Joseph Smith Nelson, son of Edmund Nelson and Jane Taylor, was born December 20, 1838, at Caldwell County, Missouri. In his boyhood days he was well acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith.

With his parents he came to Utah in 1850 and settled in Ogden, afterward at Mountainville. In 1857 he moved to Payson, then to Cache Valley in 1860 and settled in Franklin, Idaho where he was captain of the Minute Men for four years.

He was married in 1861 to Hannah J. Patten. They went to Bear Lake in 1864. They settled in Star Valley, Wyoming, in 1886 and lived there most of the time until his death which occurred April 6, 1911. Death was caused by organic heart trouble. He was the father of 16 children. He died a faithful Latter-day Saint.

From his obituary found in the archives of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.