Jacob Broughton Nelson (July 30, 1898 – after 1924) was the founder of Phi Kappa secondary school fraternity.

Unknown to the fraternity, Nelson was convicted of theft and served time in the South Dakota penitentiary.

[1] His parents were Laura Hill (née Locke) and Jacob Boone Nelsen, a circuit preacher for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

[2][6] His freshman year, he belonged to the Clariosophic Literary Society, the Glee Club, the Intercollegiate Oratorical Association, the Y.M.C.A.

[2] While he was a student at Southern University Preparatory School, Nelson joined Phi Kappa fraternity.

[2] At the end of the semester in May 1917, Nelson returned home to Troy, where he founded the Upsilon chapter of Phi Kappa.

[2] Nelson also oversaw the chartering of the Gamma Beta chapter at the Emory University Academy in Oxford, Georgia.

[2] In August 1917, Nelson returned to Southern University where he worked as the private secretary of President Daniels.

[17] By February 1922, the buisiness had moved to a larger suite in the National Bank Building and had established a branch in Kansas City, Missouri.

[17] Nelson borrowed $50 from a friend on July 1, 1922, claiming he needed the loan to travel to Chicago for his half-brother's funeral.

[17] The next day, Nelson left Sioux City for Canada after embezzling funds from the Legion of the Mooseheart.

[17] The two claimed to be the Newman brothers and also went by the aliases William Regan (Nelson) and Jack Wilson (Smith).

[17] The Royal Northwest Mounted Police traced the fugitives through Saskatchewan to Winnipeg, where they found Smith on October 27, 1922.

[20] Judge Medin of the Circuit Court sentenced Nelson to eighteen months in the South Dakota penitentiary.

[33] One fraternity historian says Nelson died of tuberculosis in Colorado but official records do not confirm this'; another report claimed that he moved to Texas.