BIOS: Nichols, Isaac: Ogden, Monroe co., New York ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.org/ny/nyfiles.htm File at: http://files.usgwarchives.org/ny/monroe/bios/ogden/nichols-isaac.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nyfiles/ File size: 3.5 Kb ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Karl Hillig khillig1@mac.com June 3, 2006, 10:45 am Source: Ogden Centennial Pioneer Reminiscences 1802-1902 compiled by Mrs. Augusta E. N. Rich assisted by Mrs. Sarah Flagg Smith and Mr. H. H. Goff Press of John C. Moore Rochester, N.Y. Author: Mrs. J. B. Cromwell The first ancestor of the present Nichols family, who came to the town of Ogden at the beginning of the nineteenth century, was Isaac Nichols, from the town of Beckett, Berkshire County, Mass. He drove through the wild intervening country in 1803, and after preparing a home, returned the following year to Massachusetts and brought back his wife and child, Charles K. Nichols, father of the late Lester S. Nichols. He settled on the farm where he died. Three families of the Nichols settled on the same road, which was named Nichols street. Isaac Nichols died of yellow fever, September 7th, 1842, at 63 years of age. He was a drummer boy in the War of 1812, and went to the front during the excitement because of the British fleet on Lake Ontario. He was one of the volunteers who went to the mouth of the Genesee river at the same time when the British were expected to land at that point. On the day when all was excitement because of the expected landing of the enemy, his wife and children were all dressed and ready, the oxen hitched to the cart, and everything in perfect readiness to flee further south out of danger should the British land. His son Charles, who was only 8 years old, was the youthful driver who was to hurry the oxcart and its precious load to a place of safety. The other boy, John, was only a babe and was kept wrapped in a blanket all day long, so that there would be no delay in getting the start of the enemy. The British ship lay at anchor and it was momentarily expected that the red coats would come to shore. All was anxiety and suspense. The brave little band of American militia was hidden in the bushes at the mouth of the river to prevent the British troops from landing. When at last the vessel weighed anchor and started to sail out of the harbor, Uncle Ben Freeman arose from the bushes and said, with his characteristic bluntness: "By kire! they ain't goin' to get away without one shot." So out from the bushes he ran and shot off his old blunderbuss. No sooner did the woods echo with the sound of his noisy but scattering piece of hand artillery, than there came back an answering shot from the vessel, and he was glad to get under cover again. Isaac Nichols' children consisted of two sons and three daughters. The youngest daughter, Polly, died at the age of 18, in 1831. The oldest daughter, Roxana Hess, went west in 1857 and died in Hudson, Mich., in 1875. The next of age was Charlotte Allen, who died in Sweden, this county, in 1858. His youngest son, John, died in Parma, this county, in 1857. His oldest son, Charles, died at Spencerport in 1894, at the age of 90 years.