• Born in Pennsylvania
• Admitted to the Louisiana Supreme Court on May 4, 1813
• First Sergeant, Captain Peter V. Ogden’s Company of Orleans Dragoons, Battle of New Orleans, 1814-1815
• United States Marshal of the District of Louisiana, January 27, 1819-January 11, 1827
• First United States Marshal of the Eastern District of Louisiana, January 12, 1827-February 22, 1835
• Congress authorized payments to Marshal Nicholson to care for Africans in his custody in 1831. As of January 1, 1808, it was illegal to import or bring into the United States from Africa “any negro, mulatto, or person of colour, with intent to hold, sell, or dispose of such negro, mulatto, or person of colour, as a slave, or to be held to service or labour.”
• Eldest Daughter Frances married Hon. Robert N. Ogden, Fourth Judicial District of Louisiana, relative of Captain Peter V. Ogden, April 28, 1835
• Active Member of the Society for Relief of Destitute Orphan Boys for 24 years
• Eulogized as “Friend of the Orphan in Louisiana”
• Resided in New Orleans for 40 years
• John Nicholson died unexpectedly in New Orleans on May 17, 1848, after a brief illness, leaving a large estate to his children and niece. John Nicholson named his sole surviving brother James as his executor in his olographic will. Since James was in Pennsylvania and his address unknown, the court appointed another executor who administered John Nicholson’s estate and received commissions. James later filed suit against John Nicholson’s heirs, seeking more than $3,000 in commissions. The Louisiana Supreme Court declined to award James any commissions, stating “that the office of executor should not be considered one of great profit.” Nicholson v. Ogden, 6 La.Ann. 486, 487 (1851).
Left image: Laws of the United States, Passed at the Second Session of the Twenty First Congress. Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, District Of Columbia, April 11, 1831.
Right image: Historical Archives of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, University of New Orleans, Earl K. Long Library.
