Augustine NICHOLSON, son of John and Hannah (ROBINSON) NICHOLSON, was born in Harrison County, Ohio, February 21, 1830. His father was a native of County Armagh, Ireland, and came to Ohio about the beginning of the present century. His wife was a native of Delaware. They made their home on a farm in Harrison County, Ohio, from the time of their marriage till their death, he dying October 7, 1844, aged seventy-two years, and his wife in April, 1874, aged eighty-seven years. They reared a family of six sons and three daughters, Augustine being next to the youngest child. He lived on the home place till twenty-five years old. In the spring of 1855 he went to Iowa, and in the fall of that year bought a farm in Ringgold County, consisting of 400 acres, then returning home to Ohio. In the spring of 1857 he went again to Iowa and bought 400 acres more. He made some improvements on the first purchase, and staid (sic) there two years, when he went to the northern part of Missouri, where he had a sister living, and remained there eight or ten months; being then taken with the ague, he returned to Ohio, where he lived till 1875, having previously disposed of his Iowa lands. In the spring of 1875, after visiting some of the Eastern cities, he sailed for Liverpool, and from there he went to Belfast, in which vicinity he had relatives. After making a short visit at Belfast, he visited Dublin, London, and Paris, and other principal places of interest, and then went to St. Helier, on Jersey Island, where he remained from September till the following May, when he returned to Ohio. After attending the Centennial at Philadelphia, the following October, he came to California, to Los Gatos and San Jose. He spent the winter in San Jose, and in July, 1877, went as far east as Oskaloosa, Jefferson County, Kansas, where he remained till after the holidays, when he took a trip down into the Indian Territory and Texas.

He visited Ohio, and was married there April 9, 1879, to Margaret MILLER, a native of Ireland. In the fall of the same year he brought his wife to California and lived in Los Gatos two years and a half. After making one more trip to Ohio, in 1882, and remaining there a year, he returned to Los Gatos, where he has since resided. March 3, 1885, he bought his present place in the Almond Grove Addition, and in the fall of the same year built his present house. Just two years and six months before the time of purchase, he disposed of a number of lots by auction sale.

SOURCE: FOOTE, H. S., editor. Pen Pictures for the Garden of the World of Santa Clara County, California. Illustrated. Pp. 302-03. Lewis Publishing Co. Chicago. 1888.

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, July of 2009