Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/169

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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April, 1909, aged ninety-two years, her mother dying in 1898, aged sixty-four years.

Judge Charles E. Nicol. The Nicol pio- neer in N'irginia, an officer of Frederick the Great, of Prussia, founded an estate in the Old Dominion that has been held well to- ward two centuries by his descendants, the original grant yet being held in the family. On maternal lines Judge Nicol descends from English forbears, his grandfather, John Williams, holding the office of clerk of courts, an office held in the family for over one hundred years.

Charles Edgar Nicol is a son of Judge Aylett Nicol and a grandson of Michael and Sarah (Miller) Nicol, the last-named a daughter of a wealthy farmer of Rappahan- nock county, Virginia. Judge Aylett Nicol was born in Rappahannock county, V^ir- ginia, in 1822, died in 1878. He was a man of good education and strong character, a law- }'er bv profession, one time judge of Prince William county, a colonel of militia, and a kind-owner. He married Mary Jane Wil- liams, who died in 1862, a lady of culture and intellectual powers.

Charles Edgar Nicol was born at Brents- ville. Prince William county, Virginia, Feb- ruary 22, 1854, and spent his early life on the home farm, where he engaged in every form of farm labor. He developed a strong body during those early years of out-door life, an asset that has never failed him. He obtained his education through his own ef- forts, earning the necessary funds a.s he ad- vanced in his college life. He attended pri- vate schools, Rappahannock Academy, and Richmond College, graduating in Latin, Greek and French, also being awarded the Magazine Medal of the Mu Sigma Rho fra- ternity, a prize given the best magazine writer of the college. In 1875 he attended the law school of the University of Vir- ginia, obtaining a certificate of proficiency in international and constitutional law, and winning in open contest the "debater's medal," offered by the Washington Liter- ary Society to the best speaker and debater.

During the year preceding his entrance to the university he taught school and stud- ied law. After leaving the university he was admitted to the Virginia bar and has since Iseen continuously engaged in protes- sional work, either as practitioner or jurist. His work as an attorney has been largely de-

voted to general practice, but considerable time has been given to the law of corpo- rations and the settlement of estates. His greatest case in the latter line was the set- tlement of the large estate (six million dol- lars) left by Dr. Thomas W. Evans, the American dentist of Paris, France, further noted as the rescuer of the Empress Eu- genie, consort of Napoleon III., his efforts enabling her to escape from Paris and I'rance when her husband lost his throne. '[ he Evans estate consisted of property in Philadelphia, New York and Paris, Judge Nicol visiting the last-named city during tlie settlement.

He served in the Virginia house of dele- gates for three terms, 1879-1880, 1881-1882, and 1893-94. During the last year he made his residence in Manassas, Virginia, that be- ing his home until 1907, when he moved to Alexandria, but still retains his Manassas home. In 1893 he was elected judge of the eleventh judicial district of Virginia, a posi- tion he worthily filled for over twelve years. In 1903 he became judge of the sixteenth judicial district, but on March 4, 1907, he resigned to resume private practice.

During his professional career Judge Nicol has been in the state and federal courts of \'irginia, and in Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia. He has been connected with many famous cases and ranks among the foremost men of his profession. As a jurist he was noted for the clearness and justice of his decisions and his fair treat- ment of all litigants and their attorneys. He was held in high esteem by the mem- bers of the bar of the districts over which he presided, and was highly regarded for his judicial qtialifications by his fellow- jurists. He has contributed many valuable papers to the law journals, and his decis- ions, many of them, are quoted authorities.

Judge Nicol is a member of Manassas Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and is a thirty-second degree Mason of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He is a member of the National Geographical Society, the Society for the Preservation of Virginia An- tiquities, trustee of Richmond College, trus- tee of Eastern College, member of the State £!nd National Law associations, and other organizations social, fraternal and scien- tific. In political faith he is a lOemocrat. and in religious preference a Baptist. His own life has been such that his advice to