NELSON, Franklin Perry - Putnam

 

 

The death of Franklin P. Nelson removes from Greencastle one of its foremost citizens. For a lifetime he has been one of the pillars of this community. For half a century he has been known and honored in Putnam County and the surrounding region of country. His rise to prominence and then to affluence was coincident with the development of this part of Indiana. His going away leaves a gap in the social and industrial life of our people – a gap not soon to be filled. Frankin Perry Nelson was born near the town of Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky Feb 11, 1821. He was therefore at the time of his death in his 76^th year. He ame of a respectable family of old Kentuckians. His father was James I. and his mother Paulina (Yeates) Nelson. In 1829 the father removed to this county and settled near Morton about 10 miles from Greencastle. This has been the country seat of the Nelson family in Putnam County for more than 65 years. In his boyhood Franklin P. Nelson had only limited opportunities of education. For a short time he attended the common schools such as they were in his day and then gave himself to the life of a farmer. On the 4^th of February 1841, when he was just completing his 20^th year, he took in marriage Miss Catherine A. Bell, daughter of Capt. Isaac Bell with whom he lived happily for about 28 years. During this period he devoted himself with great assiduity to his favorite pursuit of farming. He became also a trader in stock and at length as his means accumulated, a private lender of money. By the period of the war he was already recognized as a wealthy man. He added farm to farm and gave all of his energies to the development and improvement of his possessions. He was from his youth a workingman in whom there was no guile.

He procured for his farms capable superintendents and tenants, between whom and himself the relations always existed. He was recognized as a landlord who used his means and influence not wholly for his own good, but also from the welfare and improvement of his subordinates and employees. On the 23^rd day of March, 1870, Mr. Nelson married his surviving wife, Miss Eliza J. Brannan a lady of many accomplishments daughter of James M. and Eliza Jean (Alexander) Brannan of Baltimore, Maryland. He had always made his home in Greencastle. Shortly after his marriage he erected the brick and stone residence at the corner of Arlington & Seminary.  Here he passed the last quarter of a century of his life. Here, at the completion of his 50^th year, his son James B. Nelson was born, at whose birth the proud father expressed the hope, now so happily fulfilled, that he might live to see his boy 25 years of age. Here also was born his daughter, the accomplished Miss E. Jean Nelson, so highly esteemed in society.

From this homestead, Mr. Nelson continued his work as a farmer, trader and capitalist. His industry was indefatigable. His robust constitution stood him well in hand. His old time farmer habits ruled his life. Day after day in the early morning when most of the people were yet asleep, he might be seen in horseback or driving at full pace out of town to his distant farms. During the day he would visit his various possessions, superintending the enterprises that were on hand, giving personal directions about the management of everything and returning at nightfall to his home.  Nothing could surpass the persistency, the care, and energy with which he managed all of his affairs.

