The Baptist settlement at Jamestown in Cloud County was founded in 1869 by Niels Nielsen, one of the first Baptists in Denmark.18 Born on the Danish island of Fyn in 1809, Nielsen and his brother embraced the Baptist
Danish settlers in front of their sod house in Kansas. (Property of the Nebraska State Historical Society.)
doctrine, rather unpopular at that time in Denmark, in 1826. On April 11, 1838, Nielsen married Anna Pedersen in the town of Gimlinge on Zealand.
The Nielsen brothers were two of 24 Danes who constituted the entire membership of the Baptist church in Denmark in 1824.
In 1865, Anna and Niels Nielsen, along with two sons and one daughter, arrived in New York and went directly to St. Louis where they joined their other children who had emigrated some years before. There the family remained for two years learning the English language before Anna and Niels moved to Chicago for two years of missionary work in 1867. But the desire to be settled near family drew the Nielsens to the frontier so that they might all take homesteads in the same settlement. In 1868 an agent helped them to find a quarter section of land in Cloud County, then inhabited by the buffalo and the Indian.
The Nielsen family had barely settled on their homestead in 1869 when Cloud county was raided by the same Indians who were thought to have raided Lincoln county a few days earlier. The Reverend Nielsen’s son, Jens, who called himself James Nelson, survived the raid, and at the re
quest of friends, he wrote the following account of it in 1934:19
...The neighbors told us about the Indian raids and depredations, but had not seen any Indians for some time. In the meantime, my father’s sister-in-law, Christine, and her year-old boy joined us. We erected a small frame building to serve as a dwelling house.
On June 2, 1869, shortly before night, Nels [brother] and I were breaking sod about forty rods from the house. The Adkins boy, about 11 years old and the son of our neighbor living to the north across the river, rode up on a pony. He talked to us for a while and then rode on a half mile to get the Adkins cows that were grazing. Just as we were at the south end of the field and I was turning around, we saw the Indians coming on their horses. When they had covered about half the distance toward us, they discovered the Adkins boy and all the Indians but one went after him. This one Indian kept coming towards us. I started to run towards the house, Nels stayed with the team for a while. An Indian undertook to cut me off from the house. He had a spear in his left hand, which he changed to his right hand while he constantly rode up closer. I carried a large revolver which I kept strapped to my belt as a part of my regular equipment. As I drew my revolver to shoot, the Indian swung to the far side of the horse and rode away to join the others.
They killed the Adkins boy, taking the pony and also the mules and horses we had. Nels and I made our way to the house and told the folks what had happened. We decided to hide out as the best way to safety. My father was an old man and quite crippled. Father,
Chris-tine, and baby went first and I followed to protect them the best we could. After the Indians had rounded up the pony, mules and horses, they came to the house and circled it a number of times, shot into it a number of times as they went around to see whether or not it was occupied. Finding it empty, they went on helping themselves to what they could and wanted.
We went to the Adkins place across the river, having to wade in the water. As I was making my way across I came to Christine, with her baby in her arms, afraid to wade further. I put my guns down and waded out to her, taking the baby and leading the way across, she placing her hand on my shoulder. When we told the Adkins family their boy had been killed by the Indians, they began to cry and scream, wishing they had never come to Kansas. Not knowing the number of Indians that might be in the country, we waited until after dark to search for the boy.
Nels and Adkins’ son-in-law, Jap Scrivner, made the search. It was about six miles going and coming to where they expected to find the boy. Not having any roads, they were afraid they might have trouble finding their way back, so we built a fire on the roof of the dugout to aid them in finding the way back. When they came back with the body of the boy, there was further crying and screaming. During the excitement we forgot the fire on the dugout. The fire began to burn the roof, so we had another scare, thinking the Indians might have returned again.
When we saw what the trouble was, we became more composed, and soon had the fire out. The fire did very little damage. Soon they buried the Adkins boy, they tore boards off the buildings and con
structed a coffin. Some black cloth, calico and tacks were brought out from town and the coffin covered with the black cloth. When the procession started for the grave, everyone, including women, carried a gun. There was not a flower offered up, but many tears were shed.
The next day after the raid, some neighbors came along to see our house and to learn what damage had been done by the Indians. It certainly was a sorry site to see how our things had been destroyed.
We had good feather ticks brought to us from our native land of Denmark. The feathers had been emptied and the ticks taken. Our clothing and the washing done that day were all gone. Corn we had paid a dollar and a half a bushel for had been emptied out of the sacks and the sacks taken. In walking over the grounds, I discovered where the Indians had emptied a handbag in which my father kept some papers and some money. Among these papers was an envelope con
taining one hundred and seventy-five dollars, all the money Father
had at that time. We were fortunate to find this as we were able to buy much needed clothing and provisions.
...Father and I had a chance to ride to Junction City, Kansas with a man who had a team. Junction City was the nearest railroad at that time. As we were drawing near Clay Center, we met the U.S. Cavalry from Fort Riley on the way to Lake Sibley to look after the Indians.
On the third day of June, 1869, the day following the raid on us, the Indians made a raid on Scandia and killed a boy by the name of Granstead, also taking a bunch of horses. The U.S. Cavalry went to Scandia and stayed during the remainder of the summer. There were no further troubles with the Indians.
...Shortly after the Indian raid, we put in a claim for one thousand four hundred dollars for damages done by the Indians. The Govern
ment told us the name of the tribe of Indians that did the damage. We called them Cheyennes. Forty-seven years later the Government set
tled the claim for eight-hundred dollars without interest and the Government called them Cheyennes at that time.
In 1871, the Reverend Nielsen organized a Danish Baptist Church with eleven members who donated their money and time in quarrying the lime
stone to build a church. It was completed in 1877 and known as the Saron Baptist Church. Nielsen preached there from 1871 to 1886.
The Nielsen (Nelson) family remained in the area for many generations, and according to their family histories, their lives were happy and produc
tive.