Thomas Ackley Nichols – Part I

Thomas Ackley Nichols
The Early Years

Lieut. Thomas A Nichols Adjutant 9th PA Cavalry (Image courtesy of website for Dave Taylor’s Civil War Antiques.)

There are moments when doing genealogy research that you strike gold by finding something you have long sought. Today was one of those days. For this Memorial Day Weekend, I wanted to write a tribute to my 3rd great-grandfather, Thomas Ackley Nichols, for his service to our country and for the sacrifices that he and his family made. Disappointed at not having a photo of him to accompany this article, I searched for at least a picture of the regiment he served in, the 9th PA Volunteer Cavalry.  (I also asked for some saintly intervention in this search, and today my prayers were heard). Hallelujah! While perusing Google, I looked at about 20 images; when I clicked on the following picture, Thomas A. Nichols was staring right back at me! Thank you, Dave Taylor’s Civil War antique website.

Thomas Nichols’s story begins long before he bravely volunteered in the 15th Pennsylvania Infantry and the 9th PA Cavalry.  His formative years are shrouded in a bit of mystery.  On December 17, 1824, he was born in Pennsylvania to Matthias and Sarah Ackley Nichols. Matthias hailed from Virginia, but Sarah’s birth location is noted in the 1850 census record as Virginia and the 1860 census as New Jersey. Then later, her sons provided information that her birth state was Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio.

Before the birth of their eldest son, Thomas,  in 1824, Mathias and Sarah married and settled in an unknown location in Pennsylvania. So far, they have eluded my attempts to find them in the 1830 and 1840 censuses, which only list the head of household by name, but Matthias Nichols seems to have evaded the census takers.

In 1850, Matthias Nichols, 54, his wife Sarah, 52, and their sons Mahlon Ransloe, 22, William,  17, and Edward, 15, lived in Berks County, Pennsylvania, where Matthias worked as a machinist. As a machinist, Matthias Nichols would have readily found employment to support his family in Pennsylvania, and he seemed to change locations, never settling in one place for very long. Twenty-five-year-old Thomas A. Nichols, the eldest son,  lived nearby in Blythe township, where he worked as a clerk. The growing lumber and coal industries and job opportunities led the Nichols to this area of Pennsylvania.

• Matthias R. Nichols c1795-1858
• Sarah (Ackley) Nichols c.1798-1861
• CHILDREN
• Thomas Ackley Nichols 1824-1895
• Mowry Nichols 1827-1897
• Mahlon Ransloe Nichols 1828-1902
• William Howard W Nichols 1834-1921
• Edward Nichols 1835-1905

Two natural resources helped shape Schuylkill County: the world’s richest deposits of anthracite coal and the river that helped deliver it to an expanding nation. There are a couple of explanations for the meaning of Schuylkill. The first is that it translates to “hidden river” and was named by the Dutch discoverer Arendt Crossen. Second, the name translates to “hideout creek.” The river became a conduit for trade, and canals were built to facilitate the shipment of the burgeoning lumber business. When coal was discovered, the river sped the transportation. Vast amounts of coal fueled the Industrial Revolution demanded by a growing nation, which launched America’s railroad industry. Workers needed to extract the coal, which spurred the influx of European workers. Skilled laborers from Ireland, England, and Wales led the way, followed by Germans in the 1840s. Later, significant immigrants came from Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Italy. From the former Austrian-Hungarian empire came the Bohemians, Slovaks, and Serbs. Today, 20% of all Americans can trace their roots back to five counties, including Schuylkill County, in Southeastern Pennsylvania. During this time, America’s first labor unions were created due to the hazardous working conditions and low pay these workers experienced.

I recently discovered [ January 2022] through newspaper obituary searches that Matthias and Sarah had one more son, Mowry Nichols. Mowry was born November 1825 in Pittsburgh, PA, and died in 1897 in Pottstown, PA. He served in Company A 201 Pennsylvania, Infantry during the Civil War. He enlisted as a Private on 15 August 1864 and mustered out as a Sergeant on 21 June 1865. Due to illness, he applied for a pension in 1897.  After the war, he worked as a master mechanic and superintendent for the Pottstown Iron Company until his death.

Thanks to Mowry’s discovery, I solved a missing piece of the Nichols family history. I discovered an obituary for Matthias R. Nichols in the Pottsville, PA, newspapers for December 2, 1858. I was uncertain if this pertained to my ancestor. Still, upon discovering that Mowry and his wife Annie lived in Harrisburg with their five children, I confirmed that this obituary was for Matthias R. Nichols, my four-x great-grandfather.

