His working life began as a farmer in Rochester, New York, then moved on to being a machinist's apprentice in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.
[1] Returning to Toronto, still in debt, he purchased some cows and began the sale of milk.
By 1928, the company employed a thousand people in all departments and production was at one thousand gallons of ice cream per hour, and the company opened branches in South America, South Africa, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand.
Neilson married Mary Eva Kaiser on October 6, 1875, in Brockville, Ontario.
[1] Fred Harry Morden Neilson, the family's official churner, ran the business as president until his death in 1947.