James Monroe Nelson
Left; Biographical
Souvenir of the State of Texas
Contains
Biographical Sketches of the Representative Public
and Many Early Settled Families.
Chicago:
F. A. Battey & Company 1889
pg.635
JAMES
MONROE
NELSON CALLED HOME AFTER ILLNESS OF MANY YEARS
The
old landmarks of a community disappear. One
by one they crumble into
dust as
the calendar marks the passing of this era
and the coming of another.
It
is the same with the old and beloved
characters of a town. The truth of
the
assertion is found more in the smaller
places than the large. We see
certain
men in their primes today. They are with us
in business and are making
their
names as we work toward our own ends. Then
comes tomorrow. We see them
fade and
wither. Their vitality wanes and the hand of
senility is upon them.
Then they
pass away like summer’s breath and are gone.
A
good example of this outline is enacted in
the life of J. M. Nelson who
answered
the call to the Great Life this morning at 5
o’clock, and his passing
marks the
close of a very busy and active life which
was cut down in later years
by the
firm hand of age.
Mr.
Nelson passed away after an illness of a
couple of weeks, and his death
was
hastened by his falling last week and
throwing his hip out of joint.
But the beginning of the
end came three years
ago, when bound for Seattle to visit his
son, Oliver, he suffered a
stroke of
paralysis and had to be taken off the train
at Marced, California.
He never was the same
after that. It
seemed to undermine the strong character
and pitifully weaken it insomuch that his
later years were a terrible
burden to
him.
J.
M.
Nelson was born in Jackson, Miss. (1860
Census indicated he was born in
Illinois), where he spent most of his
childhood days, growing in that
influence
conducive to gentlemanly traits and habits.
When still small he moved with his
family to Cairo,
Ill., the family
home until he was 18 years of age.
Left; Sherman City Directory, 1901
On
the threshold of manhood, Mr. Nelson heard
the call of the great open
west and
answering it made his way to Sherman, Texas,
where he lived until 1902,
when he
moved to the Pecos Valley.
His
life in
the Lone Star state was the life everyone
had to live on the plains and
it
brought that inborn manhood and character to
the front so that it stood
out
boldly and prominently in his daily life.
He was a man whose manhood was
forever unchanged. You
found him tomorrow as
you saw him
yesterday.
Mr.
Nelson was married in Texas and there came
into the home two sons and
two
daughters. Oliver
C.
Nelson is at
present in Tacoma, Wash., while the other
son Harry, who is well known
here,
lives in New South Wales, where he has
recently moved from Australia.
He is a wireless operator
at one of the large
stations. Mrs
W. H.
Artley of Savannah,
Ga. and Mrs. J. D. Hudgins of Carlsbad are
his two daughters. Mr.
Nelson also leaves a
wife to mourn his
loss.
The
name of this man comes as one very familiar
to nearly every person who
has
lived in Roswell for a number of years.
As an architect he had few peers.
He seemed to have that indefinable
quality of seeing
in his own mind the
finished building in mortar and stone.
He figures out carefully every detail
of the
structure and built it
first himself. As
his
best monument
stand the buildings he conceived.
There
are some fifteen or twenty courthouses and
schools in Texas, the
products of
his study, while the Baptist Church, St.
Mary’s Hospital, the Oklahoma
block
and other buildings scattered all over the
valley call his name to mind.
St.
Peter’s Church was his last work and the
beauty of the building is not
passed
by. The Baptist
Church is an edifice
that reveals his artwork more than anything
else probably. The
silent awe-inspiring
front view is a
consolation and a joy.
By
moonlight
there is almost a divine air about it.
The soft flood of silver from the
clear New Mexico
heavens transforms
the lines into mystic and fairy creations.
The long shadows fall onto the
lighted entrance and
there is a touching
element that cannot be forgotten.
Of
Mr. Nelson himself, there is little that may
be said.
He lived a quiet and rather secluded
life,
mostly to himself but not for himself.
He was a gentleman of the highest
type with all the
attributes of that
name. It is
enough.
High
Mass will be held tomorrow morning at 10
o’clock at St. Peter’s Church
and
burial will follow in South Park cemetery.
The Roswell
Evening News
Friday, 7 February 1919
Biography Index
Susan Hawkins
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