Shelton-Mason County Journal - Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886

Humphrey "Hump" Nelson was one of the premier oyster growers in early Mason County. His family moved from Michigan to Tacoma in 1888, when he was about 2 years old. Not long after they arrived, Hump's father went to work for the Blakely Logging Co. and moved his family to the Kamilche area, where as a young man he got his start in the oyster business. Around 1965, he wrote his autobiography, "The Little Man and the Little Oyster," published by the Mason County Historical Society in 1990. This excerpt tells the story of how Hump and his wife met and married.

When their father died in spring...