Nancy,
The diary of Willard
Benson is just wonderful! I read what you have posted so far, and can't wait to see the rest of it! There was a
Harrison mentioned there, but I couldn't tell which one it might have been.
I have never heard the names
Swaney or Oakes in relation to my
Nichols relatives, but would be interested to know why you think they are connected. At this point, I am totally open to any lead.
If you are interested, I have bible records that were kept by Marion
Nichols' widow, my gr-grandmother, posted at Scioto.org:
http://www.scioto.org/Jackson/Bible/nichols-grable.html.
Also, have you seen the land ownership records for Morgan County? There is a patent there that names Alvah
Buckingham as the assignee of
Harrison Nickles, sent to purchase 40.30 acres of land from the Zanesville Land Office in S9-T6-R10. This event took place April 10, 1837. Was this the husband of Rebecca White, and the father of Henry H. & Jane
Nickles? Btw, there is an Alvah H. Nickels in the 1880 Richland, Vinton Co census, the son of William, age 35, and Sarah A., age 25. Other children are Flora B., Frederick, Henry and George. Could Alvah's name be a clue?
After looking more closely at the Evergreen info, it seems that neither of these Harrisons could be my 2nd gr-grandfather. He was 14 yrs old in the 1860 census and 25 years old in the 1870 census, making his birth year approximately 1845.
I have seen the census for 1920 Clackamas,
Oregon, and although the name and age are right, I could not make a decision as to whether this could be my
Harrison Nichols/Nickles. I found nothing else, no death, burial, etc.
His first wife was Sarah Jane
Border, and she is noted as being divorced in 1880, Washington,
Jackson, living next door to Henry & Rachel.
When Marion was killed in 1907, he and Margaret had 7 children living (an 8th child had died shortly before Marion's death). My grandfather, Frank, was sent to live with his gr-uncle, John W. Nichols (I think the W. is for Wesley), and Nancy Slack
Nichols. This is documented in the 1910 census for Franklin twp, Ross County,
Ohio. Also living in this home was Walter E. Evans, grandson of John & Nancy. I haven't determined who his mother was.
My grandpa talked about his Uncle John, but did not know most of his family. He had only minimal contact with his brothers. His mother took her youngest child,
Olive, to
Indiana, and the others were left behind, the 2 older boys going out on their own. In the end, only my grandpa and one sister remained in
Ohio. He went to Pike County and when she was grown, Ethel married Thomas
Seymour and went to
Lancaster,
Fairfield County,
Ohio. Edna died in NE; John and
Olive died in CA; Roy and William died in MO. The baby who died is probably at Ray,
Ohio. Their mother is buried near Muncie, IN.
I have tried to obtain records from the courthouse in both
Jackson and
Vinton Counties, because my gr-grandpa Marion is buried at Ray, on the county line. My attempts have been thru mail, and with no luck. I am planning to go there sometime within the next couple of months and if the courthouse has nothing, I will look at newspapers. Since Marion was killed in an accident, I assume there would have been an article covering the news.
Another Harrison: Harison
Nickels, age 28 (b. abt. 1842) & Henryetta, age 28 with children Daniel & Florance in 1870, Milton twp. (This is the son of an Alexander
Nickells & wife Phebe (
Vaughn). In 1860 this
Harrison is age 19, b. abt. 1841.) He later married Henrietta
Livingston Oct 6, 1866.
Sorry this is so long.
Elaine