Nelson, R. J. bio

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 453-454, Astoria Township
R. J. Nelson, postmaster, was born near Quincy in Adams Co., Ill., May 21, 1830. His father, James Nelson, was a farmer and died at Rushville. His wife, Leah Ann Kirkpatrick, was a native of Tennessee. They had 6 children, of whom our subject was the eldest. He was reared in Schuyler Co., and first turned his attention, after leaving the farm homestead, to broom-making and subsequently to coopering. In 1852 he became employed as a clerk in Adams Co. and also in Schuyler. In 1859 he first settled in Fulton and became a permanent resident of Astoria in 1870, when he entered the employ of W. H. Scripps. In 1872 he received the appointment of Postmaster. June 22, 1864, he was married to Miss Jane A. Fackler, daughter of Franklin and Caroline Fackler.
submitted by Carla Finley