Nels Prestlien

   Another name for Nels was Nils Prestlien.

  Research Notes:

Bethany (Lutheran) Cemetery, walkabout 1 Jul 2022; Amisk
Nels Prestlien and wife - just on the south [right side] of the entrance


Directions: Turn south on Hwy 884 [just on the north end of the town], and after about 2 kms, then turn west on Twp Rd 414 - Cemetery is at that corner

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1. source: Echoes along the Ribstone (Czar and District Community History book), 1978 [index image 1058]
pages 454 and 455; images 457-458
https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/archive/Echoes-Along-the-Ribstone-2R3BF1O1ADL8G.html

- family photo on image 458
- gives basic information on descendants; dates, etc
- at first the family settled on the "Shand" farm and attended the Good Luck school [SW¼ Sec 29, Twp 38, range 7 -
north of twp road 384 and between range road 74 and 75]; later to Lakesend school [NE¼ Sec 5, Twp 38, range 8 - abt 0.5 km off of hwy 884 and between twp road 382 and 384]


2. Alberta Homestead records [see file folder for doc and photos, Simon and Nils homestead lands, 1 Jul 2022]

- Nils had an entry application for a homestead in the Whitecourt area - this was a proxy application by his brother, Michael Prestlien, dated: 9 May 1911. SW¼ Sec 22, Twp 59, Range 12, W5th - close to Michael's homestead on the north side of the McLeod River. This application was abandoned [letter from department of the Interior, dated 4 Nov 1911], but it is not clear if Nels ever went to Whitecourt [not likely]

- Nils then applied for homestead entry south of Hugenden/Amisk and near his brother Simon's homestead on 24 Jun 1912-- NW¼, Sec 28, Twp 39, Range 8, W4th; patent letter 6 Mar 1917; address was Puffer, AB (homestead entry application)

Reel 2881; file # 1827462; images 1620-1624

- entry 24 Jun 1912 at Red Deer; his address recorded as: Puffer, AB [likely came to his brother Simon and family, who had built their house in 1910]
- single
- built his house in Jun 1912 and residence on 24 June 1912 - lived continously

191216 broke acres0 cropped
1913016
19141616
19152032
1916052

19121 horse
19132
19142
19154
19164

house - lumber, 14 by 24, value $200
framed stable, 14 by 20, $150
log grainery, 12 by 14, $40
cribbed well, 10 ft, $15
fencing, 2.25 miles 2 wire, $125

- applied for patent, 22 Aug 1916, with address as: Battle Ridge, AB [either the PO office changed or for a few years
there was a community known as Battle Ridge - only about 2 kms north/east of Fairview Cemetery

3. Memories & Milestones - Amisk, Hughenden ... not on-line ...I think I used interlibrary loan

- Nils, after his mother died, went to live with Cornelius Grue, Armena - "it was a strict upbringing".
- and homesteaded 1912 - NW Sec 28-39-8; patent, 1916; address was Puffer, AB
- article gives a lot of detail on the changes made to homestead, etc

*** NOTE: the available census [1916, 1921, 1926, and 1931] records that Nels emigrated in 1904 - he would have been about 12 years old. He is recorded with his father in the 1900 US census at Norman/Florence in WA

4. 1916 Canada Census; district 32 (Battle River), sub 12, page 8; Twp 39, Range 8, W4

- Nels is recorded, but then is crossed off -- not clear what this means, possibly he wasn't at his place on the correct enumeration day, ie, he was away at someplace else, but when he was enumerated (June 17-19) he was at his place and so was recorded -- likely a decision by the "supervisor" was made that he could not be counted, but why

information recorded, but with a line through
- single, born in USA, age 25, Lutheran, emigration 1904; farmer


1921 Canada Census; Alberta, Battle River (218), sub-district 18, page 4; dw/fam 23/23 [line 24]
location: Sect 28 Twp 39 Range 8, W4th

Nels Prestlien, age 30 b in US; em in 1904, na 1915; own single house, wood, 2 rooms; farmer - own account
wife Nettie, age 30 b in US
dau Orline, age 3 b in AB
son Elster, age 1 b in AB
dau Rebecca ?, age 2 mos b in AB [must be Velma]
then, Selma Simonson, age 22 b in AB; domestic [she may be from the Bardo/Kingman area]


1931 Canada Census, Alberta, Battle River, ED [sub-dis] 15, Stocks Rural Municipality 363, page 2, dw/fam 10/10 [line 1] Sec 20 - 38-7-4 [this is abt 20+kms south of Amisk on hwy 884 and then east at Twp Rd 384 for abt 2 kms and junction with Range Rd 75 on the eastern side

Nels Prestlien, age 40 b in US; em 1904, na 1916; rent home, stone and wood, 8 rooms, Own account, farming
wife Nettie, age 40 b in US; em 1910, na 1916
dau Oline, age 13 b in AB
dau Velma, age 10
dau Kiersti, age 3
son Elster, age 11
son Roland, age 6

https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/62640/images/1931_213-e011745359?usePUB=true&pId=5735301

... 1958 Canada Voter lists - both Nels and Nettie address as Kessler;
Elector district - Acadia; polling, Twp 37 and 38, rural polling 97, Airways




5. from ancesty.com Public Member Tree owner hegseth and Ryan Fournier
- photo of church where Nels and Tonneta were married [Nov 2022 - can't find this photo on Ancestry]

6. a death notice for Nels Prestlien,

Calgary Herald, issue 10 Aug 1981, page 22
- died 8 Aug 1981, age 89 at Glenmore Park Auxiliary Hospital [south west Calgary].
- servies and interment at Camrose [burial was actually at Amisk] ^{142,370,444,445,446,447,448,449}

Nels married Tonetta Odden on 25 Jan 1917 in Camrose, Alberta, Canada. (Tonetta Odden was born on 28 Jun 1891 in Portland, Traill Co, North Dakota, United States,³⁷⁰ died on 16 Mar 1977 in Camrose, Alberta, Canada ³⁷⁰ and was buried in Bethany Lutheran Cemetery, Amisk, Alberta, Canada ^370,450.)