William Nelson

William Nelson was born in Delta, Ohio, October 7, 1873, the son of Nels C. and Mary C. (Neist) Nelson, natives of Denmark who came to the United States about 1871, locating in Delta, Ohio. The father was a cabinet-maker by trade and in 1874 the family moved to Toledo, Ohio. William Nelson grad? uated from the Toledo High School in 1890 and at that time entered the wholesale drug house of West and Truax, in Toledo. He later spent some time in the retail drug stores of both John Krumms and C. E. Spade before coming to McClure, Ohio, in 1893 to manage the McClure Drug Store, then owned by J. Sheller, and with whom he remained for three years.

In 1894 Mr. Nelson married Bertha Christina Ballmer, who was born June 2, 1874, in Richfield Township, Henry County, Ohio, the daughter of John Jacob Jr. and Barbara Christina (Maier) Ballmer. Mrs. Nelson's grandparents had been among the early settlers in Henry County. Her father's parents, John Jacob Sr. and Verena (Buser) Ballmer and their family of ten children had emigrated from their home in Lausen, Canton Basel, Switzerland, April 9, 1845. After a short stay with relatives and friends in Fairfield County, Ohio, the family came to Henry County in November of the same year, and it was here that John J. Ballmer Sr. purchased one-hundred and sixty acres in the Southeast Quarter of Section One, Richfield Township, from Joseph Macklin for eight hundred dollars. Mrs. Nelson's maternal grandparents were Gottlieb Frederick and Barbara (Goodyear) Maier, natives of Ensingen, Wurtemburg, Germany, who came to the United States in 1838 with a family of four children. They lived in Lancaster County, Penna., for five years and in 1843 moved to Fairfield County, Ohio. In 1849 they came to Henry County and acquired forty acres in Section Twenty-seven in Damascus Township.

In 1896 Mr. Nelson opened his own drug store in a frame building at the southwest corner of East and Summit Streets. In 1901, when he was appointed postmaster, this building was moved to the south and served as a postoffice and a new brick building was built on the corner for the drug store. About 1910 the drug and soda- fountain business was moved to a larger building on the east side of East Street which had been purchased from the Fiser Brothers. Here a stock of dry- goods and groceries was added, and the vacated building was converted into a "picture-show," the Gem Theater. The latter was managed and operated for some twenty years by Mrs. Nelson with the help of her sons.

Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and remained active in church and community affairs throughout their lives.

They were the parents of eight children: Harold E., Waldo E., Helen Grace, William E., Maynard J., Arthur F., Norton A., and George B.

Submitted by Maynard J. Nelson