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Continued: William Nichols (II) was born 14 May 1779, the youngest son of Willaim and Sarah (Spencer) Nichols. He was born and raised in the old stone house which was the family home two miles north of Goose Creek (now Lincoln), Loudoun Co., Virginia. He was a Quaker, was educated at the Friends' school in Loudoun Co., and became a minister in the Society of Friends, traveling a great deal in the interests of Friends.
William married Mary Janney, also of Loudoun Co., Virginia, with a Friends' ceremony 1 Nov. 1804 at Goose Creek MM. They had ten children together. His mother, Sarah (Spencer) Nichols lived in a small brick room attached to the family home, built for her after the death of William's father, William, Nichols (I) and grandfather, Isaac Nichols (I), in 1802. She lived with her son, William, the subject of this sketch, and his family for seven years until her death, in accordance with the codicil of the will of William's grandfather, Isaac, that left the house to William, the younger.
Mary (Janney) Nichols, died 20 Sept. 1827 and is buried at the Friends' Meeting House at Goose Creek.
William was granted a certificate to transfer from Goose Creek MM, Virginia to Hopewell MM, Virginia 15 April 1830 and married a second time to Casandra Brown, a minister of the Quaker faith, shortly after 6 May 1830 when Hopewell MM records that William Nichols was received there from Goose Creek MM and liberated to marry by Friends' ceremony. William was granted certificate to transfer from Hopewell MM 5 Aug. 1830 back to Goose Creek MM where he was received 12 Aug. 1830. William Nichols (II) was appointed a Minister of the Society of Friends 17 Sept. 1835 by Goose Creek MM. Goose Creek MM granted certificate to transfer to Middleton MM, Columbiana Co., Ohio 14 April 1836 -also on that certificate were Margery, William (III) and Mahlon Nichols.
As early as 1827, the family began to anticipate a move to Columbiana Co., Ohio as several members of the Nichols family got their initial certificates to transfer from Goose Creek MM and Hopewell MM in Virginia to Middleton MM and Plainfield MM in Ohio. William Nichols purchased his initial 650 acres in Columbiana Co. in 1833. He returned to Ohio in 1834 and built a sawmill at Cherry Fork, Columbiana Co., making several more trips between Ohio and Virginia. In 1836, William sold the family farm near Goose Creek to William Hatcher and removed to Ohio. William settled on a farm adjoining Columbiana Village, where he built a gristmill in 1837. His son, Stacey Nichols operated the gristmill and sawmill.
At the time when the Hicksite and Orthodox branches of the Quaker faith were established, William Nichols and his family became members of the Hicksite branch. A letter was received by Hopewell MM from Middleton MM, Columbiana Co., Ohio signed by William, Casandra, Stacy, and Samuel Nichols, Margery [Nichols] Metzger, and Jesse and Mary [Nichols] Allen in which the group "denied charges" and manifested their unity with the Seceders-the Hicksite branch. Hopewell MM disowned the group for joining the separatists "some time past" 4 Dec. 1839.
William Nichols had a total of ten children --all by his first wife, Mary Janney. He gave $1,000 to each of his daughters upon their marriage. To each of his sons, he presented a farm. A contemporary described William Nichols as "a just man and devoted to his children."
William died 11 June 1860, aged 81 years. He is buried at Columbiana Village Cemetery with his second wife, Casandra, daughters Sarah [Nichols] Holmes and Mary [Nichols] Allen, and son-in-law Jesse M. Allen.
NOTE: Much of this information is from "History of Columbiana County, Ohio and Representative Citizens" in biographical sketches of his son William (III), pp. 806-807, and daughter Mrs. Mary Allen, p.767, and from information recorded in the Mahalon and Ruth (Pancoast) Nichols Bible, published in a book of Columbiana Co., OH Bible records, p. 222 (I located both of these sources at the Ohio State Public Archives, Columbus in March 2000). Most dates of birth, death, marriage, and transfers are from Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. Some information also came from "Samuel Spencer of Pennsylvania" 1904, pp. 69-70 by Howard Jenkins; and from various primary and secondary sources I have found in the course of my genealogy research March 2000-present.
NOTE: William Nichols and the Nichols family are noted in Quaker records at Goose Creek MM, Fairfax MM, Hopewell MM, other meeting houses in Virginia, and Middleton MM and Salem MM in OH -earlier generations are mentioned in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. I found the most information in Goose Creek MM minutes.
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