Memorial Record of Southwestern Minnesota, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illiniois, pages 468-470, 1897, Bullitt County.

NELSON GOLDSMITH, JR. For a period of 32 years the subject of this sketch has made his home at his present location in Cleveland township, Le Sueur Co., Minn., he having come here at the close of his army service in 1864. Mr. Goldsmith is a Kentuckian by birth, ushered into life in Bullitt Co., Ky. April 11, 1844 and is descended from an old Virginia family. His father, Nelson Goldsmith, Sr., was born in Virginia, and when a young man came west to Indiana, where he was subsequently united in marriage to
Miss Nancy Davis, a member of one of the pioneer families of Kentucky that had moved up into Indiana. After their marriage they located in Bullitt county, Kentucky, where they made their home until 1864, most of their numerous progeny being born and reared there, and that year they
came to Minnesota settling in Le Sueur county, where the closing years of their life were spent and where they died, each having attained a ripe old age, she being seventy-nine and he ninety at death. By trade he was a bricklayer and plaster, which he followed during the early part of his
life, but later gave his attention to the quiet pursuits of the farm. He was identified with the Masonic order and both he and his good wife were consistent members of the Christian church, in which for years he was a deacon. In their family were fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to
maturity, viz.: Anna, Matilda, Mary A., James D., David, Abigail, Millie, Lucinda, John Thomas, Nelson, Owen, and Nancy. One of their children died in infancy and two in childhood. Nelson, whose name adorns the pages of this work, was reared on his father's farm in Kentucky, brought up to the habits of honesty, industry, and piety, and with no other educational advantages than those of the common schools. In July, 1862, in response to the call made by the
nation's executive for more troops to swell the Union army, he enlisted as a member of the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, under Colonel Bales and Captain Barnett, and was in the service until the following year, when he was honorably discharged on account of disability. During several months of his army life he was sick and in hospital in Louisville. He was at the battle of Chickamauga, but was sick and unable to take part in it, being then in a horizontal position and able to only witness the great battle. Mr. Goldsmith was in the battle of Murfreesboro and all the following battles to that of Chickmauga. In 1864, the year following his honorable discharge, he came to Minnesota, settled in Le Sueur county, and here he has ever maintained his home. Here he owns eighty-three acres of good land, well improved; has a cozy and attractive residence, built at a cost of twelve hundred dollars,
surrounded with forest trees and pretty lawn; and is successfully engaged in farming and stockraising. A tubular well run by a windmill furnishes water for stock. In short, his is a delightful rural home. Mr. Goldsmith was married in January, 1873, at Kasota, to Miss Mary Helen
Miller, a lady of education and culture and previous to her marriage a teacher. Mr and Mrs. Goldsmith have five children, viz.: Huldah Maud, Ralph M., Elmer L., Melville S., and Henry E.; and they have one deceased, -- Winfred, who died at the age of eighteen months. Like most of the survivors of the Union army, Mr. Goldsmith is identified
with the Republican party and the G. A. R., his membership in the latter being the A. K. Skaro Post, No. 37, of St. Peter. He is a man of broad views, well posted on the topics of the day, and interested in all that pertains to the good of the country. For some years he has been a member of the school board.