Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/246

204 Later he was a clergyman and college professor, and is now (1899) U. S. assistant special forest agent. He is the author of " History of Fall River, Mass." (Fall River, 1863); "Joe and the Howards" (Bos- ton, 1869); " Harry's Trip to the Orient" (New York, 1885); "Ruthie's Story" (Philadelphia, 1888); "Trees of Northeastern America" (New York, 1890) ; " Shrubs of Northeastern America " (1893) ; and " Vines of Northeastern America" (1897).

NICHOLS, William Ford, P. E. bishop, b. at Lloyd, Ulster eo., N. Y., 9 June, 1849. He was graduated at Trinity college, Hartford. 1870, and at Berkeley divinity school in 1873. He was or- dained deacon by Bishop Williams in 1873, and priest by the same bishop in 1874. Dr. Nichols was rector of St. James, West Hartford, and Grace church, Newington, Christ church, Hartford, and St. James church, Philadelphia. He was professor of church history in the Berkeley divinity school from 1885 to 1887, and in 1884 he was delegate to the Seabury centenary at Aberdeen, Scotland, and, in behalf of the clergy and laity of Connecticut, presented a paten and chalice to the Scottish church. In 1886 he was assistant secretary of the house of bishops. He was elected assistant bishop of Ohio in 1888, but declined. He was consecrated (assistant) bishop of California in 1890, and upon the death of Bishop Kip became bishop of the diocese in 1893. He founded and is dean of the church divinity school at San Mateo, Cal. The degree of D. 1). was conferred upon iiim by Kenyon and Trinity colleges. His published works are " On the Trial of your Faith " (1895) and various sermons and reviews.

NICKERSON, Samuel Mayo, banker, b. in Chatham, Mass., 14 June, 1830. lie was taken by his parents to Boston in 1837, and was educated in the public schools of that city, but in 1847 he be- came clerk in his brother's store in Appalachicola, Pla., and in 1857 engaged in business on his own account. His property was destroyed by Are in 1857, and in the following year he removed to Chicago, where he accumulated a fortune as a dis- tiller. In 1864, retiring from business, he became president of the City horse railway. In 1867 he was made president of the First national bank, with which he had been connected since 1863, and after 1871 he devoted his entire time to liis banking interests. He organized in 1867 the Union stock-yards national bank (now the Na- tional live-stock bank), and was its first president, was an active member of the Lincoln park com- mission, and is a trustee of the art institute.

NICOLINI, Ernesto, singer, b. in Tours,France, 23 Feb., 1834; d. in Pan, France, 18 Jan.. 1898. He was the son of a hotel-keeper of Oinard, Brittany, who gave him a musical education. He was for a short time a pupil at the Paris Conservatoire, and in 1885 gained a second "accessit" in comic opera. He came to this country with Patii, and contrib- uted largely to the success of her concerts. He also sang here in opera, and is well remembered both for his voice an<l his acting. He was mar- ried to Mme. Patti, 10 June. 1886, the wedding taking place at Ystradgynlaw, in Wales, where Castle Craig-y-Nos is situated. Signor Nieolini was a collector of rare violins, and he possessed a large numlior of valuable instruments.

NIEHAUS, Charles Henry, sculptor, b. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 24 Jan., 1855, of German parents. He was educated in the common schools, and in 1877 went to Munich, where he studied for three years in the royal academy. He received the highest prize yet won by an American, and a di- ploma and medal for a group entitled " Fleeting Time." After travelling in Italy, France, and England for a year, he returned to Cincinnati in 1881. where he received commissions for statues of Garfield and Gov. Allen, which he made in Koine, and while there also modelled several portrait busts, and a statue of a Greek athlete, which was awarded a medal at the Columbian exposition in 1893. He removed in 1887 to New York, wliere he executed statues of Moses and Gibbon for the Congressional Library of Washington, Davenport and Hooker for Hartford, and the Hahnemann monument for Washington, which was awarded him by the advisory committee of the National sculpture society. He received first prize in the competition for an equestrian statue of Gen. Robert E. lice for Richmond, and for the com- petitive design for an equestrian statue of Sher- man for Washington ; made portrait of Vice- President Tompkins for the national eapitol, and bronze door for Trinity church. New York; stat- ues of Lincoln, Gov. Oliver P. Morton, and Farra- gut ; the pediment for the appellate court. New York, and the group " The Return " for the Admi- ral Dewey arch, together with many portrait busts.

NOBLE, Samuel, iron founder, b. in Cornwall, England. 22 Nov., 1834; d. in Anniston, Ala., 13 Aug., 1888. His father removed to this country soon after tlie birth of the son, who was brought up as an iron founder and machine manufacturer. He removed to Rome, Ga., and successfully fol- lowed that business till the civil war, when his shops were closed. About 1866 he resumed busi- ness, and in 1873, with Gen. Daniel Tyler, built a charcoal iron furnace at Anniston, Ala., chartered the Woodstock iron company, luid organized the Anniston land and improvement company, which residted in the speedy increase of the village from a few huts to a well laid out town of ten thousand inhabitants. Mr. Noble was an active member of the Protective tariff league.

NORDICA, Lillian (nor'-di-ka), opera-singer, b. in Farmington, Me., about 1858. Her maiden name was Norton. At an early age she removed to Massachusetts, en- tered the Boston con- servatory of music, and went to Europe with Gilmore's band in 1878; but, find- ing that the concerts were to be given in the open air. resolved to cancel her engage- ment and enter the operatic field. She finished her studies in 1879 at Milan, under San Giovanni, and. after some suc- cess in that country, went to Paris, where she appeared at the Grand opera-house as Ofihclia in Ambroise Thomas's " Hamlet." She appeared subsequently HI various important operatic roles, and in later years particularly she has had many successes in the rules of the great Wagnerian heroines. Mme. Nordica's first husband. F. A. Gower. was an elec- trician, and was lost in a balloon ascension in 1887. In ;Iay, 1896. she was married to Zoltan P. Doehme, the talented tenor singer. She spent the summer of 1899 in the Black forest of Germany, joining Grau's opera troupe for the American season of 1899-1900, in New York in November.