(I occasionally get requests for this document, so I thought it might be useful to
[post it here)
New England Origins of the Nichols Families
Copyright Herb Nichols 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2007,
2008, 2009, 2010
This information is for individual use. I encourage reproduction and
dissemination of this material. However, it may not be reproduced or
transmitted or retransmitted in any form without specifically including
this copyright statement...
Copyright Herb Nichols 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2007,
2008,2009, 2010
There are now scores of thousands of Nichols families in the United States whose
origins can be traced back to Colonial New England.
By 1650 or so there were in New England at least the following separate Nichols
families...
Adam of New Haven
Allen of Barnstable
Cyprian Nichols of Hartford,Ct
David of Boston (no apparent children)
James of Malden
Caleb & Isaac, brothers of Stratford, Ct
John, apparently brother of above of nearby Fairfield
Francis Nichols of Salem,Ma who fought in King Phillip's War 1675
(but I have found no record that any of the Essex or Mdlsx
county Nichols had a son Francis
Nicholas Nichols of Andover
Mordecai of Boston (possibly Allen's son)
Randall of Boston
Richard of Ipswich,Reading
Richard of E. Greenwich,R.I
Richard of Warwick (?) R.I.
Robert of Watertown (perhaps same as next)
Robert of Boston then Maine killed by indians 1675]
Samuel of somewhere? who was very actively involved with the
importation the Scots in the 1650s.
Thomas of Charlestown
Thomas of Salisbury (perhaps same as above ?)
Thomas of Hingham/Scituate
Thomas of East Greenwich RI
Walter of Watertown, briefly, who returned to England and soon died. He left
a will which clearly established Thomas of Hingham as his son.
William of Salem/Topsfield
Perhaps the most "prominent" of the early Nichols was Elizabeth Nichols
Bowen who married Samuel Fuller, son of Mayflower Samuel Fuller.
I have discovered only the one -Thomas, Walther- genealogical relationship
among these people, except the speculation that Mordecai of Boston might
be a son of Allen of Barnstable.
I am convinced that at some point, relationships among these men will develop.
From a genetic perspective there are now tests available that can be used to
suggest common genetic heritage within the last 400-600 years.
And preliminary suggestions of that might result from some of their descendants
taking the test. But few of them have, and when/if they do the results cannot tell us
when this potential commonality started, except sometime within -about- the last
10-13 generations or so.
(It is now 2010, Over the last four 1/2 years over 180 Nichols men seeking common
genetic origins have had DNA tests taken . More than forty separate genetic family
groups have been revealed, including men whose genealogies indicate they are
descendants from four or five of the above men. So far, there are no tests results
which can be used to support that any of the men listed at the beginning were
genetically related. There are sufficient results to indicate a few of the men above
were not related but only a few.
Most of the 180 plus men have not yet traced their lineages into the 17th century.)
By the early 1700s the New England population was augmented in goodly
numbers by the immigration of Scotch-Irish families most of whom were
Presbyterian. Some of these were Nicholses; their family name mostly spelled
Nickels
These Scots went to Maine, N.H, central Mass, some stayed in the Boston
area, some went almost immediately to far western Mass and -presently-
on to New York State. I know of one set of three of these, brothers, who arrived in
the 1720s, and, by 1800, had produced over 20 heads of households -and several
ministers- in central Massachusetts (by then the name had pretty uniformly changed
to "Nichols")
To my knowledge, the 18th century Scotch-Irish influx to New England
was the only major exception to the cessation of New England immigration
prior to the Revolution. By 1660, New England was pretty much self
contained. Immigration after that point was primarily further south.
But those already here, propagated in abundance. The books "Massachusetts
Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution has almost 400 entries for
various spellings of Nichols. (some of these are multiple entries for the
same man.)
The various spellings include:
Nicals,
Nicchols,
Nicclols,
Nichal,
Nichalls,
Nichals,
Nichcols,
Nichels,
Nichils,
Nichoals,
Nichol,
Nichoolds
Nicholes,
Nicholls,
Nichols,
Nickalls,
Nickals,
Nickel,
Nickells,
Nickels.
By far the most common spelling is "Nichols".
The second most common spelling was "Nickels".
When the Federal Census of 1800 was made there were perhaps 400-500
Nichols households in New England and New York.