“Died –  Nichols – at Harrisburg, on the 2nd of December, 1858. Mathias Nichols is in the 63rd year of his age. Pittsburg papers, please copy.”  Weekly Miners’ Journal, Jan 1, 1859, Pottsville, PA.

After 1850, Matthias and Sarah moved to Harrisburg near their son, Mowry. Sarah is listed in the 1860 census in the household of Mowry and Annie Nichols, along with their children Sarah (b. 1855) and Ella (b. 1859). I contacted the Harrisburg Cemetery on February 7, 2022, and confirmed that Mathias and Sarah Nichols are buried in the cemetery in a plot purchased by Mowry Nichols for $20.00, Section R2, Lot 2. In the same plot, three of Mowry’s children are Buried, Sarah “Sadie” 1855-1869, and two unnamed children with the death date February 27, 1860, and July 3, 1861.

In a newspaper article from the Harrisburg Patriot dated May 29, 1883, Mowry Nichols had a chance encounter on a visit to Galion, Ohio, with his younger brother William, whom he had presumed to be dead.

“After Thirty Years – Mowry Nichols, the master mechanic of the Pottstown Iron Company, who was foreman of W.O. Hickock’s shop, this city, some fifteen years ago, is here on a visit to the scenes of his earlier days. He has just returned from a trip to the West. In Galion, Ohio, he accidentally met a brother he had not seen for thirty years and believed to be dead. The only intelligence he had received from this brother during the thirty years of separation was that he had been wounded at the Battle of Stone River. The brother, in turn, believed Mowry to be dead, not having heard from him for many years. The meeting can be better imagined than described.”

The obituaries and newspaper articles for the Nichols family helped me add more pieces to their family puzzle. In 2014, when I visited Pottsville, Pennsylvania, I found at the library the 1902 obituary for Mahlon Nichols that listed where his two younger brothers lived; one a resident of Philadelphia and the other “in the west.” It took the discovery of Mowry’s obituary to solve the mystery of where the two younger brothers lived. Edward, the youngest brother, lived in Philadelphia. William was the only brother to move out of state to Ohio, where he settled and raised a large family.

“Mowry Nichols, a well-known citizen of Pottstown and who for the past 27 years was the master mechanic for the Pottstown Iron Company and who died last Sunday, was an elder brother of Edward Nichols, the assistant clerk of the Orphan’s Court in this city.”  Philadelphia Inquirer, October 2, 1897.

William Howard W. Nichols moved to Galion, Crawford County, Ohio, “the west,” where he married Mary Louise Hiltabidle in 1859. Like his three elder brothers, Thomas, Mahlon, and Mowry, he served in the Civil War. Assigned to Company E, 101 Ohio Infantry, William enlisted on August 6, 1862, and served until his official discharge on January 6, 1865. While on sick leave at Edgefield, TN, William had an accident from a gunshot wound that resulted in the amputation of two fingers from his right hand.

After the war, William worked as a pattern maker/machinist for the railroad. At age 85, he was still listed in the 1920 census at his job in the rail shop.  In October 1921, he died at the age of 87 after injuries sustained when he was hit by a car as he crossed the street.  He was survived by his wife and ten children.

Edward registered for the Civil War Draft on July 1, 1863, but did not serve. He was born December 27, 1835, in Philadelphia, where he received a public school education and learned the harness and saddlery business. He became active in Republican politics in the late sixties and was a member of the Executive Committee of his ward for almost thirty-five years. In 1873, he was appointed to the Orphans’ Court and served for thirty-one years. In addition, he was elected to the School Board in 1881 and served until his death.

Edward married Adeline (last name unknown) and had five children, two of whom predeceased him. In January 1905, Edward contracted pneumonia and died after being ill for two weeks on 19 January 1905. He was buried at American Mechanics Cemetery in Philadelphia, which no longer exists. The disinterred bodies from the Cemetery were moved, but it is unknown where Edward, his wife, and his two young daughters were buried.

