LXXXVIII.
LXXXVIII. WILSON CARY NICHOLAS.
LXXXVIII. Governor.
LXXXVIII. December 1, 1814, to December 1, 1816.
The founder of the Nicholas family in Virginia was
Dr. George Nicholas, of Lancaster County, England, a surgeon
in the British Navy, who settled in the Colony at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, and married about 1722,
Elizabeth, widow of Major Nathaniel Burwell, and daughter
of Robert, known as "King Carter." Their eldest son,
Robert Carter Nicholas, married in 1754, Anne, daughter of
Colonel Wilson Cary, and their third son, Wilson Cary
Nicholas, is the subject of this sketch.
He was born January 31, 1761, in Williamsburg, Virginia,
and was educated at William and Mary College, which
institution he left at the age of eighteen years, to enter the
army. His ability as a soldier met with deserved recognition,
and he was the commander of Washington's life-guard until
it was disbanded in 1783, when he settled in Albemarle
County, on his estate called "Warren." In the same year
he married Margaret, daughter of John Smith, of Baltimore,
Maryland.
The public services of Mr. Nicholas began in 1784, as the
representative of Albemarle County in the House of Delegates
of Virginia. At the close of the session of 1785, he
returned to private life, from which retirement he was called
to represent the County of Albemarle in the State Convention
of 1788, where he was conspicuous in his advocacy of
the adoption of the Constitution. He again served in the
House of Delegates in 1789 and 1790, and from 1794 to 1799,
when he was elected to the United States Senate. In this
latter body he took a distinguished position as a Republican
leader, and at this highly important period, zealously supported
all the measures projected by his party for the good of
the country. Seeing most of his wishes in this respect
accomplished, he resigned his seat in the Senate in 1804,
and turned his attention to his own neglected private affairs.
In 1806, he declined a special mission to France, but, in 1807
he was elected to Congress, and again in 1809, was re-elected
to the same position.
During this exciting and momentous period he took the
highly patriotic stand of a determined and, if need be, armed
resistance to the policy of France and Great Britain. In
December, 1814, Mr. Nicholas was elected Governor of Virginia,
and although the State at that time was passing through
the great ordeal of a foreign war under peculiarly trying circumstances,
he did not hesitate to accept the position with its
unusual weight of care and anxiety.
The announcement of peace in the following spring lightened
his responsibilities, and he at once turned his energies
to the promotion of matters of internal improvement. In
every situation, Governor Nicholas showed himself devoted to
the honor and welfare of his native state, combining with his
zeal an intimate knowledge of her capacities and her needs.
In the spring of 1819, retiring permanently from public
life, he returned to his country seat, "Warren," but his
health had been seriously impaired by the fatigue and anxiety
incident to many positions of responsibility, and his useful
life was drawing near its close.
Being advised to try the benefits of a journey on horseback,
he set out and reached "Tufton," the residence of his
son-in-law, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. Here his strength
failed, and he expired suddenly on October 10, 1820. Popular
and successful, his life was crowned with many honors,
and he has left the memory of valuable services rendered
both to his state and to his country.
