William T. Nichols facts for kids
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William Thomas Nichols (born March 24, 1829 – died April 10, 1882) was an important person in the 1800s. He was a politician, a soldier, and a businessman. He served in the government of Vermont and led soldiers during the American Civil War. After the war, he helped create the town of Maywood, Illinois, which is now a suburb near Chicago.
Contents
William Nichols' Life Story
Early Life and Law Career
William T. Nichols was born in Clarendon, Vermont. His parents were James Tilson Nichols and Minerva D. (Briggs) Nichols. He studied to become a lawyer. He worked as a helper in Vermont’s House of Representatives. Later, he became the state's attorney from 1858 to 1859.
Adventure in Kansas
In 1855, Nichols traveled to Kansas Territory. At that time, people were arguing if Kansas would become a state where slavery was allowed or not. Nichols bravely volunteered to deliver important messages. He carried these messages from a journalist named William A. Phillips to Charles L. Robinson. Robinson was a leader who wanted Kansas to be a free state. For his help, Nichols was given the rank of colonel on Robinson's team. He went back to Vermont the next year.
Civil War Service
Nichols fought in the American Civil War for Vermont. In 1861, he joined the 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment as a private soldier. This unit was only active for three months. In 1862, he became a colonel. He was put in charge of the 14th Vermont Infantry.
He led his regiment in a very important battle. This was the Battle of Gettysburg. His soldiers helped stop a major attack called Pickett's Charge. Soon after Gettysburg, his regiment finished its service and went home.
Back in Vermont Politics
Nichols also served in the state government during the war years. In September 1861, after his first army unit was done, he was chosen for the Vermont House of Representatives. In 1863, after his second army unit was disbanded, he was elected to the Vermont Senate. He was the youngest person ever to be a Vermont state senator at 34 years old.
Surviving a Shipwreck
After the war, Nichols lost money in some investments. He decided to go south to buy land. In October 1865, Nichols boarded the SS Republic steamship. It was going to New Orleans. The ship sailed into a hurricane off the coast of Georgia and sank.
Nichols wrote a detailed letter to his wife about what happened. He managed to get into a lifeboat. Two days later, another ship rescued his lifeboat. Once he arrived in the south, Nichols bought two cotton farms. He also invested in a business that made leather.
Founding Maywood, Illinois
Nichols did not stay in the south for long. He eventually moved to the Chicago area in Illinois. On April 6, 1869, he and six other men started the Maywood Company. This company helped create the village of Maywood, Illinois, which became a town in 1881. Maywood was named after Nichols's daughter, May. Nichols was the president of this company until he died.
Business and Inventions
Nichols was also the president and treasurer of another company. This company made farm tools. It was called the Chicago Scraper and Ditcher Company. In 1878, he invented a new type of farm tool. It was a screw harrow used to prepare soil for planting.
Later Years and Burial
Nichols died from pneumonia in Maywood in 1882. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Rutland, Vermont.
William Nichols' Family Life
Nichols married Thyrza Stevens Crampton (born 1832). They had two daughters named May (born 1857) and Lucy (born 1860). Sadly, both Thyrza and May died from typhoid fever in 1865. May died before Nichols left on his trip on the SS Republic. Thyrza died shortly after she learned that Nichols had survived the shipwreck. Nichols later married Thyrza's sister, Helen.
Nichols's great-great-granddaughter is a writer named Thyrza Nichols Goodeve. In 2004, she joined a trip to the site where the SS Republic sank. The shipwreck had been found the year before.
