Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/554

514 appeared in the Louisville papers under the signa- ture of " Ellen." but her best work was a series of letters to the " Cincinnati Herald," under the pen- name of " Kate Cleaveland." She is also the author of " Bernice, and other Poems " (Louisville, 1844) and '• Songs of the Heart " (Cincinnati, 1852).

NICHOLS, William Ripley, chemist, b. in Boston, Mass., 30 April, 1847; d. in Hamburg, Germany, 14 July, 1886. He was graduated at Massachusetts institute of technology in 1869, where he taught during his senior year, and was afterward instructor and assistant professor until 1872, when he was elected professor of general chemistry, which chair he retained until his death. Prof. Nichols was a member of the German chemical society, of the American academy of arts and sciences, and the American association for the advancement of science, of which he was vice-president in 1885, delivering before the section on chemistry a retiring address on "Chemistry in the Service of Public Health." He was recognized as an authority on most of the branches of chemistry that relate to sanitation, and among his researches, at the request of the Massachusetts board of health, was a valuable series on the ventilation of railway-trains, particularly the effects of the atmosphere of smoking-cars. Prof. Nichols's specialty was potable water, and he published numerous papers on the water-supplies of cities. He was devoted to the interests of the Institute of technology, and compiled a record of the "Publications of its Officers, Students, and Alumni," in which may be found a complete list of his own papers down to 1882. Besides his scientific papers he published in book-form "An Elementary Manual of Chemistry," abridged from Eliot and Storer's manual, with the cooperation of the authors (New York, 1872); a "Compendious Manual of Qualitative Analysis," by Charles W. Eliot and Frank H. Storer (1872), this and subsequent editions being revised by him; "Water Supply, mainly from a Chemical and Sanitary Standpoint" (1883); and, with Lewis M. Norton, "Experiments in General Chemistry" (printed privately, Boston, 1884).

NICHOLSON, Alfred Osborn Pope, senator, b. in Williamson county, Tenn.. 31 Aug., 1808 ; d. in Columbia, Tenn., 23 March, 1876. He was graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1827, and studied medicine, but, abandoning it for law, was admitted to the bar in 1831, and began practice at Columbia, Tenn. He edited " The Western Mercury " at Columbia in 1832-'5, " The Nashville LTnion " in 1844-'6, and '• The Washing- ton Union " in 1853-6. Mr. Nicholson was a mem- ber of the state house of representatives from 1833 till 1839, and was appointed a U. S. senator from Tennessee, in place of Felix Grundv, as a Democrat, serving from 11 Jan., 1841, till 3 March, 1843. He was chancellor of the middle division of Tennessee in 1845-'51, president of the Bank of Tennessee in 1846-7, and printer of the house of representatives during the 33d congress, and of the senate during the 34th. He was a member of the convention that met at Nashville in 1850. and delivered there an eloquent address in favor of the compromise propositions that were then before congress. He was a member of the Democratic national conven- tion of 1852, and was offered by President Pierce a cabinet appointment, which he declined. In 1857 Mr. Nicholson was elected to the U. S. senate and served until 3 March, 1861, when he retired, and was formally expelled on 3 July of that year for his connection with the secession movement. Dur- ing the war he was twice arrested at Columbia and imprisoned. In 1870 he was elected a member of the convention to revise the constitution of the state, .'ind the same year he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Tennessee. He was the author of a letter to aspirants for the presi- dency in 1848. which became famous under the name of the " Nicholson letter."

NICHOLSON, Sir Francis, colonial governor, d. in London. England, 5 March, 1728. He had served in the Britisli army, was lieutenant-governor of New York under Edmund Andros, and at the head of tlie administration in 1687-9. He was governor of Virginia in 1690-'2 and in 1699-1705, and of Maryland from 1694 till 1699, and during his second term of office in Virginia he established the capital at Williamsburg instead of at James- town as before. He was commander of the forces that captured Port Royal, Nova Scotia, 2 Oct., 1710, and afterward returned to England to urge another attempt at the conquest of Canada, taking^ with him five Iroquois chiefs, whom he presented to Queen Anne. After his return to the colonies he commanded an unsuccessful expedition for the conquest of Canada, was appointed governor of Nova Scotia, and served from 12 Oct., 1712, till August, 1717. He was knighted in 1720, served as governor of South Carolina, 1721-5, returned to England in June, 1725, and was made a lieutenant- general. He was a bold and ambitious man, and had conceived a project for uniting all the Anglo- American colonies, the ostensible object of which was the mutual defence of the British colonists- against the encroachment of the French on the north, and the hostile Indians along the frontier. Nicholson submitted his plan to the king, who heartily approved of it, and recommended the measure to the favorable consideration of the colo- nial assemblies. Virginia would have nothing to do with the scheme, which so exasperated Nichol- son that he recommended that all the American colonies be placed under a viceroy, and that a standing army be maintained among them at their own expense. His project was not received with favor by Queen Anne and her ministers. Sir Francis was the author of " Journal of an Expedi- tion for the Reduction of Port Royal " (London, 1711). This rare quarto, of which there is but one copy in the New World, was reprinted by the Nova Scotia historical society in 1879, and " An Apology or Vindication of Francis Nicholson, Governor of South Carolina " (1724).

NICHOLSON, James, naval officer, b. in Chestertown, Md., in 1737; d. in New York city, 2 Sept., 1804. His father, a Scotchman, came from Berwick-on-Tweed, and was given a grant known as Nicholson's Manor, near the passage of the Blue-Ridge. Va., that is still known as Nicholson's Gap. He held offices of trust under the government. The son was trained to the sea, was at the capture of Havana in 1762, and. after residing in New York in 1763-'71, entered the Revolutionary navy in the "Defence," a Maryland vessel, in 1775. In this ship, in March. 1776. he recaptured several vessels that had been taken by the British, and in June, 1776, he was appointed to the command of the " Virginia," of twenty-eight guns. In January, 1777, he succeeded Com. Esek Hopkins as commander-in-chief of the navy, and held that post till its dissolution. A strict blockade of the Chesapeake prevented the " Virginia " from leaving the bay. and Capt. Nicholson and his crew joined the army and took part in the battle of Trenton. In a subsequent attempt to get to sea the " Virginia " struck upon a bar, and was captured, but the captain and most of his crew escaped. Congress instituted an inquiry into the circumstance, which resulted