Nels Nelson Graff Cabin

Nels Nelson Graff Cabin. . After acquiring a quarter section of land in 1870 through the Homestead Act of 1862, Nels Nelson (N.N.) Graff and his wife Elise, Scandinavian immigrants, built a dugout where they lived the first three years. In 1873, Nels built the first permanent wooden-structured home in Brandon Township prior to the village of Brandon being platted in 1878. By using the bur oaks growing along Split Rock Creek, Nels built the 14-by-17 foot log cabin with a basement, a loft above the main floor, and a shingled roof located about 1,450 feet north northeast of here. They and their four sons Martin (1871), Adolph aka A.N. (1874), twins Elius and Neil (1881) lived in the log home. Elise died hours after giving birth to the twins. Throughout the years, their descendants lived in and built around the log home located on its original red-rock foundation. The last resident was Carol Anderson Williams, whose mother, Oral Graff, was the granddaughter of A.N. Graff. In 2002 Dale Ellens, great great-grandson of Nils Olsen who was Nels' father, purchased the lot and the home. After exploring several options of preserving the cabin, he gifted it to the Brandon Historical Society in 2016. The City of Brandon permitted the Society to move the cabin here at Pioneer Park, which is on the southern part of the land Nels homesteaded in 1870., Major Donors: , Alliance Communications , Mary Chilton DAR Foundation , Mary Ode Stoller Memorial , Midwest Railcar Repair , Prairie Rose Community Foundation , Sally Graff Memorial , Sioux Valley Energy