the position he now occupies, to that of one of the popular and successful business men in the Sacramento valley.

 

 

 

Transcribed by Doralisa Palomares.

Source: “History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California” by J. M. Guinn.  Pages 607-608. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.


© 2017  Doralisa Palomares.

 

 

 

Golden Nugget Library's Yuba County Biographies

California Statewide

Golden Nugget Library