William Nelson (July 1, 1839 – October 26, 1913) was a Scottish American immigrant, newspaper publisher, and Republican politician.
Born in Rutherglen, Scotland,[1] he emigrated to the United States in 1842 with his father and settled in Jamestown, Wisconsin Territory, in 1843.
[1] At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered for service in the Union Army and was enrolled as a private in Company I of the 10th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.
He returned to Wisconsin and moved to the village of Viroqua, in Vernon County, where he married Mary Elizabeth Fretwell (1840–1919) in 1866.
[1] There he first served as a United States marshal,[4] and then joined the staff of The Salt Lake Tribune in 1881.