NATHANIEL G. NICHOLS
Nathaniel Gordon Nichols, of Tremont, was born In Boston, Mass., on September 17, 1826, the son of John and Mary (Gordon) Nichols, the parents being natives of New Hampshire. The maternal grandfather, Nathaniel Gordon, married Nellie Rand, both he and his wife being natives of the Granite State. The former died in Washington. N. H., in 1826, aged eighty- seven years. His wife, Millie (Rand) Gordon, died in the same place in 1833, aged sixty- nine years. Six children were born to them, and John Nichols (father of Nathaniel Gordon Nichols) married the fourth child, Mary Gordon. To this couple eight children were born, the subject of this sketch being the second child. The father, John Nichols, died April 25, 1871, aged seventy four years; and his wife, Mary Gordon. October 8, 1875.
Nathaniel G. Nichols received only a common school education. Coming to Tazewell County, as a boy, in 1841, he went to work on his father’s farm, where he remained until 1849, when he engaged in the wheelwright trade and was employed in a wagon shop for three years. At the end of that period he resumed farming, continuing thus employed until 1890, when he moved into Tremont and has since lived a retired life, enjoying the fruits of his early industry. He owns about 1,500 acres of land in Tazewell County.
Mr. Nichols was a small boy when he left Boston on his journey west. The mode of travel was varied in those days and he utilized the stage, the canal, the railroads, and the Great Lakes, arriving by the latter in Chicago. From the latter city he went to Peoria by stage and the river, making the last portion of his journey to Tremont on foot.
On January 28, 1850, Mr. Nichols was married to Miss Lucia Jane, daughter of Henry and Sarah Lovejoy, natives of New Hampshire. To them were born four children: Mary Gordon. April 8, 1852, who married John Calvin Thorne, of Concord, N. H.: Charles. born on February 27. 1864, married first to Georgine Morse of Elm Grove Township, Ill. (his wife dying soon afterward), and for his second wife to Mrs. Annie Wilson, of Green Valley, Ill., he himself dying on August 31, 1899: Alfred Henry, born July 26, 1860, and married to Miss Helen Stone Hayward of Morton, Ill, on October 7, 1884, and Emily Prentiss, who was born June 29, 1863, and married to Samuel Addison-Calhoun of Peoria. ill., on August 31, 1899.
Mr. Nichols’ first wife, Lucia J. (Lovejoy) Nichols, died on January 2. 1884, and on January 23, 1886, he was again united in marriage to Amanda Beers Fensen, with whom he is now living in Tremont. His political views are Democratic. He has been a member of the Congregational Church for many years.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County - page 10