Henry Mazy

As printed in 1894

HENRY MAZY, who resides at No. 301 East Fifth Street, Winona, was born in Chicago, Ill., May 15, 1832. His father, Louis Mazy, was a native of Germany, and a shoemaker by trade. He went to Chicago in 1831, and located near old Sand Ridge. He subsequently purcliased a farm in Cook County, Ill., upon which he made his home. There he was one of the pioneers and resided for many years. When our subject was seventeen 3'ears of age, in company with seven others, he crossed the plains to California, being seven months en route. For about five and a-half years after his arrival in California he worked for C. C. Reyncrson, in buying and selling cattle. He then engaged in the milk business in San Francisco, where he continued to reside until 1862, when he enlisted in the service of his country, becoming a member of Company A of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, joining the regiment in Boston. Soon after enlisting, the regiment was sent to

Baltimore, and then was attached to the Army of the Potomac under General Sheridan. He served under that eminent commander and was engaged in all the various raids and battles of that celebrated army, being present at the capture of Lee. Of the original company of one hundred who enlisted in 186'2, only seven were discharged at the close of the service, the remainder having been killed in battle or taken prisoner. Mr. Mazy was one of the number who took jjart in the Grand Review at Washington.

The parents of our subject having removed to Minnesota, on his discharge he joined them in Faribault County, and engaged in farming near the city of Faribault. In the spring of 1875 became to Winona and, buying a street sprinkler, he has since, under contract, engaged in street sprinkling during the regular season.

On the 24th of December, 1865, in Faribault County, Mr. Mazy was united in marriage with Miss Louisa Fisher, a native of Germany. They have no children, but have reared a son and daughter of one of her brothers, Ervin and Bertlia. The former is Deputy Clerk of the Courts, and the latter is preparing for a teacher in the public schools.

Mr. Mazy politically is a Republican and at present is serving as Alderman of the Third Ward. He is a member of the German Lutheran Church, and is held in high esteem by all who know him.

Abraham Nelson.

(Tpt BRAHAM NELSON has been for more / — \ than thirty years one of the leading agriculturists of Wiscoy Township, and is the owner of a valuable and improved homestead, situated on sections 25 and 32. He is a practical and progressive farmer, which facts may be easily seen by the traveler who passes by his well kept farmyard and dwellings. He is one of the native sons of Norway, his birth having occurred February 2, 1837, and the first ten years of his life were passed on his father's farm, since which time, being left an orphan, he has supported himself and made his own way.

When seven years old, Abraham Nelson set sail for America with his father, who bore the Christian name of Andrew. After eight weeks spent on the Atlantic the\- arrived on the shores of the New World, and at once continued their westward journey to Wisconsin. In that state the boy attended the district schools during the winter months until he was in his seventeenth year. At the age of eleven he was bound out to a farmer, for whom he worked for four years, receiving only his board and clothing. The summer he was sixteen he was given $10 per month for his services, this being the first money he ever earned. In the fall of 1854 he came to Minnesota with the family of O. R. T. Kingsle-. The journey was made in a wiigon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and the Mississippi River was crossed at LaCrosse. This country was then but little settled or improved, and between the points of LaCrescent and Gile's Corners there was not a house to be seen. Abraham Nelson took up a tract of one hundred and sixty acres from the Government, but did not prove up the land. For a few years during the summers he ran a breaking team, and in the fallengaged in threshing. In 1856 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of Government laud near

.where the village of Money Creek, Houston County, is now located. For this land he paid at the rate of $1.25 per acre, and after putting up a log cabin he cleared and broke forty acres of land. In 1862 he sold out his interest and then purchased the farm where he now lives, this place being located on sections 25 and 32 and comprising one hundred and ninety-five acres. This homestead he sold in

1863 and re-purchased in 1879. September 20,

1864 he enlisted in Company A, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. He was mustered in at Ft. Snelling and from there was sent to Chicago, Louisville and Chattanooga. In the latter place he was put on guard duty, and was so serving at the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge, dated June 20, 1865. Returning from Tennessee to Minnesota, he bought a farm in this township, which he cultivated until the following year, when he went to Faribault Counter, this state, and on his arrival there bought one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land. Owing to the failure of crops and the plague of grasshoppers in 1878, he returned to this county, and as he had lost nearly all his possessions by his unfortunate settlement in the western part of the state, he was obliged to begin life almost at the bottom round of the ladder again. Being a man of determined will and energy, he set sturdily to woik to repair his fortune. He took up a homestead of eighty acres on section 30, Pleasant Hill Township. The tract he leased for five years, after which he came to his present farm, this being in 1883.

August 26, 1860, Mr. Nelson married Adeline Clarke, and to the worthy couple were born four children. Dora E., the eldest living, is the wife of E. J. Kingsley, who operates a farm near Money Creek; Flora died in 1875; and two children died in infancy. Mrs. Nelson was called from this life March 16, 1892. The present wife of our subject was united in marriage with him September 13, 1892. She is Hannah, a daughter of John and Catherine (McNaughton) Gordon, and widow of George Brenaman. The latter died April 24, 1885.

In his political belief Mr. Nelson has until recently been a stalwart Republican. Of late he has identified himself with the Prohibition party, as he is a strong believe in temperance and thinks that national laws and legislation would tend toward a better condition of affairs in this country. A patriot both in times of peace and war, he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and a loyal citizen. Religious!y he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which his wife also belongs. Self-made and self-educated, he deserves the credit which is freely accorded him by those who know his history, for in spite of many discouragements which would have seemed insurmountable to most men he has come forth triumphant and successful.

William Duncanson.

As printed in Portrait and biographical record of Winona county, Minnesota. Containing biographical sketches of prominent ... citizens .. (1894). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.