BIOGRAPHY

MAURICE NELAN

Nelan, Maurice, who for a number of years has been recognized as one of the foremost and successful farmers of Genesee County, won his way to the front rank of his generation by sheer energy, hard work and a genius for overcoming obstacles and making circumstances the servants of his will. He is truly the architect of his own fortune, inheriting nothing from the generation before him but an honored family name and the high qualities of character for which he has long been noted. He is a son of Dennis and Ellen (Pierce) Nelan, and was born in County Kerry, Province of Munster, Ireland, July 20. 1834. His father died when he was a boy of four years, leaving a widow and three children dependent upon their own exertions. In 1852 Maurice emigrated to this country, landing in New York with but twenty-five cents in money. He worked his way to Middlebury, Wyoming County, where he secured employment on a farm. For his first year's service he received but $26. By hard work, strict economy and an indomitable will he accumulated enough money to buy a farm, and has added to it from time to time until now he has two hundred and thirty acres of as fine land as is to be found in Genesee County. Mr. Nelan married Jane A. Welton, by whom he has three children, viz.: Thomas, Morris and Lewis. Mr. Nelan is a liberal supporter of the M. E. Church, although he is not a member. Politically he is a Republican and his first vote was cast for President Lincoln He held the office of highway commissioner for seven years. Mr. Nelan has a pleasant home and in his domestic and social relations he is kind and genial. Strangers always find him courteous and pleasant. He is liberal and public spirited and a free and cheerful giver to public enterprises that tend to promote the best interests of his community.

Source: Our County and its people, A descriptive work on Genesee County, New York, Edited by: F. W. Beers, J.W. Vose & Co., Publishers, Syracuse, N. Y. 1890