The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Unfortunately, you did include context or reference to know what you are talking about. You write the name "Nelson." Nelson who? In what context? At what time? In what part of US history? Which events?
You need to include the proper contexts and references to better help you.
Trying to be of help we are going to assume that you are talking about George Nelson and his relationship to the fur trade in colonial American times. If that is teh case, then we can comment on the following.
George Nelson was born in Quebec, in 1798 after his parents relocated during the American Revolutionary War.
The trials and tribulations that Nelson describes were the ones presented in the fur trade when he worked for the "XY Company" in 1802. He was in charge of a fur trade outpost in the Northern Michigan Territory(modern-day Wisconsin). He was very young, he was 16 years old, and his inexperience created many conflicts buy his intelligence was an asset for the company.
Later in his life, we worked for the North West Company and the Hudson Bay Company. During his work life as a clerk in these companies, he kept the journals of the daily events. Today, the importance of these documents is that the journals describe the life and trade during those interesting times in North America.