Born:    Dec. 23, 1845     Des Moines, Polk, Iowa   

 Sarah Elizabeth Fowler                           1853 - 1932

         Born:    Aug. 14, 1853     Atchison, Co., Missouri   

 Albert Fowler & sister Sarah Elizabeth Fowler

BIRTH-DEATH-BURIAL: San Luis Obispo Co. Death Certificate; 1932; State of

BURIAL: IOOF Cemetery Records, San Luis Obispo, CA;

Sarah Elizabeth Fowler was born in Atchison Co., Missouri. When she was only a baby of about one year, her family and extended family (the "FowlerNation") packed everything they could into covered wagons and made the arduous journey to California. The Fowler brothers spread out over the new state with her father Thomas settling in Yolo County. Sarah was only nine years old when her mother died as the result of an infected tooth. Her father farmed out the three smallest boys and took Sarah with him to Virginia City, Nevada, where he doctored the miners. When her father died in 1867, Sarah, now only 14 years old, went to live with the Farmer
family in Arroyo Grande (near San Luis Obispo). Her brother Albert was already residing there. She was only 17 when she married William Henry Nelson. Soon after their marriage, he had his leg amputated. She nursed him through his long recuperation. Sarah was known for her sweet, loving disposition and kindness to others. She was highly respected in the community and particularly loved for her imagination and lively story-telling abilities. She went by her middle name through her life and was known to her nieces and nephews as Aunt Elizabeth. They loved to visit at her house. Sarah was a widow for 10 years after William died in 1922. They are both buried in the IOOF Cemetery in San Luis Obispo. 

WILLIAM HENRY NELSON

MARRIAGE: San Louis Obispo Co. CA Marr. Rec.; 1870-1920; ; chron.;
FHL Film #1290846.

CENSUS: Sonoma Co. CA; 1850; U.S. Govt.; p 10; Federal Archives,
San Bruno, CA.

CENSUS: Sonoma Co. CA; 1860; U.S. Govt.; p 495 #129-133; Federal Archives,
San Bruno, CA

CENSUS: 1910 Soundex CA; San Luis Obispo Co.; E.D. 41 Sheet
19;NOTE:listed Wm. H. Nelson 64 b. Iowa, Elizabeth F., wife, 53, b. MO.

RESIDENCE: San Luis Obispo Co. CA Great Register (Voter
Registration);1871; Wm. Henry Nelson, 22y, Farmer, Arroyo Grande.

RESIDENCE: San Luis Obispo Co. CA Great Register (Voter
Registration);1872; Wm. H. Nelson, 22y, b. Iowa, Farmer, San Luis Obispo
since 1869.

RESIDENCE: San Luis Obispo Co. CA Great Register (Voter
Registration);1877 & 1878; Wm. Henry Nelson, 31y, Dentist, San Luis
Obispo.

RESIDENCE: McKenney's 1886-7 Pacific Coast Directory; p. 752: San
Luis Obispo Co., Nelson, W. H., dentist.

RESIDENCES: San Luis Obispo City Directory; 1914; ; ; Sutro Library,
San Francisco, CA; NOTE: listed: Nelson, Wm. H. (Elizabeth) Dentist
892Monterey n.
943 Santa Rosa.

BIRTH-DEATH-BURIAL: Death Certificate; 1922; CA State Board of
Health;#22-004153;

BURIAL: IOOF Cemetery Records; 1922; ; ; IOOF Cemetery, San Luis
Obispo, CA.

William was born while his family was traveling to California via
the Oregon Trail. He was raised in Sonoma County where he had an active
life as a mule skinner in the summer, hauling logs to Virginia City. In
the winter, he attended school. He acquired his mother's fervor for
religion and often read the Bible when he camped on the trips to Virginia
City. He graduated from school and became a teacher in Sebastapol. In
1870, the family moved to Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County. As a young
man, William injured his left leg while he was plowing a field and the
plow tipped over, cutting his leg. The injury wouldn't heal, and Louisa
took her son on the train to San Francisco where a doctor amputated the
leg just above the knee. While he was recuperating, he wondered how he
could earn a living now that he could no longer farm. A friend told him
that the area needed a dentist and brought him some books on
dentistry. William studied the books while lying flat on his back. This
was before a certificate was needed to practice dentistry. According to
his daughter, Daisy, he recuperated in San Francisco and practiced his
dentistry on poor people in the Mission District. He had to be hoisted
onto a stool to work on them. He sold his farm by telegraph and had the
buyer send the money to him in San Francisco. By the time he arrived back
in San Luis Obispo, he had only $100. The dentist in town sold him his
practice and equipment for $100. William's practice flourished and soon
he opened a second office in Cayucos. He successfully practiced dentistry
for 46years. William was a fine orator and organized the Grange Lodge
and had a reputation for civic interest. He never touched liquor. He
loved horses and always had a fine team for his buggy.

William was fitted with an artificial leg which he would take off at night
and then use crutches.

William and Sarah Elizabeth were married in a double ceremony with Sarah's
brother, Albert Fowler and Sarah Ann Henry. Sarah and Albert lived with
the Farmer family in Arroyo Grande when their mother died. There Albert
met Sara Henry. Sarah Elizabeth always joked that her brother, Albert,
wanted to get married, but couldn't because he had his little sister to
care for, so he found her a husband. Sarah Elizabeth was only 17 when they
married, but the marriage turned out very well and they were a loving and
devoted couple. In fact, both William and Sarah Elizabeth were very sweet
and loving people who were well thought of in the community.

Their house burned in 1910.

The following article appeared in the newspaper in 1970:

Double Wedding 100 Years Ago

A hundred years ago, on Nov. 1, 1870, a double wedding took place
in the Arroyo Grande stage depot on South Bridge street.
Miss Sarah Ann Henry was married to Albert Fowler, and his sister, Miss
Elizabeth Fowler married William Nelson.
The Sunday before the wedding the four young people had walked to
the top of Picacho, the 919-foot peak which is still a landmark southeast
of Arroyo Grande.
The stage depot was on the west side of Bridge street, or South Traffic
Way, near the present overpass.
The only surviving child of the Fowlers is Cecil Fowler, the
youngest, who is now 80, and who lives in Stratford, Kings County.
William and Stanley Nelson of San Luis Obispo, sons of the late Albert
Nelson, a regrandsons of the Nelsons.

RESEARCH: 1870 CA Census, use index and check all the William Nelson A.

RESEARCH: look in newspapers for account of the Nelson home burning
down in 1909-1910.