Fayette-Boyle-Mercer County KyArchives Biographies.....Nicholas, George 1753 - 1799 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 5, 2007, 2:43 pm Author: Bennett H. Young George Nicholas. On the occasion of a centennial which Nicholasville celebrated on September 16, 1898, the history of the man for whom the county seat was called, becomes profoundly interesting. George Nicholas was born August 11th, 1753, in Williamsburg, Va. His father was Robert Carter Nicholas, a prominent lawyer, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (Legislature), connected with the Colonial Government of Virginia, and Colonial Treasurer. He became a captain in the Continental army, and practiced law in Charlottesville after the war. Of the Virginia Convention, called to consider the Constitution of the United States, he was a member, and he ably and earnestly advocated its adoption, which prevailed by a vote of 88 for and 78 against, and that only after a lengthened and even acrimonious discussion. This ratification was made by the convention on June 26th, 1788; Virginia being the tenth state to adopt the instrument. On October 24th, 1788, Colonel Nicholas advertised in the Kentucky Gazette, as follows: "Richmond, Va., Oct. 24th, 1788. "I propose attending the General Court in the District of Kentucky, as an attorney, and shall be at the next March term, if not prevented by some unforeseen event." He came in the following year and settled in what is now Boyle but was then Mercer county. (Boyle county was not established until 1842.) As Harrodsburg and Danville were, in pioneer days, places for the most important conventions, and the seat of the county, it was doubtless for the purpose of being near the seats of justice which induced Colonel Nicholas to find a home in Mercer. The act admitting Kentucky as a state was passed June 1st, 179 j, but it was not to go into effect until June 1st, 1792. In December, 1791, a convention was elected to meet in Danville April 3d, 1792, to frame a State Constitution. George Nicholas was one of the men elected a member of this convention from Mercer county. He was the greatest lawyer in this body. His experience as a member of the Virginia Convention, in the discussion of the Constitution of the United States, and his superb legal training, combined with his logical and analytical mind, and his power of accurate statement, made him the man of and for the occasion. In his fortieth year, in the full tide of his mental and physical powers, and with a ripe judgment, the result of military, civil and judicial experience, combined with a peculiarly philosophical and analytical mind; it was both reasonable and proper that he should be the dominant spirit of the body. Experience subsequently showed that many of the provisions of the Constitution adopted at his suggestion, were not adapted to the conditions surrounding Kentucky. It only remained in force seven years, and was then, by almost the unanimous will of the people, set aside in 1799. No forty-five men ever assembled together who were more patriotic and who more faithfully endeavored to discharge the trust confided to their keeping. Benjamin Logan, Alexander Bullitt, Robert Breckinridge, David Rice, Samuel McDowell, Caleb Wallace, were a part of that distinguished convention, and in that period of Kentucky's history, they represented a courage, fidelity, patriotism and loyalty to the people which reached the highest limit of human attainment. The perfect knowledge Colonel. Nicholas had obtained of the Constitution of the United States and his admiration of its provisions, created by his splendid defense of it in the Virginia Convention, were largely used in the creation of Kentucky's first Constitution. His superb legal attainments, his varied knowledge, his judicial mind, his unbounded patriotism, and his thorough conception of the true principles of government, made him an unquestioned leader in such a body. The Constitution was framed and adopted in-seventeen days, and in thirty days from the assembling of the convention a Governor was elected, and in sixty days a Legislature assembled under its provisions. Colonel Nicholas was married to Mary Smith, of Baltimore. One of her brothers, Samuel Smith, was a member of the House of Representatives and United States Senator for twenty-nine years, and another, Robert Smith, was Secretary of the Navy under President Jefferson, and Secretary of State under President Madison. One of his sons, S. S. Nicholas, was one of the most distinguished lawyers of the state. He was a Judge of the Court of Appeals. Judge of the Louisville Chancery Court, and one of the Commissioners appointed in 1850 to revise the laws of Kentucky. His youngest daughter, Hetty Morrison, was the wife of Hon. Richard Hawes, of Paris, Ky., at one time Provisional Governor of Kentucky, while under the control of the Confederate States; and he represented the Ashland District in Congress, 1837-1841. He opened a law school at his own house, and taught gratuitously such men as Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, John Rowan, Martin D. Hardin, Robert Wickliffe, William T. Barry, Isham Talbott, and John Green. He moved to Hath county in 1794, to which his interests in the old slate furnace, which was operated from 1790 to 1839, and was for nearly 50 years one of the great industries of the state. Later he came to Lexington to devote himself to the practice of law. In 1799 he was elected Professor of the Law Department then added to Transylvania University, then in the zenith of its glory, but he died shortly afterwards, in July, 1799, in his forty-sixth year. The capital of Jessamine is named, as will be seen, from one of the really great men of his period. It was called for Colonel Nicholas through the partiality of Rev. John Metcalf, who held the highest admiration for Nicholas, and who had known him in Virginia, before his removal to Kentucky. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A HISTORY OF JESSAMINE COUNTY, KENTUCKY, FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO 1898. By BENNETT H. YOUNG, PRESIDENT POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY; MEMBER FILSON CLUB; MEMBER CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1890; AUTHOR HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF KENTUCKY, OF "BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS, ETC, ETC. S. M. DUNCAN, ASSOCIATE AUTHOR. Every brave and good life out of the past is a treasure which cannot be measured in money, and should be preserved with faithfullest care. LOUISVILLE, KY.: COURIER-JOURNAL JOB PRINTING CO., 1898. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/fayette/bios/nicholas384gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/