As a result, Mr. Nelson’s success was great. His farmland possessions in Indiana and Iowa were extended to about 3,000 acres. He was emphatically a maker of money. His accumulations were the legitimate earnings of his business.  This face was so well recognized that no one begrudged him his wealth. His well established character fortified him against ill will and envy. His honesty , his frugality, his industry, his hard application year after year to the tasks of life were known of all; and if his means accumulated, it was never charged that he had aught but his own – that he gained possession of the means of others.  It were long to relate the story of Franklin P. Nelson’s dealings with his fellowmen and the world. He was perhaps the best example of a liberal giver and steadfast friend that we have ever had among the wealthy men of our community. His benevolence began with the Methodist Episcopal Church of which eh was a lifelong member and to whose interests he was greatly devoted.  He was a religious man from the heart outward. In all the enterprises of the church, he bore a leading part of the responsibility. He might be counted on in every emergency to do more than his share in bearing the burdens of church support. His generosity extended to the community at large. He was a supporters of all public enterprises. He gave largely to every cause which he considered worthy of favor. He was a great benefactor of DePauw University. The DePauw Fund of 1883 he was the largest local contributor of both time and money. He was wont also to aid needy students, many of whom will revere his memory to the end of life. To all his friends he was a friend indeed.  He was in particular the friend of the poor. The instances in which he came to the rescue of those who were needy would perhaps be numbered by the hundred. All of his affairs were conducted on a business basis, but he was always generous in his dealings and never exacting of anybody about anything. Besides his interest in farming, trading and the private lending of money, Mr. Nelson had connection with several enterprises well known in this community. He was an incorporator a leading stockholder and for many years director in the First National Bank of Greencastle. He held a like relation in the Greencastle Iron & Nailing Company and this relation was continued after the removal of that intuition to Muncie. He was, however, conservative in regard to outside enterprises. He never speculated in anything in his life. Certainly the circumstances which brought him to a failure in business in 1893, must have been sufficiently severe and distressing.  Whatever they were, it is certain that he did not himself contribute to the catastrophe. Certain it is also that the disaster was  not anticipated by any who were acquainted with his resources, his lifelong industry, his business habits and his careful methods in managing his affairs. We shall not here review the causes which brought the collapse in Mr. Nelson’s fortune. The shock given by his failure to the business interests of the community was very great; but there were few who turned upon Mr. Nelson with denunciation in the day of his business misfortunes. He could not be shaken from his hold upon the esteem and affections of the people with whom he had so long mingled as neighbor and friend. The complications arising from Mr. Nelson’s assignment were at last settled in a manner satisfactory to all the parties and the residue of his fortune was preserved for his wife and children. It was only at a recent date that the last trouble growing out of his failure in business was disposed of and he was left free to renew as well as a man 75 years of age might renew the enterprises of his manhood.  He returned to his tasks with a measure of vigor and spirit; but it might presently be seen that the years of his life were numbered and that the end was near. During the past summer and fall Mr. Nelson became enfeebled and though not yet confined to his home it was evident his health was permanently broken and that his life could not be long preserved. An obscure ailment of some of the vital organs, the stomach in particular, preyed upon his energies and he at length yielded to the necessity of remaining indoors.  Up to this time this necessity had never come to him once in his life. For the past 25 years he had never been sick a single day nor had he ever been known to be abed in daytime.  Now, however, he was broken down and the old her went to his couch never to rise again. His malady grew worse and worse, and at 3 o’clock on the morning of Nov 5, 1896, eh passed away. His life had been long and honorable and his end was peace.

Franklin P. Nelson was a man who was known and loved by many. Those who were near him became attached to him by the ties of affection. Those who were in business relations with him trusted him implicitly. The community looked to him as one of its substantial leaders. He was a man of simple manners and of few words. In public gatherings he generally sat silent until it came to the time of action. Then he was as ready as any to respond. His manner and his liberality combined to make him popular with all classes of people. By none was he more highly honored than by his tenants.  All of the poor and humble folk were attached to him by reason of the fact that he too was a workingman, that he too shared their sympathies, and that he dealt generously and justly with them in all the relations of life. One of the happy incidents of his career was the presentation by his tenants on his birthday the 11^th of February 1893 of a beautiful gold headed cane, which he carried on leisure days in the last 3 years of his life. He did so not in ostentation but as a sign that he reciprocated the affection and esteem of those who had been his employees.

As a husband and father Franklin P. Nelson was a model man. His attachments and affections were the supreme characteristics of his home life and his life among the neighbors. He was a man thoroughly genuine in all his thoughts and actions. He was innocent of presumption. He was incapable of double dealing. He was a Christian. He went about his business with a simplicity and earnestness that commanded the admiration of all. He was throughout life a hard working man, who believed in labor and the reward of labor – who performed the one and bestowed the other with a strong and generous hand. His death can but make a deep impression on this community in which he was for so many years a landmark, a light and an exampled.  -- Died at his residence in Greencastle, Indiana on the morning of November 5, 1896, after a brief illness, Franklin P. Nelson widely known and greatly honored by the people of Greencastle and Putnam County. - kbz