Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Nichols, Clarence E. 1867 - 
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Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

CLARENCE E. NICHOLS.

    Among the men who have located in Cottage Hill township, Marshall county,
and have met with a large degree of success as general farmers and stock raisers
is Clarence E. Nichols, who was born in the state of Illinois on September 26,
1867, and is the son of John L. and Sarah (Milmine) Nichols, natives of
Massachusetts and Canada, respectively.

    John L. Nichols was born in the city of Boston on January 20, 1833, being
the son of John Nichols, who was born in 1797, where he lived until 1836, when
he and his family came to Illinois and was one of the early settlers in that
state. There he homesteaded forty acres of land and there he reared his family.
It was in the locality of the family's first home in that state that the son,
John L., grew to manhood and received his education in the local schools. At the
outbreak of the Civil War, John L. Nichols was one of the first to give his
services to his country in defense of the Union. For four years he served as a
sergeant in Company B, Second Illinois Cavalry, and rendered excellent services
in some of the hardest campaigns of the war. At Forts Henry and Donelson he was
shot in the body and in the leg, and never fully recovered from the effects of
these wounds. At the close of the war he returned to Illinois, where he lived
until 1871, when he with his family came to Kansas. In the year before Mr.
Nichols came to Marshall county, where he purchased land at five dollars per
acre and later had a most difficult time in keeping up the payments. The markets
were far distant and the prices were low, and where there was grain or produce
to sell, it brought but very little. When the family came to the state from
Illinois, John L. and his son, Clarence E., made the trip in a box car, having
made the journey with the horses and the household goods. The farm the family
settled on was undeveloped and unimproved and required much hard work and close
economy to bring to the high state of excellence in which Mr. Nichols had placed
it some years later. He engaged in general farming and stock raising until the
time of his death on February 10, 1902. He was an active member of the Grand
Army of the Republic, and he and his wife were prominent members of the
Methodist Episcopal church.

    Sarah Nichols was born in her Canadian home on April 12, 1837, and there she
received her education in the local schools and grew to womanhood. In 1853, she
came with her parents to Illinois, where the family home was established and she
was later united in marriage to Mr. Nichols. Her parents, Alpheus and Hannah
(Kennedy) Milmine were of Scotch-French descent and were prominent members of
the local community. Mrs. Nichols died at her home near Waterville on March 25,
1915. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols were the parents of two children, Clarence E. and
Laura M. Butler, who with her family live in Enid, Oklahoma.

    Clarence E. Nichols received his education in the common schools and at the
Chaddock College, Quincy, Illinois. At Quincy he was united in marriage, by the
Rev. M. P. Lackland, on June 11, 1890, to Clara A. Bryner, who was born on
November 14, 1862, at Andersonberg, Pennsylvania, and is the daughter of John H.
and Margaret Ann (Rice) Bryner. Mr. and Mrs. Bryner were of German descent and
the families were old ones in the state. The mother of Mrs. Nichols died in 1863
and her father in 1874 and she was reared by her grandfather, Benjamin Rice, a
native of Pennsylvania, and there she spent her young life and was educated in
the academy. After completing her education, she came West with the intention of
teaching, but instead she was married. To Mr. and Mrs. Nichols three children
have been born: Laura M., born June 10, 1891, g. teacher; Alma B., who was born
on April 18, 1893, and is now a teacher at Baker University, and S. Geneve, born
on July 3, 1896, and is one of the teachers in the Cottage Hill schools. Mr. and
Mrs. Nichols are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mr.
Nichols being assistant superintendent and district steward.

    Mr. Nichols has a splendid farm of one hundred and sixty acres on which he
has lived for forty-five years, having come here with his father in 1870. He has
done much in the way of development and improvement, having remodeled and added
to the house and beautified the place by the planting of trees and shrubs, and
today has one of the ideal country homes of the township. He is one of the
progressive men of the township and county, and his farm is an , index of the
careful attention that is given it. The well-cultivated fields and the well-kept
buildings are an evidence of the high standard of living to which Mr. and Mrs.
Nichols have accustomed themselves. He keeps a fine lot of stock, and is
recognized as one of the substantial and successful farmers and stockmen in the
district.

    Politically, Mr. Nichols is identified with the Prohibition wing of the
Republican party and has represented the party as a member of the central
committee. He is president of the Farmers Union and a director of the County
Fair Association. As president of the Farmers Elevator Company at Waterville, he
has managed the affairs of that organization with marked success, and has won
the confidence and respect of the entire body of stockholders. He is a member of
the Modern Woodmen of America and is one of the active workers of that
organization. He has taken an active interest in the affairs of the township,
and his best efforts have always been for the betterment and growth of the
district. He is a firm believer in the best schools and substantial public
improvements, and while he has never been an office seeker, his advice is often
sought on matters pertaining to the civic life of the county.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)



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