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.
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Library's Yuba County Biographies