This little cherub is Nina Elba Elanora Watts. The photograph was taken in April of 1884 when Nina was nineteen months old. Nina's parents were John and Matilda Watts, Swedish immigrants who like so many of their compatriots settled on the US prairie. Unlike most however, John was not a farmer; he was a cabinet maker and merchant in Topeka. Judging from the elegant clothing little Nina is wearing, he was a very successful one.
The family included a son John Jr. and Nina's two sisters Ester and Aggie. Her mother Matilda gave birth to six children, but only three attained any great age, Nina, John Jr. and Ester. At age 23 Nina married Carl Nyquist, himself the son of Swedish immigrants. Carl rose to be a vice-president of the Rock Island & Chicago railroad, so Nina probably lived a comfortable life after her marriage. He died in California in 1959. Nina and Carl had one son Carl Jr. who passed away in 1966, before his mother who died in Banning California on September 17th, 1973.
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