Nels Rasmussen Pilskog was born in Pilskog, Norway on June 17, 1897, and died in Seldovia January 21, 1991.
Nels was the 3rd son of Rasmus and Johanna Pilskog. He went to sea at the age of 16, on a sailing ship hunting seal and whales off the coast of Greenland.
He immigrated to the US in 1923, from Southhampton, England, on the vessel Majestic, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts. He then traveled to Washington State to work for his uncle as a logger and fishtrap watchman. While there, in 1926, He applied for US citizenship.
He lived in Wrangell, Alaska for many years and then moved to Spenard when it was still “out in the woods”.
He fished Bristol Bay and smoked salmon on Fire Island for the Anchorage market. He also worked on the railway and as a carpenter and played his accordion in bars and for dances.
Nels married Nellie Jacobsen in Seldovia in the 1940s and fished commercially well into his 80s, primarily halibut. He was survived by his step-son Niles Kaho of Homer. He is buried in the Seldovia City Cemetery in Plot #31, next to his wife, Nellie.