Map of Berks County, PA, 1860, courtesy of www.ancestortracks.com

Mahlon and Thomas settled in Schuylkill County and obtained white-collar jobs. Mahlon lived in Pottsville, where he clerked in a large store until he and a partner opened their mercantile, Nichols & Beck. After the partnership dissolved, Mahlon ran his own store until he retired in 1894. During those years, he wed Mary Ann Bright in April 1854, and they had three daughters, Harriet Nichols, Sarah, “Sallie” Nichols, and Mame Nichols. As an active Pottsville citizen, Mahlon served on the town council, was Chief Burgess,  and was a member of the Humane Fire Company. He passed away in 1902, ten years after the death of his wife. His cause of death was heart trouble, but he also suffered from dropsy for the last years of his life and was confined to his bed during his final months.

[Through traditional genealogy research and DNA, I have confirmed matches thus far with descendants from Thomas (my direct ancestor) and two of his brothers, Mowry and William.]

In the 1850 census, Thomas was 25 years old and lived in Blythe, Pennsylvania, 40 miles from his family in Berks County. The area had 1,000 miles of railroads that intersected the small towns, so family contact would not have been problematic. Blythe Township had a working colliery known as the Kaskawilliam Colliery, where Thomas was a clerk. He shared the home of Elizabeth Kirkley, 49, her son George, 19, and her two daughters, Elizabeth, 26, and Jane, 15. Perhaps the Kirkleys were family friends, or Thomas boarded to save money.

Blythe Township PA 1875 courtesy of www.ancestrytracks.com

As a semi-professional, Thomas escaped the dangerous and dirty occupation of working in a coal mine. It was an accident-prone industry. Mine fires, cave-ins, explosions, and poisonous gases were responsible for thousands of deaths. As a clerk, he was spared the drudgery of digging for black coal daily down the dark shaft. His job was to tally and record the productivity and salaries of the miners in a giant ledger. Every bucket of coal a miner brought to the surface would be entered in the register and every expense a miner incurred would be deducted.

PA Coal Mine Ledger 1856

Miners were responsible for all their tools, powder, lamps, and everything they needed to work. Like the miners, Thomas would have lived in a company house and purchased his essentials at the company store, also known as a “pluck me.”  It was an all-encompassing mercantile that supplied meat, vegetables, canned goods, clothing, boots, hardware, glassware, etc. Coal was also purchased here to heat the homes that typically had only one stove in the kitchen. The furnace would heat his tea, cook his meals, bake his bread, and warm his hearth. His rent and purchases would be deducted from his meager pay.

In the 1852  Blythe Township colliery ledgers, the daily salaries for a mine worker included the following: fireman $1.25, blacksmith $1.25, carpenter $1.25, helper $1.00, young boys $.20-.40. After all, deductions were made, the miner might have ended up with no salary. Thomas earned more than a miner, but it would not have been substantial.

After Thomas established himself, he met and courted his future wife. Approximately 6 miles from Blythe was the township of St. Clair, where Miss Helena Knerr, age 18,  lived with her father John Knerr, brother John, and sisters Ann and Mariam in 1850. Her mother is not listed in the census, so she was probably deceased. St. Clair boasted 17 churches, which is a testimony to the strong religious convictions and the ethnic diversity of the community. Each ethnic group would establish its own church and center social and religious events within its community. The young couple may have met while attending the same services at one of these churches. Helena and Thomas were wedded at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Clair on November 17, 1850.

St. Clair PA

It took seven years before their first child, John Matthews Nichols, was born on February 17, 1857, in St. Clair. By 1860, the Nichols moved to Banks, Carbon County, where Thomas was again employed as a clerk at a mine.

Thomas and Helena would have been aware of the growing unrest in the country between the southern and northern states and the dissent over slavery. Still, they would certainly have hoped to avoid the dreadful war that ensued when Fort Sumter was fired upon in the early morning of April 12, 1861, and the American Civil War officially began. In three days, Thomas Nichols had volunteered to serve and defend the Union.  He joined his first unit, the 15th PA Infantry, on April 15, 1861. Thomas felt trepidation and resolved to do his duty like his fellow soldiers.

© 2014 copyright Kendra Hopp Schmidt. All rights reserved.

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Genealogy Sketch

Name: Thomas Ackley Nichols
Parents: Matthias Nichols and Sarah Ackley?
Spouse: Helena Knerr and Lillian Watson Bull
Children: John, Bertha, Charles and Mary, Florence, Howard

Relationship to Kendra: 3rd great-grandfather

1. Thomas Ackley Nichols
2. John Mathews Nichols
3. Mabel Elvina Nichols Hyde
4. John Frederick Hyde Jr.
5. Jean Hyde Hopp Eichorn
6. Kendra

Next installment: The Civil War Years