My Genealogy Hound

HENRY W. NICHOLLS, Postmaster at Finney, and a successful farmer of Somerset Township, Jackson County, cultivates a finely improved estate of two hundred acres, which, with its comfortable residence and substantial outbuildings and general air of prosperity, indicates the existence of cultivated tastes and ample means. For a number of years after locating in this county he devoted his attention to coal mining in connection with farming, and of late years has conducted agricultural pursuits in addition to attending to his duties as Postmaster.

The parents of our subject, Henry and Elizabeth (Richards) Nicholls, were natives of England. The father emigrated to America in 1847, after which he resided in Wisconsin for a number of years and then removed to Michigan. There he died in 1856. Henry W. was born in Cornwall County, England, May 31, 1831, and in his boyhood attended the pay schools of that country, taking advantage of every opportunity for acquiring a practical education. When about nine years of age he began to work in the tin mines of Cornwall, and continued thus employed until he emigrated to this country in 1848. He took passage on a sailing-vessel at St. Ives, and after an uneventful voyage of six weeks and four days landed in Quebec, whence he proceeded direct to Grant County, Wis., his father’s home. In this journey he was accompanied by his mother.

For a number of years Mr. Nicholls found employment in the lead mines of Wisconsin, whence in 1853 he removed to the northern peninsula of Michigan and worked in the copper mines there for several years. His next home was in Newton County, Mo., where he was employed in the lead mines. From there he proceeded to Illinois and engaged in lead mining in Hardin County. The year 1868 witnessed his arrival in Jackson County, Ill., where for some time he engaged in mining for coal, as well as in general farming.

August 31, 1868, Mr. Nicholls was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Chancy, who was born in Hardin County, Ill., March 11, 1843. She is a daughter of James and Ellen (Keelen) Chancy, natives respectively of Ohio and Tennessee, and early settlers in Hardin County. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls there have been born four children, Andrew, James, Thomas and William. A Republican in politics, Mr. Nicholls was in 1889 appointed Postmaster at Finney and is still serving in that capacity, as well as in the position of Highway Commissioner. With his wife he holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in which he is an active worker.

As one of the representative men of Jackson County, Mr. Nicholls stands second to none in point of sterling integrity and those qualities which go to make up the responsible citizen and useful member of the community. Here he has spent the best years of his life, and his long and arduous labors have been crowned with success. Under his careful management his land has been brought to a high state of cultivation, and is improved with all the appliances suggested to the enterprising and progressive farmer, while his residence, recently completed, is the finest in the township.