The Federal Census of 1800 includes the
Name of the town
Name of the county
Name of head of household
And a count of the number of males (under 16), [16 or over] total
number of females, number of free slaves or Indians.
An approximate count shows that among them the most popular names
of heads of Nichols' households are ...
Caleb 17,Benjamin 18,Daniel 17,David 32, Ebenezer 11
George 08,Isaac 13,James 38,John 74,Jonathan xx,Joseph 32,
Joshua 08, Josiah 05,Moses 06,Nathan 07, Nathaniel 10,Reuben 08,
Robert 12,Samuel 30,Stephen 10,Thomas 25,William 38,
Free negro 01
The source for the above data is '1791-1809 US Census
Indexes and Tax Lists:
NE & NY" CD 138 Copyright Automated Archives, Inc. 1994
The actual count on the CD is about 733. This substantially overstates
the population, since this CD includes entries for heads of households
on tax lists, in addition to the Federal Census. 400-500 seems like
a much more realistic estimate of heads of households. But these are
just the adult males, most of whom had substantial families of 2-12
children.
A few statistical oddities:
There are two pair of David Jonathan twins 1750, 1764
There are two other pairs of twins both born to the same family:
David William, Mar 3 1757
Alexander Jonathan Nov 25 1763.
All of these twins were born in Worcester County. Perhaps it's the water.
There were two David Nichols born Jan 3 1805. One in Charlemont,Franklin,
Ma, the other born Reading, Mdlsx,Ma.
There were also two Calvin Nichols born on the same day, Apr 29 1808
One in Reading, Middlesex County Mass, the other in Brimfield,
Worcester Mass, some 50 miles away. Family origins totally separate.
One from England in the 1630s, the other from Scotland via
Northern Ireland in the 1720s.
Because there are so many Nichols, with origins from so many towns
I think perhaps nobody has felt "up to" the task of attempting to put
them together. But, perhaps others have tried and have either been
unable to put them together, or have and either haven't documented
it, or I haven't found the documentation.
However, the several Essex and Middlesex county families lived within
a radius of 20-30 miles of each other. There must be some connections
among these families. It defies credibility to believe otherwise.
However, none have been found. Any connections will almost certainly
only be found in Britain
Each of these families were typically prolific and spread their
branches throughout New England by the Revolution. I personally know
of several Nichols families in the mid-west (Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio),
and further west [Utah, some Nichols were Mormons, some of everybody
were] who have Massachusetts or Maine origins in the 1850s or earlier.
And have seen documentation on many, many others.
The 1720s-1750s was a period of tremendous migration in Massachusetts.
There were many forces at work. These included:
The land grant system,
Overpopulation along the coast,
An on-going drive/need for an independent "place".
I think it is very difficult to overstate the importance played by
second and third -and later- sons in the pre-1850 expansion of our
country. It was these men who built and extended the frontiers
of our country, while the eldest brother much more typically stayed
home. During this time, several Nichols families appeared in Central
Massachusetts towns such as Holden, Oxford, Sturbridge, Leicester,
Worcester, Westminster among several others. About the same time,
another Nichols family settled in Framingham Mass. More than one of
these families were cousins of mine.
One of those Central Massachusetts Nichols families is descended from
Malden. Another from Reading, yet another from Topsfield. A fourth
is descended from Springfield.
And a fifth family is descended from Scotch Irish who immigrated
in the 1720s in the surge of Scotch Irish immigration in Massa-
chusetts and elsewhere previously mentioned.
These Scots also settled into towns like Chelmsford, Billerica,
Carlisle as well. Another contingent founded towns like Londonderry,
and other New Hampshire towns with names from the Auld Country.
Yet another Scot family settled in Berkley Mass.
My family is descended from these Scotch Irish through my mother
-unconnected to the central Mass Nichols families. Nevertheless,
it is extremely unlikely that the separate lines of my mother and
father never crossed. Indeed, two or three branches of my mother's
line started in Reading where my father's line also started. The
two lines met again 10 generations later in Boston after going
their separate ways to western Mass and Maine.
I think everybody finds some ancestor on more than one line.
(We are descended from the immigrant John Clough in three different
lines. We are also descended from the three New England Hilton
brothers.)
At least three of the Nichols families went "west" or North, to
settle land they were granted as a result of war service of their
fathers or grandfathers or even themselves.
