NICHOLSON, JOHN

The headstone of John Nicholson tells us he died on 9 January 1909.¹John Nicholson headstone: Geer Cemetery (800 Colonial St, Durham, NC), photographed by Open Durham, 4 Feb 2023. Used by permission. Unfortunately, that puts his death only a few short months before the recording of death certificates in Durham (September 1909) that might be able to tell us more about this man’s life and family.

It’s possible that he was born to William M. and Mary Nicholson, a farming family in Franklinton County NC.²1880 US Census Franklinton: Year: 1880; Census Place: Franklinton, Franklin, North Carolina; Roll: 963; Page: 494A; Enumeration District: 002. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/14488045:6742 : accessed 16 May 2023. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. In 1880, this Nicholson family included husband, wife, and four children: William Jr. (10), Lily (4), John W. (2), and Thomas (1). We have not been able to positively establish that this is the same man who is buried in Geer Cemetery.

The first certain evidence of John’s life comes from the 1903 Durham City Directory, listing a John W. Nicholson as a presser at Bull City Tailors downtown on Mangum Street.³Durham, NC Directory 1913-1914 (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1913-1914) p. 179, Nicholson surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25165 : accessed 16 May 2023). Owned by Wade Hammond, the business was the first known to use in their name the “Bull City” moniker we are now familiar with.⁴Bull City nickname: The Herald-Sun (Durham NC) 13 Feb 1997, p. 27. https://www.newspapers.com/image/793540161/.

Hammond had excellent contacts in Durham society, having married Leah Fitzgerald in 1899 while living in Winston NC.⁶Wade Hammond marriage certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4969706:60548 : Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. Leah’s father Richard was “Durham’s leading brickmaker,” a founder of the Fitzgerald Drug Company, the treasurer of Lincoln Hospital, president of the Durham Real Estate, Mercantile, and Manufacturing Company, and a participant in numerous other enterprises.⁷“R. B. Fitzgerald, Businessman born,” African American Registry. https://aaregistry.org/story/r-b-fitzgerald-businessman-born/ : accessed 17 Oct 2022. In addition, Hammond had initially been affiliated with Durham tailor William Foushee, whose wife Nannie was the daughter of John W. O’Daniel. O’Daniel was a founder of Geer Cemetery, a prominent Mason, and a member and supporter of St. Joseph’s AME church.⁸Geer Cemetery: Orange County Deed Book: 45 Page: 89. https://rod.orangecountync.gov/OrangeNCNW/application.asp.

Mason and churchgoer: “Carr Family Pay Honor to a Servant,” Durham Morning Herald (Durham, North Carolina), 1 May 1917, p. 6. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38487166/john-odaniel-carr-family/ : accessed 5 Nov 2019. Durham entrepreneur C.C. Spaulding applied for William and Nannie’s marriage license just as William applied for Wade and Leah’s.⁹Wm. Foushee marriage license, “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSHK-4SGP-4?cc=1726957 : 28 November 2018), > image 1 of 1; North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History. Then, for reasons we have been unable to determine, Wade Hammond dissolved his business relationship with William Foushee in 1901.¹⁰The Herald-Sun (Durham NC) 21 May 1901, p. 2. https://www.newspapers.com/image/786323796/. (See William Foushee’s life story.)

While there are no records that confirm this, it is possible that John made his way to Durham along with Wade Hammond. In the 1900 Census, Wade was working as a tailor in Winston NC, and his household included a servant named John Pinalston—a surname that is phonetically close to Nicholso.¹¹Year: 1900; Census Place: Winston, Forsyth, North Carolina; Roll: 1195; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 0034. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/50206905:7602 : accessed 18 May 2013. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls. Wade and Leah had met while students at Kittrell College in Vance County NC in the 1890s, only 5–10 miles from the location represented by the Franklinton 1880 Census record for John W. Nicholson.¹²1880 US Census Franklinton. Taken together, these records evoke the potential storyline that John met Wade and Leah while either a student or employee at the college, but research unfortunately was unable to produce any proof.

A deed tells us that in 1903, the same year in which he seems to have started work at Bull City Tailors, John Nicholson bought his own sewing machine, a Wheeler and Wilson, from the local sewing machine agent in a rent-to-own agreement for $26.80.¹³Durham County Deed Book 28: 28 (https://rodweb.dconc.gov/web/search/DOCSEARCH5S1). This investment indicates considerable ambition on John’s part.

Wade Hammond moved to Kansas in 1906 to became a music educator and the first African-American bandmaster in the United States Army.¹⁴“Army’s First Negro Band Leader Dies,” Carolina Times (Durham NC) 2 Feb 1957, p. 6. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1957-02-02/ed-1/seq-6/#words=Hammond. Bull City Tailors was taken over by William B. Bruce, and John took up work by 1907 with another tailor in Durham, David W. Levy.¹⁵William Bruce: Durham, NC Directory 1907-1908 (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1907-1908) p. 207, Nicholson surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25126 : accessed 1 Feb 2023).

David Levy: Same directory, p. 64, search for BULL CITY. John died in 1909 at the age of only 31. ¹⁶John Nicholson headstone.From the lack of other Nicholson-surnamed individuals in city directories of the era, it does not appear that John had any family in Durham, nor does it appear he had any descendants.

BORN: 9 November 1877.¹⁸John Nicholson headstone.

DIED: 9 January 1909.¹⁹John Nicholson headstone.

BIRTH PLACE: Franklin Township, Franklinton, NC.²⁰1880 US Census Franklinton.

DEATH PLACE: Durham NC.²¹Inferred from death date.

SPOUSE: N/A

PARENTS: William M. and Mary Nicholson.²²1880 US Census Franklinton.

CHILDREN: N/A

OTHER FAMILY: Siblings William Jr. (1870), Lily (1876), and Thomas (1879).²³1880 US Census Franklinton.

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: N/A

OCCUPATION: Tailor.²⁴Various Durham city directories.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 106 Haywood, 603 Pine, 208 Peachtree Alley.²⁵Various Durham city directories.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A