Amador
County
Biographies
ALBERT F. NICHOLS
A man well known in business
circles, Mr. Nichols is engaged in carriage making and blacksmithing in Ione,
and the success he has achieved is the direct reward of his own efforts. He is numbered among the native sons of
Amador County, his birth having occurred on the 20th of December,
1859. His father, Edward Nichols, became
a resident of California in the winter of 1853-4. He was born in New York, but was reared in
Ohio. The paternal grandfather of our
subject was a native of Pennsylvania and was of German lineage. At the time of the Revolutionary War he
valiantly aided the colonies in their struggle for independence. In 1853 Edward Nichols started for the
Pacific coast with ox teams. He was not
disturbed by the Indians and made a safe journey, locating in Shasta County,
California, where he engaged in placer mining with good success. Subsequently he came to the Sacramento Valley
and for two years was engaged in farming on the banks of the Sacramento River. He next moved to Drytown, in Amador County,
and again engaged in placer mining and in the butchering business until his
removal to Carbondale, when he rented a ranch.
As a companion and helpmate on
life’s journey he chose Miss Mary C. Armstrong and they located on Drytown
Creek where he engaged in farming for three years. Then returning to Carbondale he purchased a ranch
of one hundred and sixty acres, continuing its cultivation until his removal to
the Buckeye valley where he bought the farm which he cultivated and improved up
to the time of his death, which occurred in 1875, when he was forty-five years
of age. He left a widow and six
children. Mrs. Nichols is still living
at the age of sixty-one years, making her home on the farm which was left her
by her husband. She came to California
in 1852 with her father, and is one of the esteemed pioneer women of the
state. Of her children five are still
living and are respected citizens of Amador County.
Albert F. Nichols, the eldest of the
family, remained with his parents during his boyhood and to the public-school
system he is indebted for the educational privileges he enjoyed. He learned the trade of carriage making and
blacksmithing in Ione and began business on his own in 1889. During the intervening years he has built up
the largest trade in his line in this part of the country. He is an expert workman, having a thorough
understanding of mechanical principles, and at the same time is thoroughly
versed in the practical work of the occupations to which he devotes his
energies. In addition to his business he
owns a farm of ninety acres in Carbondale.
Mr. Nichols is the owner of a
pleasant home on Preston Avenue, which is presided over by the lady who in her
maidenhood was Miss Elizabeth Meiss. They were married in 1890 and she is a native
of Drytown, a daughter of Lewis Meiss. They have two children, Marion and
Lloyd. Socially Mr. Nichols is
identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his brethren in the
fraternity have demonstrated their confidence in and friendship for him by electing
him to various offices in the lodge. In
his political views he is a Republican and earnest in his advocacy of the party
principles. All who know him esteem him
for his sterling worth, and his life history well merits a place in this
volume.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 723-724. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Amador County Biographies