To John NICKELL Surname Index Page
To John NICKELL Surname Index Page
At one time when we were deep into researching John NICKELL's heritage and family there was so much confusion when people would write without full names asking about "John Nickell" that I started refering to our progenitor as "Papa John" (I've over 250 "John NICKELL"s in my data base!). That was the wrong thing to do and evidently caused even more confusion when people started thinking his legal name was "Papa", so I've dropped that from my listings.
In March of 1993, Demoy W. Schulz wrote, "... I believe John married Barbara just shortly before he wrote his will on 24 Mar 1755 - that she (Barbara) was under 21 - so he made his will in lieu of a marriage contract which wouldn't hold up in court (if) signed by a minor. I believe his first wife was a LEWIS because of John's close association with that family."
Demoy has been researching this line for some 40 odd years and her knowledge
is respected. With all this in mind we have arranged Papa John's family to
reflect her theory. (Notice the 4 year break in children between Isaac, b.1752, and Susanah, 1756.)
Please note that the lines of John's daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah, aren't included in the NICKELL surname list but links to their listings are provided in the family list below.
( =2) Barbara McCombe b.1735 d.11/10/1804)
The following JOHN NICKELL family history is as we understand it today. We believe the accuracy to be high, but much is yet to be proven. As with any reference, use the data contained herein for guidance only!
We have found that errors can be introduced by census takers, clerks of courts, conflicting information from family members, typing errors, etc. We have taken pains to proofread this document several times, but errors will find a way to creep in. We hope you will be pleased with our efforts.
"JOHN NICKELL immigrated from Ulster, Tyrone County, Ireland, near the town of Gortin, and settled in Augusta County, Virginia about 1738. About 1755 he married (2nd? wife) Barbara McCombe of Virginia. Their children were born in Augusta County; and his six sons served in the American Revolution of 1776.
"1728-1774--John Nickell, born in County Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland, near Gortin, where (1932) several families of this name are still settled. In 1749 he bought a plantation of 400 acres on Moffett's Branch, Middle River of the Shenandoah, in Augusta County, Virginia, (in) a Scotch-Irish settlement and about 10 miles northwest of the present city of Staunton, VA. He married Barbara McCombe, the daughter of Rebekah Young McCombe and granddaughter of John Young, Jr., and they had seven children [Ed: Susannah wasn't listed.] His six sons served the cause of American Independence in the Revolution against the French and Indians in 1758. He granted his eldest son, John, the greater part of the Plantation in Augusta and his other children all settled on the Greenbrier River, then the westernmost settlement of the Colonies. He was buried in Augusta County."
In 1994 Dorothy Lawyer Nickell of Clio, Iowa, provided the INDENTURE for
the land John bought in Augusta County, Virginia:
THIS INDENTURE made the twenty-seventh day of November in the Year of Our
Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty-nine, between William King, of the
county of Augusta, on the one part, and JOHN NICKELL, of the other part,
---:WITNESSETH:---
That the said William King, for and in consideration of the sum of five
shillings, current money of Virginia, to him in hand paid by the said JOHN
NICKELL at or before the Sealing and Delivery of these presents, the Receipt
of which is hereby acknowledged, And Other Valuable Consideration, hath
Granted, Bargained and Sold, and by These Presents doth Grant, Bargain and
Sell unto the said JOHN NICKELL one certain tract or parcell of land,
containing Four Hundred acres, lying and being in the County of Augusta on a
branch of Catheys River called Moffett's branch and bounded as followeth, to-
wit:
BEGINNING at the two pines and a White oak on the east side of Ralston's path
thence North thirty degrees east two hundred and forty poles [1 pole = 16.5
feet] to two White Oaks, South sixty-six degrees east sixty-four poles to two
hickorys and a Black oak, North thirty degrees east sixty poles to a Hickory.
South sixty degrees east one hundred and sixty-four poles to a Hickory. South
thirty degrees West fifty-two poles to a White Oak. North eighty-seven
degrees West five hundred and two poles to beginning. It being granted to the
said William King by Pattent under the Seal of the Colony, bearing date the
Tenth day of February One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty Eight, relation
thereunto being had many more fully and at large appear.
And all houses, buildings, orchards, Ways, watercourses, profits,
commodities. Hereditaments and Appurtenances whatsoever, the ad. Premises
hereby Granted or any part thereof belonging, or in any wise appurtaining,
and the said Reversion and Reversions, Remainder, Rents, Issues and Profits
thereof.
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said tract or parcel of Land and all and singular
other the premises hereby Granted, with the Appurtenances unto the said JOHN
NICKELL, his Executors, Administrators & Assigns from the day before the date
hereof, for and during the full term and time of One Whole Year from thence
next ensuing fully to be completed and ended, Yielding and Paying therefore
the Rent of One Pepper Corn on Lady Day next if the same shall be lawfully
demanded; to sd. intents and purposes that by virtue of The Said Presents and
of the Statue for Transferring Uses into Possession, the said JOHN NICKELL
may be in actual possession of the premises and be thereby enabled to Accept
and Take a Grant and release of the Reversion and Inheritance thereof to Him
and His Heirs.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the said William King hath hereunto set his hand and Seal
the day and year first above written.
