Samoan Patriot

The Early Life of the Late O. F. Nelson

JYJUCH has been written of the 'political life of the late Mr. O.

F. Nelson, of Western Samoa, who died on February 21, this year. But little has been recorded of his early life, or the background against which he developed the passionate love of country that was to cause him untold suffering and great material sacri fices, and which undoubtedly/ con tributed to his long illness and early death.

The following notes from our Apia

correspondent supply something of

the early life of young Nelson, and the Samoa in which he grew up.

AT Safune, on the Samoan island of Savaii, on February 24, 1883, was born O. F. Nelson, son of a Swedish father and a Samoan mother.

His father, the late August Nelson, had run away to sea at an early age, and during his wanderings had made a small fortune on the Australian goldfields. He was on his way to the Klondyke rush, when another passenger on his ship persuaded him to land in Samoa instead.

Nelson, Snr., had no previous knowledge of trading, but he set up a trade store at Salailua, on the south coast of Savaii.

Shortly after, he married Sina Tugaga, a Samoan woman of high birth, and trans ferred his business to his wife’s village, Faleolo, Safune.

Young “Fred” Nelson lived with his parents in Faleolo until he was eight, and then he was sent for five years to the Marist Brothers’ School at Apia. At 13 he was apprenticed to the DH & PG, the famous German “long handle” firm, at that time enjoying a virtual monopoly of South Pacific trade. He spent 4 years in its service before returning to Savaii, and during this time undoubtedly laid the foundation for his later successful busi

ness career, which was to make him, at one time, one of the wealthiest men in the South Pacific.

It was said that even as an apprentice his thirst for knowledge was such that he could not file business letters without first carefully perusing and assimilating their contents.

While still an apprentice he formed and led the first brass band in Samoa. The late H. J. Moors, a wealthy American merchant and friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who later became his father in-law, donated the uniforms for the band.

At the age of 17, young Nelson returned to Safune and took over his father’s business. This had fallen on evil times, and had only £315 worth of goods on hand, and an imposingly large list of bad debts. Two or three years later, it was necessary to open a station in Apia, which later became headquarters for the firm of A. Nelson & Son. Messrs. O. F. Nelson & Co., Ltd., are operating in the same premises to this day.

HIS work as a trader led him to all parts of the Samoan Islands, and it was probably at this time that his lifelong love for his people and country was first awakened and his very keen in terest in Samoan genealogy, mythology, traditions, customs, and language deve loped. His thirst for knowledge often led to all-night sessions with the old Samoan chiefs and orators, and the knowledge thus obtained made him the greatest authority on all things Samoan—it is doubtful whether anybody else will ever again be able to gather such a fund of knowledge and understanding.

The fruitful study of the history of his own people led him later to the study of the history of almost all other peoples, and his command of world history was often a source of amazement to cele brities he met.

It is a matter of great sorrow to his family and his friends, and particularly to students of Polynesian history, that during his intensely full life he never found time to convey his knowledge to paper—apart from one small book on

mythology—and thus his valuable know ledge is irretrievably lost to the world.

His extraordinary command of the Samoan language and knowledge of folk lore, plus a marvellous memory, Ivere contributing factors to the very deep and sincere respect which the Samoans un failingly showed to him during his life time.

When his father died, in 1909, he divided the estate between his younger brother and two sisters, made full pro vision for his mother, and took complete control of the firm. It was in that same year that he married the second daughter of Mr. H. J. Moors. In 1915 he bought a property at Tuaefu for his only son, where he later built one of the most beautiful mansions in the Pacific in order, as he impressed upon his children, to contribute to the respect for, and the uplifting of, the Samoan people.

Misfortune struck at his family, as well as many other Samoan families during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19: He lost his mother, his only brother and a sister, and he himself was seriously ill for almost a year. After his illness he and his wife left for a short trip to New Zealand to recuperate—and returned 'just a few weeks before their only son died.

WITH this fresh loss, Mr. Nelson seri ously considered selling out all his Samoari interests and leaving his country, but he finally decided to re main, and in 1920 he began building the home he occupied until his death. His son lies buried there, and now he, too.

In the' same year he left Samoa with his wife on a year’s world tour, during which he bought the furnishings for his new home, “Tuaefu.” On his return he made it a by-word for lavish hospitality; and it was about this time that he started to take a keen interest in the political situation in the Territory.

In 1922, the firm of A. Nelson &’ Son amalgamated with that of the late Mr.

H. J. Moors, his father-in-law, and the present firm of O. F. Nelson & Co., Ltd., was incorporated. At that time, no other company existed in the Samoan Islands, and the late Hon. O. F. Nelson was thus responsible for bringing to the Territory the laws for the registration of com panies—the reason why O. F. Nelson & Co., Ltd., is known to-day as the “senior” firm.

IN 1923 he was elected senior European member of the Legislative Council (the late G. E. L. Westbrook and Mr.

A. Williams were elected to the Council at the same time). He was the first per son to hold this “senior” office, which he kept for two successive periods, and was still holding in 1927, when he was first deported from the country.

The Rev, A. P. Jennings, of the Angli can Mission, has arrived in Australia after many weeks in the RAAF Hospital at Milne Bay. He is now convalescing in Melbourne.