The Narraganset War (or King Phillip's) war of 1675-1676, was
probably the most devastating war that ever befell Americans. By
one account (Turnbull) fully 9 percent of adult males of battle age
were killed. By another account (Channing) 10 percent of the battle
able males were killed or captured.
Forty of the 80-100 towns were badly damaged by fire, twelve were
totally destroyed. There were many fears of extinction. The Indians
-at least in terms of any prominent further influence in the course
of southern New England history- were extinguished. (see Channing's
"History of the United States": [up to 1760]. 2 vols).
The founder of my Nichols line had two sons who served in and
survived King Phillip's War. Other Nichols did as well. And Massa-
chusetts honored its veterans.
About 1732, seven townships were founded by the Mass Bay Colony on
the "frontier", along an arc extending from south central Massachusetts,
through New Hampshire, up into what is now south Eastern Maine.
These towns were called the Narragansett Townships.
Land in these townships was granted to war descendants geographically.
So that, for example, at least two of these townships were founded by
separate clusters of families from neighboring towns in what is now
Essex/Middlesex counties. (James Nichols a son of Richard of Ipswich,
then Reading, was among a group of men who received the very first
Narragansett grant in 1686. (The grantees never took up this land and
the grant expired unfilled.)
Over the course of time the separate Nichols families moved to nearby
towns and inter-married to some extent, so their independent origins
is sometimes blurred. Indeed the Vital Records of Essex and Middlesex
counties have many Nichols from one town who married in another
town. Sometimes other Nichols (sometimes, first cousins). It was only
when I decided to copy the Vital Records (and Town Histories) for all
the towns that I could find that the patterns started emerging, and it
became possible to link the generations together. A massive jig-saw
puzzle, still incomplete.
My line, that started in Essex County, Mass, moved to Middlesex county
Mass where parts of my family stayed until the 20th century.
(Indeed, in 1998, a male descendant of this line was STILL living in
Reading). But after three generations one offshoot showed up in the town of
Worcester, with children in Worcester County, the next generation in Vermont,
the next in New York, the next in Pennsylvania. And only two generations
later this line finds itself in Nebraska.
Each generation often left some in the parent town, so that there remain
some Nichols in the Middlesex county towns some 9 generations later, some
Nichols have stayed in Worcester county for 6 generations, some in
Vermont for several, one man in this line moved back to Massachusetts (and a
descendant married another Nichols who was his 8th cousin twice removed);
several families remained in one New York town even to this day, but
always some moved on.
By the census of 1790 Nichols was the 38th most common name in New England.
(Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire:Libby etal)
And they continued to move westward and northward. Many of the Nichols
of up-state New York have their origins in Massachusetts (and several
from New Hampshire) I have connected a large number of Vermont families
to Massachusetts Nichols. My brother-in-law is descended from a Vermont
Nichols. Who in turn is descended from my founding father.
Many (probably most) of the New Hampshire Nichols had their origins in Mass.
principally after the American Revolution, I think.
Several Nichols families in Maine come from Massachusetts. One of them
descends from Scots who arrived c1720. Another is most likely my Nichols
family who settled Durham Maine c 1790. Yet a third came from north central
Mass but had its origins in eastern Mass and are distant cousins of mine.
A fourth is of Quaker origin and stayed primarily around the Dover,N.H/
Berwick, Maine area for quite a while before moving north as well. This
line may be the most numerous, if mine isn't.
Another Nichols family found its way to Searsport. Another to Pt. Pemaquid
and may have been there earlier than all the rest. It is certain that in the 1670s
a Robert Nichols was part of a group of men who were granted a 5-mile square
plantation at the "bottom of Casco Bay, on a river called 'Swegustagoe'."
I mentioned earlier some of the forces that contributed to migration
in Colonial Massachusetts. Another one was the harassment and even
persecution that Quakers continued to suffer at the hands of the Puritans.
Persecution that began as early as 1652 only two years after the Society
of Friends were established by George Fox in England. Pennsylvania is not
the seat of American Quakerism. It is Massachusetts and Rhode Island (and
Maryland and Virgina), perhaps others. William Penn came a full
generation later. The first statue on the Boston Common dedicated to a woman
was done some twenty or thirty years ago: Mary Dyer a Quaker, hung c1658.
