William A. Bradt, born in New York, was married to Mary Gillepsie. They had several children, including Sheldon Elisha Bradt, who was born in 1847 in Troy, New York. The Bradt family came to Winnebago County, Wisconsin in 1850 and settled on a farm in Rushford Township, south of New London. Raised in Wisconsin, Sheldon Bradt later volunteered for service in the Union army and was mustered into service in February of 1864. Bradt served in Company F, Eighteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and was captured by the enemy in October 1864 at Allatoona Pass, Georgia. Bradt was mustered out of service in July of 1865 and returned to Winnebago County, Wisconsin until 1866, when he relocated to Waupaca County. In 1879, Sheldon Bradt married Hannora “Nora” O'Brien who was the daughter of Felix O'Brien and wife Mary from Ireland via Canada. Felix and Mary came to Wisconsin in 1848 and settled on a farm in Northport in Mukwa Township, Waupaca County, Wisconsin where Hannora was born on August 23, 1849. According to family history, the O'Briens were the first white settlers to Mukwa and Nora, their fourth child, was the first white baby born in Waupaca County.
Nora and Sheldon Bradt raised three children, Mary, George, and Eugene, on the O'Brien farm in Mukwa. The farm was located closest to Northport, in the northern section of Mukwa. The next closest village at the time was New London. The records report the family residence as Northport, New London, and Mukwa interchangeably; however, at some point in the early part of the 20th century, Northport ceased to exist and New London became consistently used as the place of residence.
Nora and Sheldon's daughter, Mary Janet (also known as Marie Jeanette Bradt), was born in New London, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, on June 25, 1882. After graduating from high school, Mary Bradt went on to attend the Trinity Hospital School for Nurses, in Milwaukee and was married briefly to Sylvester S. Hogan (circa 1906) who died a year later. Bradt belonged to the first graduating class of 1907 and worked as a head nurse in Milwaukee hospitals until 1910, when she married Anton Nels Nelson (born Nels Anton Nelson) who was the son of Christian Nelson (also known as Christen Nilsson) and Regina Paulina Olsen.
Christian Nelson emigrated from Norway in 1866 and settled in Thorp, Clark County, Wisconsin, where he married Regina Paulina Olson on June 15, 1876. Nels Anton Nelson (or Anton Nels Nelson, or A. N. Nelson) was the first child born to the couple on February 20, 1878. Four more children were born after Nels Anton including Ove Malling (1880-1975), Gertrude Cecelia (1883-1970), Mamie (1885-1918), and Alma (1895-1964).
After graduating from Thorp High School in 1896, A. N. Nelson attended Marquette University's School of Medicine and graduated valedictorian in 1907. After graduation, he set up his own practice in Clear Lake, Polk County, Wisconsin where he lived until his death in 1958. Mary Bradt and Anton were married October 10, 1910 and had four children: Margaret, Marah Janet, Stannard, and Gaylord. Gaylord Nelson would later become Governor of Wisconsin and United States Senator.
