Jacob Broughton Nelson

Jacob Broughton Nelson (July 30, 1898 – after 1924) was the founder of Phi Kappa secondary school fraternity. In addition to being a member of the Alpha chapter at Southern University Preparatory School in Greensboro, Alabama, he helped establish three additional chapters of the fraternity. Nelson became the fraternity's first Grand Master in the spring of 1919. In later years, the Phi Kappa lost touch with Nelson. Unknown to the fraternity, Nelson was convicted of theft and served time in the South Dakota penitentiary.

Early life Nelson was born on July 30, 1898, in Brundidge, Alabama. His parents were Laura Hill (née Locke) and Jacob Boone Nelsen, a circuit preacher for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. While growing up, his family lived in Summerfield, Alabama; Dellwood, Jackson County, Florida; and Troy, Alabama. His father died in December 1916. His freshman year, he belonged to the Clariosophic Literary Society, the Glee Club, the Intercollegiate Oratorical Association, the Y.M.C.A. Bible Study Group, and the Society of the Much Abused or The Independent Order of Preacher's Sons and Daughters. In October 1914, he represented the university's Y.M.C.A. at the state conference. In February 1915, he was appointed Y.M.C.A. music chairman. He was also a member of the Phi Kappa fraternity. The fraternity lost contact with Nelson after 1920. When America entered World War I, he joined the local Red Cross organization. He was inducted into the military but did not serve. In 1918, Nelson was a bookkeeper with Rosenberg Bros. in Pike County, Alabama. In 1920, he lived in Flandreau where he worked as an underwriter for an insurance company. In 1921, he moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hoping to pass as a relative of a recluse in Flandreau. When that failed, he became an accountant for the Bourroughs Adding Machine Company in Sioux Falls. He was also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the secretary and treasurer of the South Dakota Legion of the Mooseheart, No. 194 of Sioux Falls. He initially attended the Episcopal church and became a Sunday school teacher. Nelson was proposed for membership in the American Philatelic Society in April 1921. However, the business failed; its stockholders lost their investment and Nelson was broke. Later, Smith claimed that he went willingly after Nelson promised adventures fishing, hunting, and trapping, as well as money. Nelson was arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, kidnapping, fraud, and embezzlement.

In September 1927, Mrs. J. B. Nelson of Sioux Falls ran an advertisement looking for her husband, last known to be in Perryton, Texas. One fraternity historian says Nelson died of tuberculosis in Colorado but official records do not confirm this'; another report claimed that he moved to Texas.