Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/82

 NICHOLAS

NICIIOLLS

Society of the Cincinnati. He favored a limited monarchical government, and even suggested to General Wasliington tliat he would best serve liis country by assuming the title of king. For tliis suggestion he received a severe rebuke from Wasliington. He is the author of : A Treatise of Military Exei'cise Calculated for the UseofAiiter- icaiifi, in which Everything that is SnpjHtsed to be of Use to Them is Retained, and such Maneui'ers as are only for Shoic and Parade are Omitted (1777). Hediedin Alexandria. Va., Aug. 9. 1807.

NICHOLAS, John, representative, was born in Williamsburg. Va., Jan, 19, 1761 ; son of Robert Carter (q.v.) and Ann (Cary) Nicholas. He was graduated at the College of William and ]\Iary and became a planter. He was an Anti-Feder- alist representative from Virginia in the 3d~6th congresses, 1793-1801, removed to Geneva. N.Y., in 1803, where he cultivated a farm, was judge of the court of common pleas, 1806-19, and served as state senator, 1807-09. He died in Geneva, N.Y.. Dec. 31, 1819.

NICHOLAS, Robert Carter, statesman, was born in Hanover, Va.. in 171.1 ; son of Dr. George Nicliolas. who immigrated to Virginia about 1700. His brother. John Nicholas, was the progenitor of the Nicholas familj' of the Seven Islands in the James river and was married to Martha, daughter of Col. Joshua and Mary (Micon) Fry. Robert Carter Nicholas was graduated from the College of William and Mary about 1733, and practised law in James City. Va. He was married to a daughter of Wilson Cary and had sons : George ( 175.3-1799) ; Wilson Cary (q.v.); John (q.v.). and Philip Norborne (1773-1849). judge of the general court of Virginia, 1823-49. He -was treasurer of the colony of Virginia, 1766-77, the member from James City in the house of bur- gesses until 1777, and a member of the house of delegates. 1777-79. He was opposed to the stamp act resolutions proposed bj' Patrick Henry, hold- ing tliat the act was void because unconstitu- tional. He was a member of the committee of correspondence, 1773, and of the various state conventions, being \n-esu\ent pro temjiore of tlie one of Jul}', 1775. He was appointed judge of the high court of chancery in 1779 and subse- quently became judge of the court of appeals. Hp died in Hanover, Va., in 1780.

NICHOLAS, Robert Carter, senator, was born in Hanover, Va., in 1790 ; son of Col. George and Mary (Smith) Nicliolas, and grandson of Judge Robert Carter (q.v.) and Ann (Cary) Nicholas. His father was born in Hanover about 17.>i ; graduated at the College of William and Mary ; was colonel, 2d Virginia regiment, in the Revolution : a member of the convention that rat- ified the Federal constitution ; a member of the house of delegates, and in 1790 removed to

Kentucky where he was a member of the state constitutional convention, April 1, 1792, and author of the document ; first attorney -gen- eral of the state, and died in 1799. Robert Carter Nicholas was graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1810 ; was appointed captain in the 25th U.S. infantry, March 12, 1812 ; was promoted major and assigned to the 12th U.S. infantry, March 3, 1813 ; lieutenant-colonel and assigned to the 44th U.S. infantry, Aug. 20, 1814, and was transferred to the 30th U.S. infan- try, Nov. 14, 1814. He served in the war of 1812 and on the Canadian frontier and was mustered out of service on the reduction of the army in June, 1815. He retired to a sugar plantation in Louisiana. He was U.S. charge d'affaires to Naples ; secretary of the state of Louisiana for several years; U.S. senator, 1836-41, and state superintendent of public instruction, 1851-57. He died in Terrebonne parish. La., Dec. 24, 1857.

NICHOLAS, Samuel Smith, jurist, was born in Lexington, Kj"., in 1796; son of Geoi-ge and Marj- (Smith) Nicholas, and brother of Robert Carter Nicholas (1790-1857). He became a prom- inent merchant of New Orleans and subsequently removed to Louisville. Ky., wliere he engaged in the practice of law. He was appointed judge of the court of appeals in 1831 and was later elected a representative in the state legislatui'e. He assisted in revising the code of Kentucky and is the author of Constitutional Lata (1857). He died in Louisville, Ky., Nov. 27, 1869.

NICHOLAS, Wilson Cary, governor of Vir- ginia, was born in Hanover, Va., in 1757 ; son of Robert Carter (q.v.) and Ann (Cary) Nicliolas. He was giaduated from the College of William and Mary in 1774, and served througiiout the Revolu- tion as an officer in the Con- tinental army. He com- manded Washington's life guard ; was a member of the Virginia convention that ratified the Federal constitu- tion, and was a friend and .supporter of Thomas Jeffer- son. He was elected U.S. senator from Virginia in 1799 and resigned in 1804, to accept the collec- torship of the ports of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., where he served, 1804-07. He was a Demo- cratic rejn-esentative in the 9th and 10th con- gresses, 1805-09, and was governor of Virginia, 1814-17. He died in ISfilton, Va., Oct. 10, 1820.

NICHOLLS, Francis Tillou, governor of Louis- iana, was born in Donaldson ville. La.. Aug. 20, 1834 ; son of Thomas Clarke and Louisa H.( Drake) NichoUs, and grandson of Edward Churcli and Wilhelmina (Hamilton) Nicholls. His father was a member of the general assembly of Louisinna ; judge of the district court and senior judge of