WILLIAM KING (SEAL)
Sealed & delivered in the
presence of : Silas Hart John Poage John Robertson Robert Ralston
At a court continued and held for Augusta County the XXXth day of November,
1749, William King in open Court acknowledged this, his lease for land
indented to JOHN NICKELL, which on his motion is admitted to Record.
TESTE: John Madison, Clk
(Deed Book No. 1, Page 195, Augusta Co., VA)
Demoy W. Schulz, a long respected NICKELL researcher, said in 1994:
"I believe that John was married to a LEWIS before the union to young Barbara McCOMBE. Theory is also that Barbara was a minor when they 'married' in 1755 and that John's will (dated Mar 24, 1755) was, in essence, a marriage contract. This, then, would make children John, b.1838; Joseph, b.1740; Isaac, b.1750; and Elizabeth, b.1854; from a first marriage.
"In 1760 JOHN NICKELL, Sr., deeded his son, John Jr., 250 A of his Moffitt Creek farm for 5 lbs - the land he'd willed him in 1755. It is reasonable to assume that John Jr. was 21 when his father deeded him the land. And - since Thomas Sr., his 2nd son, but not necessarily his 2nd child, was a father in 1761. According to the gravestone inscription of his oldest child, MARGARET NICKELL McCALLISTER, he must have been born no later than 1743. Thomas Sr., may have married young since he evidently had problems accepting his step- mother - but surely not at age 15 or 16.
"Those two facts led to the assumption that John Nickell, Sr., was born nearer 1715/20 than 1728, as stated in Gen. Joe Nickell's 1932 Nickell Genealogy. That 1728 date may have come from an article in the 5th Series of The Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. #1, which states that JOHN NICHOLAS, age 30, from Bedoney, Ireland, volunteered for the Expedition to Western PA in 1758. According to the Typographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis, Gortin is a village in the parish of Lower Badony (Bedoney). There are many records of a JOHN NICHOLAS buying and selling land in Augusta Co., VA, at the same time our JOHN NICKELL, Sr., was there. It was most likely JOHN NICHOLAS - not JOHN NICKELL, Sr., - who went on that expedition.
"When John, Sr., came to America is not known. Nothing was found to indicate that any of his children were born in Europe so presumably he arrived before 1739. Several passenger lists were checked but JOHN NICKEL, age 25, from Rotterdam on The Friendship; qualified 3 Sep 1739, arrived in Philadelphia, PA (Pennsylvania German Pioneers by Carl Boyer III-256) was the only one that fit the `guesstimated' age of John Sr., very well. Of course he wasn't German, but from the information given he could have left from Rotterdam - not resided there. NICKEL is definately the German spelling of the name but the name is so frequently spelled wrong that it may have been spelled wrong on the passenger list.
"Court records and early family records prove beyond any doubt that JOHN NICKELL, Sr., whose will was probated 17 August 1774 in Augusta Co., VA, was the father of all 8 of the indicated children. Those same records prove beyond any doubt that BARBARA McCOMBE NICKELL was -not- the mother of all 8! Who John, Sr., married first is not known with certainty, but he probably married a Lewis.
"An old history of Greenbrier Co., VA, stated that ISAAC NICKELL and Captain JOHN LEWIS, under whom he served at Point Pleasant, VA, on 10 Oct 1774, were related but that neither of them knew of the relationship. Though there were three Capt. John Lewis' at the time, Isaac probably served under the son of BENJAMIN and SUSANNAH NICKELL LEWIS, who recruited his men from the Second Creek are of Monroe and Greenbrier Counties - the locale of the Nickell homesteads. Isaac and Capt. Lewis no doubt knew of the relationship - maybe the historians did not.
"In 1870 HARVEY A. NICKELL (1850-1926), son of JAMES MADISON NICKELL, wrote the earliest known Nickell Genealogy - but he included only the Monroe Co., WV, Nickells. Perhaps they were the only Nickells he knew - or perhaps he wrote only of Monroe Nickells because he was gathering information for the History of Monroe County, WV which was published in 1916. According to Harvey A., the Nickells originally came from Scotland to Augusta Co., VA.
"In 1911 ANDREW WASHINGTON NICKELL (1841-1911) of Beatrice, NE, left his Nickell lineage with his children. He wrote, 'My great great grandfather came from Ireland and settled in Augusta Co., VA.' Probably both Harvey and Andrew were right! John Sr., was probably born in Ulster, Ireland, but was of Scotch descent. Hence he was one of the thousands of the so called "Scotch-Irish" to come to America, who weren't Irish at all. But, he and his children settled among the Scotch-Irish Ulstermen in Augusta Co., VA in what is now Monroe Co, WV."
To John NICKELL Surname Index Page
Back to the Home Page Surname Data Links