The first Quakers in America came from Great Britain to New England in
1656. By 1658 meetings were established at Sandwich, Mass. and at Newport
R.I. Massachusetts passed severe laws against the Quakers, but Rhode
Island offered a haven for the persecuted. At Newport, the first General
Meeting was held in 1661. Since that time meetings have been held annually,
making Providence, Rhode Island the oldest yearly meeting in the world.
George Fox attended the 1672 sessions. John Crossman, the first Crossman
in New England, and thought to be the 'father of the New England line,
was an early settler of the town of Dedham then Taunton, Mass. He was
sentenced to be hung for blasphemy was instead whipped & branded in Dedham
He died in Providence, among Quakers. Providence, of course, was a refuge
established by Roger Williams, himself evicted by the harsh Puritans. Robert
Crossman, generally considered John's son, established a substantial family in
Taunton Mass, not far from Providence. (In earlier versions of this paper, I wrote that
there was a long tradition of Quakerism in the Crossman line. More recent research
indicates this is not accurate. Indeed the first records of Quaker adherence follows
the Revolutionary War when one family returned from Canada following a brief stay.
A more cynical view -unsustained by facts mind you- is that my ancestor Jesse
Crossman, -perhaps a Loyalist- desired to return to The States. If he had been
a Loyalist then it would certainly have been prudent to have returned as a Quaker
rather than as a former Loyalist. There were four Crossman kin (first cousins or
brothers) who went to Canada shortly before The Revolution. Three remained in
Canada. Some of those men were definitely part of the Canadian force during The War.
In any case, sixty years later, one of Jesse's descendants married my Nichols
g-grandfather.)
So members of The Society of Friends contributed in important ways to
the westward and northward migratory patterns, perhaps more than most, at
least relative to their small numbers. Some of them were Nichols from
Salem and surrounding towns.
These Quakers of Massachusetts spread throughout Massachusetts and into
New York and the rest of New England. Many settled in Maine, including
many Nichols. Some had settled early on in towns like York and Berwick.
(Dover New Hampshire had Quaker missionaries as early as 1662. At their
peak, Quakers were 1/3 the population of Dover. Substantial contingents
came from Essex County (Salem, Salisbury & Amesbury), -including a Nichols
family- and Plymouth and Bristol Counties.
In the 1770s, many Friends settled in Durham Maine. Durham became the
birthplace for several Society of Friends Meetings in what is now Androcoggin
county Maine. (Everett Stackpole, a historian and genealogist of the 19th
century -himself a descendant of Quakers, and child of Durham, compiled
town histories -with detailed genealogies- on several towns in the area.
Stackpole also compiled a detailed and authoritative genealogy and history
"Old Families of Kittery, as well as a four volume history of New Hampshire.)
Other Friends went to Vassalboro, and Harlem (now China) Maine and Litchfield.
Berwick had been a Society of Friends stronghold since the very early 1700s.
The Society of Friends have been meticulous record keepers. Indeed, Stackpole,
Dow, and even The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire use
their records, typically without acknowledgement.
These "church" records are often the only source of genealogical material,
since Friends resisted giving this information to civil authorities. I have
found the Monthly Meeting records to be an extremely valuable source of
genealogical data. The New England Historical and Genealogical Society has
published some of their records. A 14 volume set of Quaker genealogy exists
in several major libraries throughout the country (but few of the New England
Quakers are documented.
There are major colleges and universities who were founded by Quakers. The
one that comes to mind immediately is Haverford. These institutions are
invaluable sources of Quaker history. (Haverford has a WWW page]. There are
many Society of Friends web pages.
And, finally, a vignette that recently caught my eye ...
From Hist of Oxford,Worcester,Ma:
"John B Nichols was born 15 Nov., 1827. [He] left home about 1841, was for a
number of months employed at the Astor House, New York. In 1842 went to New
Orleans, La., where he entered the employ of the largest dry goods house in
the city. In 1847 went to Jackson, Miss., into a branch house of the same firm;
in 1849 he started overland for California with a party, the most of whom died
on the way or were killed by the Indians; was left on the route to die, but
managed to reach Fort Laramie, then only an Indian trading post guarded by U.S.
troops. He soon began trade with the Indians, was a favorite with them and became
wealthy. In 1854 he came east, but soon returned as far as Missouri. In 1858
he was connected with the Overland Mail Company and went through with the first
mail via Santa Fe. He later removed to Texas, enlisted in the Confederate army,
in which he was a captain, and was killed at Gettysburg, 3 July, 1863."