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Sella in Red Wing
My great-aunt Sella Victoria Sea-
strand was born January 14, 1883,
in Red Wing, Minnesota, a small city
on the Mississippi River downstream
from St. Paul, the capital.
The 1895 Minnesota state census
reports John Seastrand 52, Elizabeth
50, Herman 22, Augda 20, Rudolph
16, John H 14, and Sally [!Sella], 12.
Both her parents were born in
Sweden. Her father died in 1906 of
an accidental fall. Sella was em-
ployed as a clerk in a millinery shop.
Somehow she became acquainted
with a young Swedish immigrant,
John M. Nelson. Romance bloomed
between them later.
John Goes to California
John's own employment record
shows he worked as a brakeman
Lakeside Cemetery in Red Wing, Minnesota.
from 1901 to 1904 for the Chicago,
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Omaha
Railroad. He then went to California
to work for the Southern Pacific
Railroad. In 1904 he bought block
two of the Calexico townsite for $400.
The property is a few blocks from the
border with Mexico. Its official
assessed value was $300 for land and
$120 for improvements. In 1905 he
was commended by his employer for
exceptional work on the Imperial
Branch tracks during heavy rains.
The Imperial Valley is in the south-
east corner of California.
Their Marriage and Move
West
In August, 1909, John returned to
Red Wing and on September 1 he
married Sella. The ceremony was
performed by Pastor Henry Soder-
holm, witnessed by Rudolph Sea-
strand and Ruth Nelson. The couple
went to Calexico, a huge change for
Sella from the lush valley of the Mis-
sissippi River to the harsh desert of
the Imperial Valley. In November,
1909, they took a mortgage on block
two, paying it off three years later.
The 1910 U. S. Census reported
them residing on Heber Ave. (block
two) in Calexico, ages 29 and 27.
When the census was taken in April
of that year, John worked as a gro-
cery store salesman. Sella is report-
ed as having no work outside the
home.
Deaths in Los Angeles
On June 10, 1912, Sella delivered a
stillborn child in Los Angeles. The
death certificate signed by Dr. H. F.
Boardman gives the name only as
infant of John M. Nelson and the
undertaker as family. The boy was
buried the next day at Evergreen
Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Beginning in November, 1912,
John was under the care of Dr. Wil-
liam Barnhart. John Nelson died at
4 a.m. on March 13, 1913, at home.
He had been seen by his doctor just
the day before. The cause of death
was pulmonary tuberculosis, with
valvular heart disease contributing.
No duration of the disease was given.
His occupation was railway brake-
man.
By mistake, in the death certi-
ficate he was said to be single. The
informant was described as Miss J.
M. Nelson. His length of residence
8 Swedish American Genealogist 2005: 1
nine years, true for the state of Cali-
fornia, but not for Los Angeles. His
place of birth was stated as Sweden,
as was his father's, Albin Nelson.
But the words "don't know" appear
in the spaces for the maiden name of
John's mother and for her birthplace.
He was buried in the Odd Fellows
Cemetery, not far from Evergreen
Cemetery. His grave marker simply
states the years of his birth and
death.
The Red Wing Daily Eagle report-
ed the death the next day on its front
page, saying it was due to dropsy and
complications and that the deceased
had been well-known in that city
years before. The paper said Mrs. J.
Seastrand planned to travel to Los
Angeles to be with her daughter.
Sella Becomes a
Teacher
Sella soon returned to Minnesota,
and then moved to Minneapolis, near
the banks of the same Mississippi
River she had left in 1909. She be-
came qualified to teach business
English, typing, and shorthand. She
served on the Minnehaha Academy
faculty from 1921 to 1952, when she
retired. She encouraged attendance
there by my mother, Margaret Elise,
who graduated in 1923 and after col-
Calexico, California, Tent City in 1908.
lege, taught French for a year in Red
Wing. My sister Elizabeth graduated
in 1949, after touring with the fa-
mo"us Minnehaha Singers. As a
freshman I took typing from Mrs.
Nelson and Latin from Gertrude
Sandberg. She also taught Swedish
and was Sella's housemate for many
years. The 1930 U.S. census reports
both women as boarders in a house
near the academy campus. Our
family tradition at the academy
continued with high school atten-
dance and graduation by our daugh-
ter Elise Margaret and son Drew
William in the 1980s.
Sella's Legacy
On November 15, 1960, Sella died at
age 77 while living at the home of
Gertrude Sandberg. She left no will
but had told her friend of her wish to
leave $1,000 to Minnehaha Academy
and $1,000 to her church, Bethlehem
Covenant. Minnehaha is owned and
operated by the Northwest Con-
ference of the Evangelical Covenant
Church, with a strong Swedish
heritage. Her heirs, sixteen nieces,
who of course shared the Swedish
heritage if not the church connection,
all agreed and contributed $125 each
to those charities. I was one admin-
istrator of the estate. The other was
Arthur Munson, husband of one of
the nieces.
Conclusion
One of the still surviving nieces,
Mildred Seastrand, told me recently
that on the rare occasions when her
aunt spoke of her time in Calexico
she had a twinkle in her eye.
Today the fertile sands of the
Imperial Valley, irrigated by the
mighty Colorado River , produce
many crops year round. Block two in
Calexico has some substantial homes
on it with a school nearby.
Born November 14, 1880, John
Mikael Nilsson, son of Albin Nilsson
and Anna Greta Pettersdotter, he
immigrated to Red Wing at age one
with his family. I found no record of
change of name, but he used Nils-
sonat least once in California in his
real estate transactions.
Readers interested in the Colorado
River and the Imperial Valley of Ca-
lifornia , especially the Salton Sea,
well below sea level, are referred to
an excellent book with many fine
photographs, Salt Dreams: Land and
Water in Low Down California by
William deBuys and Joan Meyers
(University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque, 1999) available both in
hardcover and softcover editions .
The author is William J . Hem-
pel, a retired member of the
Minnesota Bar.
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