{"id":2735,"date":"2023-05-18T13:44:10","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T17:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsofgeercemetery.org\/?p=2735"},"modified":"2023-05-18T13:52:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T17:52:26","slug":"john-nicholson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendsofgeercemetery.org\/index.php\/2023\/05\/18\/john-nicholson\/","title":{"rendered":"NICHOLSON, JOHN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

9 November 1877\u20139 January 1909<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last updated: 18 May 2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The headstone of John Nicholson tells us he died on 9 January 1909.1<\/a><\/sup>John Nicholson headstone: Geer Cemetery (800 Colonial St, Durham, NC), photographed by Open Durham, 4 Feb 2023. Used by permission.<\/span> 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\u2019s life and family.

It\u2019s possible that he was born to William M. and Mary Nicholson, a farming family in Franklinton County NC.2<\/a><\/sup>1880 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 \u00a9 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<\/a> : 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.<\/span> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first certain evidence of John\u2019s life comes from the 1903 Durham City Directory, listing a John W. Nicholson as a presser at Bull City Tailors downtown on Mangum Street.3<\/a><\/sup>Durham, NC Directory 1913-1914<\/em> (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1913-1914) p. 179, Nicholson surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https:\/\/lib.digitalnc.org\/record\/25165<\/a> : accessed 16 May 2023).<\/span> Owned by Wade Hammond, the business was the first known to use in their name the \u201cBull City\u201d moniker we are now familiar with.4<\/a><\/sup>Bull City nickname: The Herald-Sun (Durham NC) 13 Feb 1997, p. 27. https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/793540161\/<\/a>.<\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ad from the Durham Herald-Sun, 21 May 1901.5<\/a><\/sup>The Herald-Sun (Durham NC) 21 May 1901, p. 2. https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/786323796\/<\/a>. Reproduced under fair use.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hammond had excellent contacts in Durham society, having married Leah Fitzgerald in 1899 while living in Winston NC.6<\/a><\/sup>Wade 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<\/a> : Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.<\/span> Leah\u2019s father Richard was \u201cDurham\u2019s leading brickmaker,\u201d 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<\/a><\/sup>\u201cR. B. Fitzgerald, Businessman born,\u201d African American Registry. https:\/\/aaregistry.org\/story\/r-b-fitzgerald-businessman-born\/<\/a> : accessed 17 Oct 2022.<\/span> In addition, Hammond had initially been affiliated with Durham tailor William Foushee, whose wife Nannie was the daughter of John W. O\u2019Daniel. O\u2019Daniel was a founder of Geer Cemetery, a prominent Mason, and a member and supporter of St. Joseph\u2019s AME church.8<\/a><\/sup>Geer Cemetery: Orange County Deed Book: 45 Page: 89. https:\/\/rod.orangecountync.gov\/OrangeNCNW\/application.asp<\/a>.

\n\n\n\nMason and churchgoer: \u201cCarr Family Pay Honor to a Servant,\u201d Durham Morning Herald (Durham, North Carolina), 1 May 1917, p. 6. https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/clip\/38487166\/john-odaniel-carr-family\/<\/a> : accessed 5 Nov 2019.<\/span> Durham entrepreneur C.C. Spaulding applied for William and Nannie\u2019s marriage license just as William applied for Wade and Leah\u2019s.9<\/a><\/sup>Wm. Foushee marriage license, \u201cNorth Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979,\u201d database with images, FamilySearch (https:\/\/familysearch.org\/ark:\/61903\/3:1:3Q9M-CSHK-4SGP-4?cc=1726957<\/a> : 28 November 2018), > image 1 of 1; North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History.<\/span> Then, for reasons we have been unable to determine, Wade Hammond dissolved his business relationship with William Foushee in 1901.10<\/a><\/sup>The Herald-Sun (Durham NC) 21 May 1901, p. 2. https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/786323796\/<\/a>.<\/span> (See William Foushee\u2019s life story<\/a><\/u>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2014a surname that is phonetically close to Nicholso.11<\/a><\/sup>Year: 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<\/a> : 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.<\/span> Wade and Leah had met while students at Kittrell College in Vance County NC in the 1890s, only 5\u201310 miles from the location represented by the Franklinton 1880 Census record for John W. Nicholson.12<\/a><\/sup>1880 US Census Franklinton.<\/span> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 $26.80.13<\/a><\/sup>Durham County Deed Book 28: 28 (https:\/\/rodweb.dconc.gov\/web\/search\/DOCSEARCH5S1<\/a>).<\/span> This investment indicates considerable ambition on John\u2019s part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wade Hammond moved to Kansas in 1906 to became a music educator and the first African-American bandmaster in the United States Army.14<\/a><\/sup>\u201cArmy\u2019s First Negro Band Leader Dies,\u201d Carolina Times (Durham NC) 2 Feb 1957, p. 6. https:\/\/newspapers.digitalnc.org\/lccn\/sn83045120\/1957-02-02\/ed-1\/seq-6\/#words=Hammond<\/a>.<\/span> 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.15<\/a><\/sup>William Bruce: Durham, NC Directory 1907-1908<\/em> (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1907-1908) p. 207, Nicholson surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https:\/\/lib.digitalnc.org\/record\/25126<\/a> : accessed 1 Feb 2023).

\n\n\n\nDavid Levy: Same directory, p. 64, search for BULL CITY.<\/span> John died in 1909 at the age of only 31. 16<\/a><\/sup>John Nicholson headstone.<\/span>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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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John Nicholson headstone.17<\/a><\/sup>John Nicholson headstone.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BORN<\/strong>: 9 November 1877.18<\/a><\/sup>John Nicholson headstone.<\/span>

DIED<\/strong>: 9 January 1909.19<\/a><\/sup>John Nicholson headstone.<\/span>

BIRTH PLACE<\/strong>: Franklin Township, Franklinton, NC.20<\/a><\/sup>1880 US Census Franklinton.<\/span>

DEATH PLACE<\/strong>: Durham NC.21<\/a><\/sup>Inferred from death date.<\/span>

SPOUSE<\/strong>: N\/A

PARENTS<\/strong>: William M. and Mary Nicholson.22<\/a><\/sup>1880 US Census Franklinton.<\/span>

CHILDREN<\/strong>: N\/A

OTHER FAMILY<\/strong>: Siblings William Jr. (1870), Lily (1876), and Thomas (1879).23<\/a><\/sup>1880 US Census Franklinton.<\/span>

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY<\/strong>: N\/A

OCCUPATION<\/strong>: Tailor.24<\/a><\/sup>Various Durham city directories.<\/span>

CHURCH<\/strong>: N\/A

AFFILIATIONS<\/strong>: N\/A

ADDRESS<\/strong>: 106 Haywood, 603 Pine, 208 Peachtree Alley.25<\/a><\/sup>Various Durham city directories.<\/span>

MILITARY SERVICE<\/strong>: N\/A<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Notes<\/h3>