Andrew Nelson, (1849-1917)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location unknown.

Birth: 12 February 1849, Innvik, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway

Death: 19 March 1917, Silverdale, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Nils P. Myhre, Malina Nelson née Jakobsdatter, Anna M. Nelson née Einen, Infant Girl Nelson, Bertha Nelson

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

Anders (Andrew) Nelson was born on February 12, 1849, in Innvik, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, to Niels Pedersen Muri (Myhre) and Johanne Davidsdatter Nelson. After the early death of his mother, he received a religious education and served as an assistant pastor at the Maloy Church.

On October 26, 1873, Anders married Malina Jakobsdatter in Selje, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. The couple remained in Selje, where they welcomed eight children: Anna (1874), Lena (1875), Ingeborg (1878), Jakob (1880), Jennie (1881), Diana (1883), Nels (1885), and Hans (1888).

In June 1888, Anders immigrated to America with his family, accompanied by his father, Niels, and stepmother, Brithe Myhre. Due to limited records, it is unclear whether his three youngest sons—Jakob, Nels, and Hans—survived the journey or died in Norway, as they disappear from the historical record after their baptisms.

The family settled in Crosby, Kitsap County, Washington, where Anders established himself as a farmer. Two additional children were born in Washington: Bertha (1890) and Albert Clarence (1892). In 1892, Anders purchased seven 160-acre parcels of land in the Willamette Meridian section of Kitsap County. In 1895, he received two additional 160-acre parcels through a federal homestead patent. His farm was located east of the Meridian near the tip of Dyes Inlet in Silverdale. There, he farmed the land and raised poultry alongside his half-brothers, Paul and Peter Myhre.

Tragedy struck on April 12, 1894, when his wife Malina died in childbirth at the age of forty. The infant did not survive. In 1897, while Anders was traveling to work in the coal mines of Issaquah, his young daughter Bertha drowned in a tragic accident while crossing a bridge. Bertha was laid to rest in Seabeck Cemetery.

On July 7, 1899, Anders married Anna M. Einen in Seattle. By the 1900 census, he was living on his Kitsap County farm with his wife and sons Nels and Albert. He became part owner of the  Schneebeck Saw Mill in Silverdale. Over the years, some of his children married and settled elsewhere, while others remained nearby.

Anders became a naturalized American citizen on June 29, 1906. In 1910, he continued farming in Kitsap County, with several family members residing in his household at various times.

Anders Nelson died on March 19, 1917, at his home in Silverdale, Kitsap County, Washington, at the age of sixty-eight from heart failure. His obituary was published in the Kitsap County Herald on March 23, 1917:

Mr. Andrew [Nelson], one of most esteemed citizens, neighbor, and friend, passed away at the family home March 19, 1917, at 3:20 a.m. Mr. Nelson had been ill a long time, suffering from an affliction of the heart. During the past week, all of his children were summoned to come home and nearly all were present at his departure. Mr. Nelson was born in Olden, Norway, Feb. 12, 1849. In the year 1873, he married Miss Malina Jocobson, with whom he had eleven children. Mrs. Nelson died April 12, 1894. July 3, 1899, Mr. Nelson remarried. Mr. Nelson leaves a widow and seven children. Four daughters, Mrs. Lean La Clair of Oakland, California, Mrs. Jennie Einen of Patterson, California, Inga Davich of Aberdeen, Wash., Mrs. Diana Davich of Redmond, Wash., and three sons, Jack, Nels and Albert, all of Silverdale. Also, one sister, Mrs. R. O. Qualheim of Bremerton, and two brothers, Paul and Peter Myhre, residing in Silverdale.

Funeral services take place March 22. Interment at Seabeck.

Andrew was buried in Seabeck Cemetery, though today no marker identifies his grave.