In the 1885 state census, in the Joseph & Mary Nelson home, is a girl Abbie age 0-5. She does not appear in the list of living children that Joseph made for his federal pension applicationon May 4, 1898 1898. On August 22, 1890, the Trenton Times carried an account of the death of Mrs Mary Nelson. It stated that she was the mother of seven children.
There is a slight possibility that she was adopted by another family after the death of her mother. The children were for a time in an orphanage.
