George Nicholson

[trvlrsdtra]

   My great great grandfather, George Nicholson was born in Ireland 1828 per the United States 1870 Census. It indicates his wife, Mary was born in New York, 1838, their son Thomas was born in Missouri 1863, James born 1865, Mary, born 1867 and Matilda born 1870. The family was in St. Louis, MO at the time of this census.
   James Nicholson/Nickelson was my great grandfather, Albert Nicherson/Nickelson born 1900 was my grandfather and Ray Nickelson born 1922 was my father.
   Does anyone have any information on this family?
   I can find a record for a Matilda Nickelson in St. Louis, MO in the 1880 U. S. Census indicating she is an orphan.

[shanreagh]

What sort of information are you seeking?  Have you got the birth/death certificates for all the children and marriage certificate for the parents?

John Thomas Nicholson was born 22 March 1863 and seems to have served as a carpenters mate in USN from 25/10/1893 until his discharge on 9 July 1909. 

Is the 1870 census the only/earliest census you can find George or Mary? 

Are you wanting to find out, eventually, where George came from in Ireland?   

The 1920 census has a Thomas J Nicholson aged 57 single at an asylum at Smithtown, Suffolk, New York, United States. Would this be him?

[trvlrsdtra]

   I have a death certificate for James Nickelson - changed from Nicholson in some point in time. The death certificate indicates his father, George was born in England and that his mother, Mary McLaughlin was born in Ireland. It contradicts the 1870 Census info indicating George was born in Ireland and his wife Mary was born in New York.
   The death certificate information was obtained from Nancy Elizabeth Leach, the wife of James Nicholson/Nickelson.
   I cannot locate birth, marriage or death certificates for George, Mary, Thomas, Mary or Matilda.
   I have located a George Nicholson in New York in the 1860 census and a Mary McLaughlin that lived on the same street but I cannot locate a marriage certificate.

[shanreagh]

I have just found a copy of an intention to marry for Mary M Nicholan born 1870 who is seeking to marry William P Perry in 1888. The person who knows M M Nicholan/on is an Arvidson Earley/Easley. All of them seem to come from Howell County Missouri.   
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99Q5-FVT?i=2225&cc=2060668

Keep in back pocket, in case?

[trvlrsdtra]

Thank you. Maybe Mary M is Matilda who was born in 1870 and would be 18 in 1888.  I will . for further research.

[shanreagh]

From 1870 census Mary does say both her parents are foreign born as does George.  She says she can neither read not write. George says he can.  George does not give an occupation

I too can find an entry in 1860 NY census with the two on the same page. 

He is 32 and a painter already married to an Eliza Nicholson with 3 children 7, 3 & 1. 
Mary McLaughlin is 21 born in NY and a dressmaker living with her parents Margaret 50 who is also born NY and Patrick 52 who is born Ireland

I guess the thing to do is consider various scenarios:
Eliza dies so we look for a death certificate
we look for later census entries for the boys (George, Charles, William)
Geo leaves Eliza (deserts) and goes to Missouri with Mary McLaughlin.
That would explain why there was no marriage certificate. 
We look for further census records for the McLaughlin family in NY in case in later times they either let us know (for Patrick) how long he has been in US, and where he might be from in Ireland

McLaughlin and all its many variations can be found in Ireland, I have most often found them in the north and sometimes the name is McLoughlin

I have seen that the Geo Nicholson above is in 1865 census with family including Eliza and a new babe, Orrin aged 1. 

Which is the Geo that you found in NY?

[shanreagh]

Handwritten enumerators page for 1860 census with Nicholson/Mclaughlins on same page.

If the leaving of Eliza is part of the story then perhaps this explains also the changes in name from Nicholson?

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BSW-H1N?i=44&cc=1473181

No perhaps not him, he is still with Eliza in 1880 census. 

[trvlrsdtra]

   Thank you for your research suggestions. I will look into those scenarios and see if I can find anything.
   I also wondered about Eliza and the children but could not locate a death record for her. I will check again and also check for any reported deaths for the children or see if they appear on another later census.
   I should probably also check about a divorce filing by Eliza against George for desertion. Who knows what I may discover?
   Thank you again for your assistance and suggestions.
Best Regards,
Patricia Nickelson Bowman

   I just received your most recent post. Maybe George had two wives and families!! 🤭🤭🤭 I will see what I can discover (if anything).
Thank you.
 
   

[shanreagh]

Happy to help. 

I notice the change  of spelling of the surname......do you have any idea when that might have happened? Just thinking it might give us a clue.  So your dad had it spelt Nickelson and no other way but his father and grandfather  may have had several other spellings.  The usual rule of thumb is to go to marriage certificates or forms that the person may have completed themselves then next best is how parents may have registered the birth and not as favoured the death certificates  and you have already found some contradictory  info from a death informant. 

Have you got any documentation like these certificates?

'James Nicholson/Nickelson was my great grandfather, Albert Nicherson/Nickelson born 1900 was my grandfather'

PS I think I would remove the last name of your complete name or replace it with XXXXX.  So Patricia  Nickleletc XXXXXX.

There are terrible people who harvest names.