Iver Nilson
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| Name at Enlist | Iver Nilson |
| Birth Name | Iver Nilsen Wiger |
| Other Names | Iver Nelson Weker; Viker |
| Lived | 10 May 1837 – 16 Sep 1863 |
| Birth Place | Norderhov, Buskerud fylke |
| Birth Country | Norway |
| Resident of Muster-In | Fillmore County, MN |
| Company at Enlistment | K |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | Feb 1862 |
| Cause of Death | Consumption and chronic diarrhea |
| Death Location | Fillmore County, MN |
| Burial Location | Highland Prairie Lutheran Cemetery, Norway Township, Fillmore County, MN |
| Mother | Kari Thorsdatter Wiger |
| Mother Lived | 1796-21 Aug 1859 |
| Father | Nils Hansen Rustad |
| Father Lived | 1792-18 Mar 1873 |
| Immigration | 1855 |
| Spouse | Guri Paulsdatter Nøstebøe |
| Spouse Lived | 30 Nov 1832-10 Dec 1916 |
| Married On | 12 Feb 1862 |
| Marriage Location | Fillmore County, MN |
Iver Nilson was born on May 10, 1837 in Norderhov, Buskerude fylke, Norway to Nils Hansen and Kari Thorsdatter Wiger. He immigrated to Minnesota. On February 12, 1862, he married Guri Paulsdatter in Fillmore County, MN. He had enlisted in the military one day prior. His son, Nels Peter, was born a few months later on May 20, 1862.
Nilson joined WI 15th Infantry, Company K. The company called itself “Clausen’s Guards” in honor of the 15th’s first Chaplain, Claus L. Clausen. Most of the company was recruited from Scandinavian communities in Minnesota and Iowa, with the rest from Wisconsin.
The army listed Nilson as living in Fillmore County, MN. He was born in Norway, age 24, and married. He enlisted for three years on February 11, 1862, in Fillmore County, and mustered at Camp Randall, Madison, WI, as a Private (Menig). Nilson was left sick at Mississippi River Island No. 10 on June 11, 1862. On October 27, 1862, he was on Military Police duty. Nilson was taken prisoner at Stones River, TN, on December 31, 1862, and then exchanged at St. Louis, MO, in 1863. Nilson died of disease while at his home on furlough in Fillmore County on September 16, 1863. He was buried in Highland Prairie Lutheran Cemetery, Norway Township, Fillmore County. The headstone reads “Iver Nelson Weker, Co K, 15th Reg, Wis Vol, died 16 Sep 1863, age 26 years”. His widow, Guri, married Lars Hanson Staaland on January 7, 1867. She died December 10, 1916, and is buried in Melville Lutheran Cemetery, Melville, Sweet Grass County, MT.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-12; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol. 20, p. 146; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, 1894, B. Anundsen, Decorah, IA, p. 635; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p. 318; 1890 Veterans and Widows Census, Minnesota, No.123, roll 22; Minnesota Marriages Index, FHL Film #1316804; digitalarkivet.no; ancestry.com; findagrave.com; “Norwegian Immigrants 1850 and later”, database, NAGCNL, #21833.