Om genstanden
Foto, udendørs amatøroptagelse: Dreng stående ved hus med hænderne i lommen. Motiv: Gaylord Nielsen, søn af Carl Nielsens bror, Anders Jacob Nielsen. Gaylord døde som 16-17 årig (jf. Carl Nielsen Brevudgaven bd. 7, s. 448) og bagsiden af foto, hvorpå er skrevet: "Dec. 17=19./ Dear friends! We know you/ will forgive us for not writing to/ you. It is so hard. We thank you/ for your dear letter we received/ so long ago./ This was taken of Gaylord a few/ days before he passed away./ We are having fine sunshiny/ weather everyday - we can spend/ the whole day out; The roses are/ in bloom - and everything nice/ and green. We just had rain for/ 3 days. With best wishes for/ many happy new years// Med anden skrift er påført: "Gaylord Nielsen/ grandpas nephew".
Genstanden er doneret til Odense Bys Museer i august 2011. Det er givet af enken efter George E. Nelson, der var barnebarn til John S. Nelson. Kassen fra Amerika med div. Nielseniana (plader, breve, fotos mm) ankom til Odense fra USA 13. oktober 2011.
Melanie Nelson skriver bl.a. i mail af 31.7.2011: "Sophus Nielsen, brother of Carl Nielsen emigrated to the USA and changed his name to John Nelson. In his last years he lived in Ironwood, Michigan and Mercer, Wisconsin with his wife Jenny. Their only child was a son George I Nelson. George's son George E. Nelson, is my late husband. George died of a heart attack May 17, 2006, near Munster, Germany where we were vacationing.
My George and his siblings, Johnny and Prudence, lived with his grandfather and grandmother, John and Jenny Nelson, for 2 years during The Great Depression, and I was told that although Sophus (John) was over 70 years old, he got up early every morning and made oatmeal for the children before they went to school. Johnny died in 1953 in Canada on a canoe trip, and Prudence died 2002 in Mercer Wisconsin of a rare cancer."
