Nickel, William

NICKEL, BOYD, MCCARTHY, CUMMINGS, PETTIGREW, WHITON, DUNN, ADAMS

Posted By: Volunteer Subscribers
Date: 4/4/2003 at 16:26:32

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM NICKEL.

Captain William Nickel, who now holds the position of assistant foreman in the Lamb Lumber Yards, at Clinton, is a veteran of the Civil war and bears an honorable record for brave service in the cause of freedom and union, and in the paths of peace he has also won an enviable reputation through the sterling qualities which go to the making of a good citizen.

The Captain was born in New York City, February 29, 1836, and is a son of Samuel and Margaret (Boyd) Nickel, both natives of County Antrim, Ireland, the former born in 1809, the later in 1803. The mother came to America in 1830, the father two years later, and they were married in New York City, in 1834. There Samuel Nickel was employed as whip sawyer in a ship yard until 1839, when he removed to Guernsey county, Ohio, and engaged in contracting for the state for many years. In 1840 he took up his residence in Beverly, Washington county, Ohio, and made his home there throughout the remainder of his life. He died in the fall of 1894, and his wife in the fall of 1886. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, namely: William, our subject; James, a resident of Ohio; Jane, deceased; Samuel, also a resident of the Buckeye state; and Mary, wife of James McCarthy, of Ohio.

The boyhood and youth of Captain Nickel was mainly passed in Ohio, where he attended school until twelve years of age, and then learned the molder’s trade, but was obliged to give up that occupation after following it for five years, the dust being injurious to his health. In 1854 he commenced steamboating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, starting in as a deck hand and working his way upward to the position of mate. He traveled the full length of both rivers many times, and remained on the water for three years.

On the 22nd of August, 1857, Captain Nickel married Miss Phoebe A. Cummings, a daughter of James and Catherine (Pettigrew) Cummings. The father was born in Edinburg, Scotland, in 1812, and came to this country when seventeen years of age. By his first marriage he had three children: Robert, deceased; Phoebe A., wife of our subject; and John, who died in Hartburg, Texas. The mother died when Mrs. Nickel was only two years old, and the father subsequently married Miss Lydia W. Whiton, by whom he has five children, namely: Chancey M., Millie F., Mary W., Francelia and Albert J. Mr. Cummings died in Wheatland, this county, in 1875. He located there about 1853, and improved a farm. Unto Captain and Mrs. Nickel were born three children, of whom Frencelia died young. William K., a resident of Clinton, married Elizabeth Dunn, and they have two children, Harold D., and Marion L. Anna May is the wife of Myron H. Adams, a machinist, of Clinton, and they have one child, Phoebe Mildred.

After his marriage Captain Nickel spent one year working on a farm in Sharon township, this county, and then operated a rented farm in the same township for a year. In 1859 he went south, where he worked at anything he could find to do, and subsequently spent six months in Ohio, boring oil wells for a Pittsburg firm.

Hardly had the echoes from Fort Sumter’s guns died away when he enlisted at Beverly, Ohio, April 23, 1861, for three months, in Company K, Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private, under command of Captain John Henderson. He did guard duty in West Virginia, and was discharged at Columbus, Ohio, after five months’ service. He then returned to Clinton county, Iowa, and rented a farm in Liberty township, but as soon as he had harvested his wheat he again entered the army, leaving his estimable wife to see to the corn and other crops. He enlisted in Company I, Twenty-sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Milo Smith and Captain Edwin A. Wimple. He took part in the Vicksburg campaign, during which he was wounded by a bullet in the left shoulder, May 22, 1863, and was thus disabled for thirty days. He still carries the bullet, however. When he had somewhat recovered from his wound, he rejoined his regiment, and while with Sherman on the march to the sea, he was again wounded at Taylor Ridge, November 28, 1863, this time in the right hand, and was unable to engage in active service for two months. He participated in the grand review at Washington, D. C., at the close of the war, and was there discharged June 6, 1865. He had entered the service as a private, but was promoted from time to time until he became captain of his company, holding every office in succession, except that of first lieutenant, and he returned home with a war record of which he may be justly proud.

Captain Nickel then resumed farming near Wheatland, Clinton county, and followed that pursuit until 1867, when he accepted a position as watchman for a lumber company, and in 1868 left there and returned to farming. In 1871 he went to Kansas, and returned to Clinton in June, 1875, and was again employed in the lumber yards for one year. He next accepted a position as patrolman on the police force of the city, which he filled three years and a half, and in 1881 went to work in the Lamb Lumber Yards, where he is now serving as assistant foreman in a most creditable and satisfactory manner.

In his political affiliations Captain Nickel is a stanch Republican, and in religious belief is a Methodist. He is an honored member of General N. B. Baker Post, No. 88, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has held all the offices save that of commander, and also belongs to the Lookout Mountain Command Veterans’ Union, in which he has served as lieutenant colonel, which office he is now holding.