AlbumsJay County Obituaries
October 26, 1930 Portland,
Indiana
October 26, 1930
William M. Nelson
William M. Nelson, the well-known candy maker of Portland, was born in that city
and has lived there all of his life. Mr. Nelson was born on September 25, 1863
and is the son of Jonathan and Mary Jeanette (Bell)
Nelson, formerly and for years well-known residents of Portland. Jonathan
Nelson was born in Jackson County, Ohio, a son of Moses and Polly (Childers)
Nelson, who became pioneers of Jay County. Moses Nelson was a Virginian
by birth, who had settled in Jackson County, Ohio, where he was married and
where he made his home until in the thirties of the past century, when he came
over here with his family and settled in Wayne Township, this county, where he
entered from the Government a tract of 80 acres of land where he established his
home and spent the remainder of his life, one of the influential pioneers of
that section of the county. Jonathan Nelson, was but a boy when he came to this
county with his parents and he was reared on the pioneer farm in Wayne Township,
receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. He remained there until
after his marriage when he made his home at Portland, where he became an
engineer in the first steam flour mill operated in that city and was thus
occupied for years. He later became engaged as a teamster in Portland and in
that city spent his last days, his death occurring in 1896. His widow survived
him for more than fifteen years, her death occurring in 1912.
They were the parents of five children, all of whom are living, the subject of
this sketch having three brothers, James A., Frank Edward and Charles D. Nelson
and a sister, Cora I. [He was] reared at Portland where he was born, William M.
Nelson received his schooling in the schools of that city and early became
engaged as a painter, a vocation he followed until his marriage at the age of
26, when he became engaged in his present line, that of candy making, and has
since been thus engaged, his products having a wide sale hereabouts. It was in
1889 that William M. Nelson was united in marriage to Sarah E.
Loy, who was also born in this county, and to this union there has been
born four children, Rita D., Morris W., Anita B. and Dorris E., the two latter
of whom are unmarried and at home with their parents. Rita D. Nelson married
Homer I. Sheffer, of this county and
has four children, Violet Pauline, Lawrence Everett, Bonita Ursel and Fahien
Allen. Morris W. Nelson married Glee
Shaw, also of this county, and is living in Colorado. Mrs. Sarah E. Nelson was
born in Pike Township, this county, and is the daughter of Adam and Sarah
(Bickel) Loy the latter of
whom died in 1883. Adam Loy was born in this county, a member of one of the
pioneer families here, and during the Civil War enlisted as a soldier of the
Union and died at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, October 6, 1864, while in
service, a sergeant of Company E, 89th Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He
left his widow with three children, two of whom are still living, Mrs. Nelson
having a brother, Plina Loy.
Their sister Mary C. died on May 5, 1872.
