Historian's Corner

Big Birthdays

by Donna Christensen Thomas, National DSS Historian

Now that it is officially summer and we have had plenty of days of high temperatures to prove it, I thought this topic would be very appropriate and should be celebrated. The young family of Peder Daniel Nielsen (1868-1946) and wife Ane Margrethe Madsen (1862-1928) immigrated from Vedslet, Skanderborg, Denmark in 1893. They immigrated with two young sons, living in Wheatland, Portage county, Wisconsin for a few years where several more children were born for a total of seven children found. The family adopted the NELSON surname. Eventually they ventured west to Onawa, Iowa, a small town on the Iowa/Nebraska border between Omaha and Sioux City. The father operated an ice cream plant as well as a confectionary shop. The family sold the plant to another man, under whom it failed. The second son, Christian Kent Nelson (1893-1992) grew up and attended the University of Nebraska, studying chemistry, after which he became a high school teacher. He also worked at the family confectionary business, eventually taking over from his father. According to one source, a boy came into the shop and was undecided about choosing chocolate or ice cream. This quandary led to the idea of a combination of the two which had never been done before. Christian worked for a few years to figure out how to achieve the challenge of covering ice cream with hot chocolate without it melting the ice cream. He is purported to have had "only nineteen cents in his pocket and an idea." He visited a number of ice cream plants and promoted the idea. "Ridiculous! " Laughing naysayers were quick to say that it couldn't be done, but he was persistent and in 1921, he partnered with Russell Stover (18881954) here in Omaha. Stover, a Kansas native and graduate of Iowa State University, was a chemist and entrepreneur who partnered with his wife Clara to form their candy company. The two men prevailed and accomplished the feat with addition of coconut oil to the chocolate syrup, heated to 115 and cooled to 90 degrees Fahrenheit which formed a hard shell of chocolate on the ice cream brick. They patented the product. He considered the name of "I-Scream" for the product, but eventually settled on the name of "Eskimo Pie." They sold the license to produce the patented item to a number of cities across the USA. It was made popular through a very aggressive newspaper advertising campaign across the nation. Nelson became president of the Eskimo Pie Corporation which was sold in 1924 to U.S. Foil Co. Mr. Nelson retained his affiliation and continued to invent new products and ways to store and deliver the frozen treats. He retired as vice president in 1961. More than one million Eskimo Pies were eaten per day in 1922. Royalties earned a nickel for each dozen of the treat manufactured. The weekly earnings were split between Nelson and Stover and were about $30,000 per week. Sales were easily in the millions of dollars annually even one hundred years ago! Throughout his life, he travelled to various places that produced the ice cream treat. In March of 1926. Myrtle Rhoda Skidmore (1901-1991) who was originally from Kentucky, married the "Mr. Eskimo Pie Man" in Louisville, KY. Her family had been in the USA for several generations. No known children were born to this union. His parents ended up in Laurens, Otsego county, New York along with some of the younger children, but most of the family ended up in Orange county, California after the parents had died. He employed some family members. A number of them lived there either in their home or in the area. So Happy 100th Birthday Eskimo Pie!! I am still trying to locate where they are sold here to provide them to Danish Sisterhood friends as well as other Scandinavian groups to celebrate the anniversary as I share the story, "the legend"!