Anders & Gerda (Miljander) & August Frederick & Amelia (Nilsson Nelson) and their sister Petronella 'Nellie' (Nilsson Nelson) Peterson Families - Painted Woods, North Dakota in 1918

My Grandmother Clara Amelia Yunhild (Nilsson) Nelson Erickson on the request from her son, my father Ernest Anedrs Erickson, wrote down her Nelson Family History. She wrote it at the kitchen table at her home on Jefferson Avenue in the Parkhill District of Bismarck, North Dakota. It spanned the Nelson family history covering over one hundred years. I am very grateful to my Grandma Clara, a gem of a gal, as it has enabled me to be more accurate in my writings on the family photographs she and my Grandfather Frank G. S. Erickson kept over the years. Her writing covers the birth of her parents, Gertrude 'Gerda' (Miljander) & Anders (Nilsson) Nelson, their marriage, the births of her six siblings, and leading up to the period when the Nelsons emigrated (1902 & 1903) from Landskrona, Sweden to Painted Woods, North Dakota. Her writing leads up to the present time of her writing.

A classic Nelson Family portrait is added below, a one-of-a-kind family image taken one hundred years ago this year. Photographed on the family farm in Painted Woods, North Dakota in 1918. The photograph was well preserved in Clara's photo album. She often wrote on the back or along the margins of the photographs she kept. This is remarkable and the key to the Archive Project. Without her documentation, so many family names, places, and images would be lost forever.

In 1918 on the Family Farm in Painted Woods, North Dakota this incredible (Nilsson) Nelson Family portrait was taken. One family member, Sture Albin Nelson serving at the time in the Navy, the oldest son of Gerda & Anders was home on leave visiting his family. Soon after this photograph was taken he would be heading to the east coast and departing on a ship out of the Brooklyn (NY) Port bound for the Atlantic.

Anders & Gerda (Miljander) Nelson and four of their five children, one being my Grandmother Clara, emigrated from Landskrona, Sweden in 1902 and 1903 respectively, and lived with his Brother August Frederick and sister-in-law Amelia 'Aunt Molly' Josephine (Holm) in Painted Woods until they Homesteaded in 1907 at a farm nearby. Their youngest daughter Klara (1894-1896) passed away in Landskrona and Clara's younger Brother Bob Nelson was born on the farm in 1905. Sweden. In 1907, another daughter was born on the farm and unfortunately, she passed away in 1908.

1918 photo of Anders & Gerda and their five children.
left to right - standing: Uncle Anton Tony, August Valentine, Albert 'Bob' William, Clara Amelia Yunhild and Sture Albin Nelson. left to right - sitting: Great Grandparents Gertrude 'Gerda' (Miljander) Nelson, holding Amelia Anna (Hanwell) Rise (daughter of Tom and Josie Hanwell). Great Aunt Amelia 'Aunt Molly' Josephine (Holm) Nelson (wife of Great Uncle August Frederick (Nilsson) Nelson) holding Francis Kathleen (Hanwell) Bartholomew (daughter of Tom and Josie Hanwell, Cousin Josie Ida Josephine (Nelson) Hanwell, daughter of Amelia & August Nelson and wife of Thomas Davis Hanwell Sr. and sitting on the far right, Cousin Elsa 'Elsie" (Nelson) Peterson. Bertha and Elsie are the daughters of Anders and August (Nilsson) Nelson's sister Petronella 'Nellie' (Nilsson Nelson) and her husband Gustav Edvard Peterson.