Biographies
For
Muscatine County Iowa
1889



Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 526

HON. PLINY NICHOLS, and honored and representative citizen of this cunty, now residing on section 29, Wapsinonoc Township, is one of the early settlers of 1856. He was born in Wayne County, N. Y., on the 4th of October, 1824, and is a son of Jonas and Dorinda ( Purvis ) Nichols, the former a native of Vermont, born of English parentage, the latter of New York, of English descent on the paternal side, and of Welsh descent on the maternal side.

Jonas Nichols by trade was a brickmaker. In the year 1834, he emigrated to Morrow County, Ohio, locating at Cardington, where he engaged in brickmaking for several years. In 1854 he cast his lot with the early settlers of Muscatine County, and became a resident of Wapsinonoc Township, where he spent the remaining years of his life, his death occurring in January, 1856, at the age of eighty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols were the parents of ten children : Jonas, who died at the age of nineteen years ; Ira, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work ; George P., who was a farmer and prominent business man of West Liberty, now deceased ; Pliny, of our sketch ; Phineas, who is engaged in farming in Wapsinonoc Township ; Daniel, also a resident farmer of the same township ; Isaac C., who departed this life in 1886, at West Liberty ; Harriet D., wife of Henry Peoffit, of Cardington, Ohio ; and Eleanor A., wife of Clark Luse, of West Liberty.

Our subject in early life manifested a strong liking for books and study, and though only permitted to attend the public schools during the winter months, his services being required at his father's brick-yard during the summer, he improved his leisure hours and evenings so well that at nineteen years of age he was able to commence teaching with a first-class school certificate. His examiner volunteered the remark that it was the second one of that class issued in the county so far that year. A term at the Harkness Select School of Woodbury, Ohio, supplemented by a season at the Ohio Wesleyan University, of Delaware, Ohio, completed his school privileges, but the taste for reading and literature has remained, and few men today are better posted on literary, religious, business, and political matters than he. Mr. Nichols continued to teach school in the winter until twenty-two years of age, when in connection with his older brothers, Ira and George, he took the contract of constructing eight miles of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cinainnati Railroad, in the vicinity of Cardington, Ohio. The work was fairly remunerative for those times, his share of the profits for two years' work about $1,000. The job completed, Mr. Nichols was employed by the construction company, ( Harbach, Stone & Witt ) to complete some work on which other contractors had failed, and when the road was completed his services were retained by the railroad company to take charge of repairs on a division of twelve miles at Cardington, but having purchased a farm of 100 acres near that town, he severed his connection with the railroad, and, in 1852, took up his residence on the farm, having since that time continuously remained a cultivator of the soil.

In July 1848, Mr. Nichols was united in marriage with Miss J. C. Grandy, a native of New York, and a daughter of William amd Celinda Grandy. Seven children have been born of this union, five of whom are now living : Ann L., now the wife of N. C. Tarleton, of Blair, Neb,; George S., a resident farmer of Wapsinonoc Township ; Benjamin A., who is also engaged in the same occupation in Wapsinonoc Township ; W. P. and Linnie at home.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols is still on the farm where they took up their residence over thirty years ago, though the original eighty acres have been added to until the farm now comprises 400 acres, all of which is under a high state of cultivation, with the exception of thirty acres of timber land. IN 1873 a commodious and handsome brick residence was erected at the cost of $4,500 ; the barn and outbuildings are correspondingly good, and Mr. Nichols is to-day the owner of one of the best improved farms of the county. He makes a specialty of raising thoroughbred Short-horn cattle, and upon his farm has now 100 head of recorded stock. His annual sales amount to $3,000, and he raises the stock which he ships. He also raises a fine breed of standard roadster horses and always has some fine specimens on hand. He has done much to advance the high grade of stock in Iowa and surrounding States, and his stock-farm is one of the best for miles around.

Politically, MR. Nichols is a stalwart supporter of the Republican party, and is strong in his support of the principles which it has advocated. Aside from his extensive business interests, he has found time to serve his constituents officially as School Director, Justice of the Peace, and in the State Legislature. He was a member of the House in the 18th General Assembly, and in the Senate of the 19th and 20th General Assemblies. In the 20th General Assembly, Mr. Nichols was Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures and a member of seven other important committees, namely : Ways and Means, Agriculture, Commerce, Agricultural College, Claims, Retrenchment, and Judicial Districts. Among the most important bills originated and carried through to success in the Legislature by Mr. Nichols was that of " Semi-Annual Collection of Taxes." This was naturally opposed by officials and bankers ; the former on account of requiring more work in the auditor's and treasurer's offices ; the latter because they had the idle money in the State to bank on, but against the combined opposition Mr. Nichols carried the bill through the House of the 18th General Assembly, but it was killed by the Committee on Ways and Means of the Senate. In the 19th General Assembly, the bill was again introduced by Mr. Nichols, reported adversely by the committee and lost by a tie vote in the Senate. In the 2oth General Assembly, he again brought the measure forward when it passed muster in the Committee on Ways and Means, and making its passage in the Senate with only three dissenting votes. It subsequently passed the House and became the law of the State by the approval of Gov. Sherman, and worked to the great satisfaction of the whole community.

Mr. Nichols and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of South Prairie, of which he is a Trustee. There is probably no man in Muscatine County who has done more for its upbuilding and its interests than he ; as a citizen, he is true and loyal; as a public officer, earnest and faithful ;as a neighbor and friend, sympathizing and considerate ; as a husband and father, loving and kind ; and as a Christian he is sincere.


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