Nelson Kitwood Carpenter was born in 1885 in Missouri to Henry Nelson Carpenter (1854–1945) and Flora Lavinia Belman (1857–1958).
By 1898 his family had moved from Missouri to Escondido, California. He graduated from Stanford University in 1907 and married Jessa Mae Plunkitt (1888–1986) in 1912.
Nelson became a birder at a young age and collected two sets of bald eagle eggs on San Clemente Island in 1922. He collected specimens from California, Utah, Alaska, and other parts of North America. Within his collection were the collections of B.P. Carpenter (California) and A.O. and Edward Treganza (Utah and California).
Following Nelson’s death in 1956 (age 71) in San Diego, his collection was transferred by his widow to another collector and ultimately it made its way to the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. Besides his egg collection, there was a lifetime of ornithological correspondences.
He was a member of the Cooper Ornithological Club (now Society) and wrote several articles which appeared in The Condor journal in 1907 and 1918.
Concerning Abnormally Marked Eggs 1907
Observations in Swallow County 1918
Odd nest of the Song Sparrow 1918
Sources: Islapedia.com, FindaGrave.com, Wfvz.org/egg-collectors
Pember has one set of Nelson’s eggs collected by him in 1902 (age 17). This set was sold or traded by Nelson with Walter Raine of Canada and Bert Nichols acquired it from Raine. The timeline is unknown, but the conveyance is evident by the stamps from Raine and Nichols located on the back of the egg data card.
