Walter immigrated to the United States in 1906 or early 1907. On August22, 1907, Dora and her three sons departed Copenhagen, Denmark, on thesteamship "Oscar II", arriving at Eliis Island, New York on September 3.They were accompanied by their servant, Clara Gadeberg ‎(16 years old)‎.

Chris Nibeck requested information on the Nelson family from hisgrandfather, Nels Nelson, in 1989. In response on June 24, 1989, Nelswrote:

"Dear Chris,

"When here you asked about my antecedents and I promised to send you whatlittle information that we had.

"Frankly, we came to this country to become AMERICANS. My parents wereeducated and spoke English but with an accent which they soon eradicated.

"We were all so engrossed in becoming Americans, making a living,acquiring an education and learning the customs, etc. that we had no timeto consider the past. The present was all new to us.

"I am enclosing photocopies of write-ups made by our mother 54 years agowhich seem to be the only chronicle we have here. They are reallycondensed accounts, My parents were both born in 1877 one hundred andtwelve-years ago. It was then a different and more .simple world, and-hasbeen changing ever since.

"We were poor as could be. We came to America through Ellis Island undera professional quota and with the mandatory $25.00. In '1907 the countrywas beginning to be filled up with countless unskilled, strong back, weakmind individuals from countless countries. So quotas were established tostem the tide. In 1907 the country was sparsely settled as far west asCleveland, with Chicago to a lesser degree. The Erie canal when completedlinked the St. Lawrence river to Lake Erie just west of Buffalo.

"Our money ran out when we hit Rochester, N.Y. the home of Eastman Kodak.My father was hired immediately by a Mr. Taylor who ran the TaylorPhotographic Studio at 72 South Avenue which was then about 2 blockssouth of Main Street, the main artery. Mr. Taylor was old and yearned forretirement. He sold out to my Dad on the basis of payment from futureearnings. My Dad was a good portrait photographer and prospered. Ourmother was very helpful in this success.

"One must realize that in 1907 if one wanted a photograph of familymembers, weddings, etc. one had to go to a photographer. ‎(The KODAKbox-like BROWNIE camera had not been invented then)‎. Likewisephotographic films had not been developed. Photographic plates weresheets of high grade glass covered by an which upon exposure to light,formed the picture. The photo obtained was produced by putting alight-sensitive paper behind the photographic plate and exposing it to alight source for the proper length of time. Too little, the picture wouldbe faint; too much, the picture would approach blackness. Knowing thecorrect timing was imperative. My Dad was an expert at it. ‎(Incidentallyat that time electric light bulbs had carbon filaments; not tungsten.Remember, these were early days before incandescent bulbs)‎.

"Incidentally, my Dad's source for photographic plates was a tinyRochester firm called the Haloid Company. Its owner wanted to expand andbegged my Dad to purchase a few shares of Haloid stock. We were livinghand-to-mouth at the time, so could not do it. Too bad! Haloid Companybecame Xerox., Had we invested we could have become millionaires!

"Getting back to your question, after you had left I remembered that manyyears ago my brother Walt, living in Kensington, California, a Berkeleysuburb, got on a genealogy "kick" to establish whether we were related toroyalty. A distant relative then living in Chicago had the name "DeCastongrene" and had a coat-of-arms. I propose to write Walt soon andfind out what he knows. Walt is the "brain" of the family. He was at OakRidge, Tennessee during the war and worked with Warner Braun on theatomic bomb project.

"We boys, Maurice, Walter, Stephen and Sherman have all been very proudof our parents and their accomplishments. All four of us earned collegedegrees; Walt and I a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University 1 CONC of Michigan; Stephen a MBA from U of Michigan. Sherman did not likeMichigan's Liberal Arts program and after the first year transferred toSyracuse University from which he earned an A.B. degree in Fine Arts.

"We all earned our way through college, waiting on table in fraternityand sorority houses and stoking coal-fired steam furnaces. Michigan'sin-state tuition in 1923 was $80; for out-of- state $120. I had saved$300 by working for two years for the Rochester Gas & Electric corp. Itwasn't much. but I felt that I could no longer delay beginning collegeelse I might never go to college. ‎(The U of Rochester was a fine liberalarts college but their engineering mainly consisted of a tremendousChemical Engineering college primarily because of the tremendous supportit received from Eastman- Kodak. Eastman Kodak practically assuredChemical majors of a job upon graduation.)‎"

The two documents refered to below are copies of material prepared in1955, most likely at the request of Susan Nelson Nibeck, daughter of NelsNelson. The document referring to Walter reads as follows:

" Walter C. Nelson was born 1877 in Denmark near the city of Odense, thebirthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. Attended public school and collegein the city. Was graduated from the University of Copenhagen. Took athree year course in portrait photography and eventually started a studioin Esbjerg. There in 1901 he married his present wife, Dora, with whom hehad four sons, Maurice, Walter, Stephen and Sherman.

"In 1907 the whole family emigrated to America and settled in Rochester,New York, where he opened a portrait studio. He met with success in hisprofession, also made several inventions which were adopted by theEastman Kodak Company. He was able to send all four sons throughcolleges. They now occupy responsible positions. One of them ‎(your)‎ Dad,is with the Wagner Electric Co. of this city ‎(St. Louis)‎.

"He is retired from business is 1952 as an honorary member of theRochester as well as New York State Professional Photographers Society.

"He and his wife are now devoting their advanced years to travels,visiting FLorida and California."