Sacramento
County
Biographies
MRS. MARY
NICHOLS
Mrs. Mary Nichols, a ranch-owner in Cosumnes Township, was born in Illinois in 1841, her parents being Hosea and Freelove (Hawkes) Armstrong. The father was a native of Kentucky, and the mother was born in Missouri, in 1813, of New England parentage. The latter died August 27, 1867; the former, November 27,
1870, aged
sixty-one. Grandfather Joshua Armstrong
died in Kentucky at an advanced age, and his father is
said to have reached nearly 100 years.
The subject of the sketch came to California with her parents in 1850. The family lived at Nevada City, in this State, for a short time, and
settled in Amador County in 1852.
She was married April 22, 1855, to Edwin Nichols, a native of New York State, born in 1830, son of Willard and Elizabeth
(Jewell) Nichols, both being of New England parentage. The
father died in Ohio in 1876, aged about seventy; and the
mother, born about 1808, is now living with her son Willard, in Kansas.
Edwin Nichols came to California in 1850; followed mining for about four
years, and then went to farming in Amador County.
In December, 1860, Mr. Nichols bought 240 acres on Willow Springs Creek,
in the southeast corner of the township, 200 of which are still in the
possession of the family. The land is
adapted to the raising of any kind of crop known to north California husbandry. Mr. Nichols died in September, 1875, leaving
seven children. Charles E., the oldest,
died in 1876, aged nineteen. The six children
living in 1889 are: Albert F., born in
December, 1859, married Miss Lizzie Kneiss May 29,
1889, and is now in business as a blacksmith at Ione,
California; Nellie, April 16, 1862; Clara Belle, August 19, 1864, now the wife
of William G. Lyn, an orchardist of San Bernadino, has one boy, born February 7, 1888; Grant,
November 5, 1868; Emma Lenora, February 17, 1872; Walter Roy, April 18, 1873.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Page 506-507. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.