DAVIDSON COUNTY, TN - BIOGRAPHIES - William Nichol
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Contributor’s Notes:  William Nichol is the great grandfather of my husband,
Harry Hite Nichol.  This family traces its ancestry to Fahan, County Donegal,
Ireland.  

		A BRIEF SKETCH OF WILLIAM NICHOL

     William Nichol, Banker, Steamboat Entrepreneur, Planter, Merchant and
Mayor of Nashville, died at his residence on the Lebanon pike, (later called 
Belle Aire), six miles from the city of Nashville, on Nov. 23, 1978.  His 
death was sudden; his life was a long and useful one.  He was born at 
Abingdon, Virginia, 12 Feb 1800.  His father, Josiah Nichol, was for long 
years a citizen of Nashville., a self-made man, a well-known merchant of solid 
worth, who became and was the president of the United States Bank at Nashville 
for many years, and until it ceased to exist. Josiah Nichol was one of 
Nashville’s worthies”,--industrious, diligent in his calling, of rare good 
common sense and sound judgment--an honest man.  There was no man who knew him 
that did not respect and esteem him. He was a real, genuine man, and no sham.
     Josiah Nichol brought up his son, William, to industry, diligence, and 
work.  In early life, having served an apprenticeship under his father, he at 
the early age of sixteen went into the dry-goods business as a partner of 
Joseph Vaulx, which continued until 1825, in which year, he was married to 
Miss Julia Lytle, daughter of William Lytle, of Rutherford county, and, sister 
of the wife of Ephraim H. Foster, Senator, Lawyer and Statesman.
     Immediately after William Nichol’s marriage, he went into the general
commission business, and specifically formed a partnership with Harry R. W.
Hill, who afterwards took into the firm Mr. Porterfield.  In the fall of 1825, 
they owned the steamer “De Witt Clinton”, and subsequently built the steamer
“Nashville” and a “lighter”, to bring up goods from Harpeth Shoals, called the
“Talleyrand”. The enterprise was remarkably successful, and was known
throughout the county for its high character and credit.  The firm was 
dissolved in 1833, and Harry Hill went to New Orleans, became a member of the 
house of Dick and Hill, greatly increased his estate, and died.
     William Nichol became secretary of an insurance company, in which he
continued until the establishment, by the State, of the Bank of Tennessee, 
when he was made its first president.  He invested his estate made by his own 
skill, and judgment and business talent, in Nashville city property, and in a 
large farm and tract of land with improvements of great value, dwelling house, 
etc., on the Lebanon pike, the late residence of Mr. Jo. Clay; here for the 
remainder of his life he made his family residence, and lived in a liberal and 
hospitable style and reared a large family of children, giving to each all the 
advantages of education the country could afford. He, also invested his 
capital in a cotton plantation and large tracts of land in Arkansas, on the 
Arkansas River, which yielded him for many successive years a princely income, 
where he settled his son Josiah on a cotton plantation, and, later, his son, 
Alexander.  At the end of Civil War, William Nichol’s estate was estimated at 
one million dollars.  He is said to have been the first Tennessee Millionaire.
     William Nichol was Mayor of Nashville when an effort was made to get the
Legislature, then in session, to locate the Capitol at Nashville.  Other rival 
places for the seat offered sites for the Capitol building.  It was thought it 
would aid in its location at Nashville to offer a site for Capitol building, 
and would probable make it decisive.  William Nichol suggested and became 
active in obtaining and offering such a site, free of cost, to the State.  He, 
and others, contracted with George W. Campbell for the purchase of “Capitol 
Hill”and made themselves personally responsible for the purchase money, the 
sum of thirty thousand dollars, and offered it as a site, and the seat of 
government for Tennessee was located at Nashville.  William Nichol was 
reimbursed for his money in three payments starting in 1845, and ending in 
1847.  
     William Nichol’s character was without a stain or blemish.  He was a kind
husband, and had full confidence in his wife’s good sense and judgment, a
generous father, a kind neighbor, and citizen, and a humane master, firm and
gentle.   He was punctual in his business transactions, and had great pride of
character, never seeking popularity, but set a high value on the good-will and
respect of his friends and the public at large.  The character of an “honest” 
man was fully accorded to him.

(The above was copied from the History of Davidson, 1850, by W. W. Clayton
who war personally acquainted with William Nichol.  Additional information was
confirmed by clippings and bible records in the possession of the writer.)