John Wesley Nelson Obituary, Contributed by Sharon Nelson Nutt

 

Obituary - Paintsville Herald Newspaper, Johnson Co., KY - Dec 9 1970:
     J. NELSON:    One of the oldest residents of West Van Lear, John Wesley Nelson, passed away at his home on December 6.  The 96-year-old retired C & 0 Railroad employee and Freewill Baptist had suffered a brief illness.
     The son of the late Isaac and Susann Lynns Nelson, he was born in Lawrence County.
     Surviving are his wife, Bessie Harmon Nelson, four sons, Ernest Nelson of Louisa, Charlie Nelson of Beckley, W.Va., and John and Joe Nelson of West Van Lear, and a daughter from Portsmouth, Ohio, Mrs. Myrtle Stapleton.
     Don Fraley and Claude Preston held services December 9 in the First Freewill Baptist Church, and interment followed in the family cemetery at Paintsville.  The Jones Preston Funeral Home was in charge.

 

NOTE:  Bessie Harmon Nelson was Wes's 2nd wife. His first wife, my great grandmother and the mother of all his children, was Malisa Caldonia PRICE [Martin] Nelson, born in 1878 in Knott Co. Ky to Nancy Price [not married] and Clay Martin, son of William J. "Bee" Martin.