Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/89

 NICHOLSON

NICOLAY

success, capturing three British sloops of war of heavier metal. Upon the reorganization of the navy in 1794 he retained his commission and was given command of the frigate Constitution, having superintended her construction. He died in Cliarlestown, Mass., Dec. 29, 1813.

NICHOLSON, Somerville, naval officer, was born in New York city, Jan. 1, 1823 ; son of Major A. A. and Helen Bache (Lispenard) Nicholson. He was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. navy, June 21, 1839 ; was promoted passed mid- shipman, July 2, 1845 ; master, Sept. 9, 1853 ; lieutenant, May 5, 1854 ; lieutenant-commander, Jul}' 16, 1862 ; commander, Jan. 2, 1863 ; captain, June 10, 1870, and commodore, Jan. 22, 1880. He commanded the steam gunboat Marblehead and the steamer State of Georgia, and was engaged in blockading service during the civil war, 1801-65. After seventeen years' sea service and twelve years' shore duty, on his own application under the act of Aug. 3, 1861, he was retired, April 7, 1881. He made his liome in Washington, D.C.

NICHOLSON, William Carmichael, naval officer, was born in Mar3-land in 1800; son of Capt. John Nicholson, an officer in the Continen- tal navy during the Revolutionary war, and nephew of James and Samuel Nicholson (q. v.). He was commissioned a midshipman in the U.S. navy, July 18, 1812, and served on the President, under Decatur, during the action off Long Island in 1S15, where he was taken a prisoner to England and confined until the close of the war. He was promoted lieutenant in March, 1821, and served on the frigate United States, Pacific squadron, 1827-34. In 1834 he was assigned to duty at the naval station. He was commissioned commander. Sept, 8, 1841, and commanded the sloop Preble in the Mediterranean squadron, 1843-45. He was on duty at the naval rendezvous at Boston. Mass., 1845-46 ; served on the receiving ship in New York, 1847-48, and commanded the navy yard at Memphis, Tenn., 1852-53. He was promoted captain, Aug. 22, 1855 ; was fleet captain of the Pacific squadron in 1855 ; commanded the steam frigate Missis- sippi in the East India squadron, 1858-61 ; was in command of the United States marine asylum in Philadelpliia, 5 and commanded the steam fri- gate Roanoke ' when the civil

war began. He served on special duty, 1861-66, and was commissioned commodore, July 16, 1862. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., July 25, 1872.

NICHOLSON, William Rufus, R.E. bishop, was born in Green county, Miss., Jan. 8, 1823; son of Isaac Rogelle and America (Gilmer) Nichol- son. He was graduated from La Grange college, Ala., in 1840 ; was ordained deacon and priest in the Protestant Episcopal church, and served as rector of Grace church. New Orleans, La. ; St. John's, Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Paul's, Boston, Mass., and Trinity, Newark, N.J. He joined the Re- formed Episcopal movement in 1874 and was rector of the Second R.E. (St. Paul's) church in PJiiladelphia, 1874-76. He was elected and con- secrated bishop in 1876 and also assumed the duties of dean of the Reformed Episcopal Theolo- gical seminary in Pliiladelpliia, Pa. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Kenyon college, Ohio, in 1857. He was twice married ; first, on Nov. 27, 1845, to Jane, daughter of Dr. Franklin Shaw of Mobile, Ala., and secondly on Oct. 18, 1866, to Katharine Stanley, daughter of Charles Hamilton Parker of Boston, Mass. He is the author of : TJie Blessedness of Heaven (1874) ; Reasons %i'hy I am a Reformed Episcopalian (1875) ; The Real Presence in the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper (1877); The Call to the Ministry (1877), and The Bearing of Prophecy on Inspiration (1888). He died in Philadelphia, Pa., June 7, 1901.

NICKLIN, Philip Holbrook, bookseller, was born in Philadelpliia, Pa., in 1786. He was grad- uated from the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1804, A.M., 1807 ; studied law, and engaged in business as a bookseller in Baltimore, Md., 1809- 14, and in Philadelphia, 1814-39. He was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, 1827- 43 ; visited England in 1833, and on his return in 1834 made a report before the board of trustees on the educational advantages offered by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He wrote articles on conchology for Silliiiian's Jour- nal ; letters descriptive of the Virginia minei'al springs and of a journey through Pennsylvania ; articles on the rights of authors to literary prop- erty and papers, and on the tariff as affecting the trade in books. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., March 3, 1843.

NICOLAY, John George, author, was born in Essingen, Bavaria, Feb. 26, 1832 ; sou of Jacob and Helena Nicolay. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1838, who settled first in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then suc- cessively in Indiana, Missouri and Illinois. He received a limited education and was employed as a clerk in a retail store in Whitehall, 111., 1846- 47; in the printing office of the Pittsfield, 111., Free Press, 1848-56, becoming successiveh*, pub- lisher, editor and proprietor. He was clerk of the secretary of state at Springfield, 111., 1856-60 ; private secretary to Abraham Lincoln, 1860-65 ;