Nelson Talmadge Brace was baptized in Hampton, Prince Edward Island on 24 September 1883, the son of Richard Knight Brace, merchant, and Mary Olivia Schurman. As a young man he was part of the first Island contingent (named the Second (Special Service) Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment) to be sent to the Boer War. The contingent of 31 men left Charlottetown in October of 1899, arriving in Capetown on 29 November. They did not see active combat however until February of 1900 at the battle of Paardeburg where Brace was wounded. The contingent returned home in November of 1900 but Brace reenlisted and returned to South Africa. Following the war, Nelson Brace married Catherine A. McClellan of Charlottetown and moved to the United States. They settled in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts where Nelson pursued a career in the transportation industry with the R.S. Brine Co. The Braces had two sons, Richard Nelson (1910 -1991) and Bruce Albert (1916- ) and a daughter Eleanor (1906-1964). Nelson Brace died in 1953.