Justus Henry Nelson

Justus Henry Nelson (1850–1937) established the first Protestant church in the Amazon basin and was a self-supporting Methodist missionary in Belém, Pará, Brazil for 45 years.

Justus was born December 22, 1850 in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, near modern-day Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His parents, James Hervey Nelson and Sarah Orelup Nelson were Wisconsin pioneers, later establishing an early farm in South Wayne, Wisconsin near the Illinois border. He was the second of nine children, the first six of which were boys, followed by three girls.

At 18, he attended Evansville Seminary for six months. He finally was able to attend Lawrence University for five years when he was 21, graduating with a B.A. It was there that he decided to be a preacher.

He "studied Theology for four years at Boston University by borrowing $120 from Cousin Nelson Ladue and earned the rest preaching." He received a S.T.B. degree from the Boston University School of Theology.

He also studied "for two years at the Boston University School of Medicine to prepare himself to meet some of the emergencies he would inevitably be called on to alleviate."

While Justus was studying in Boston, he met Miss Fannie Bishop Capen, who had been born in Stoughton, Massachusetts in 1852. Her father's family had roots in Holland and France, and her mother's family had early New England roots. His family had been in New York for five generations before his parents moved to Wisconsin. She was working as a matron in an orphans home. They married on April 13, 1880 in Stoughton, Massachusetts.

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