Robert C. Nicholas

Robert Carter Nicholas
United States Senator
from Louisiana
In office
January 13, 1836 – March 3, 1841
Preceded by George A. Waggaman
Succeeded by Alexander Barrow
Secretary of State of Louisiana
In office
1845–1845
Preceded by Levi Pierce
Succeeded by Zenon Ledoux, Jr.
Louisiana Superintendent of Education
In office
1849–1853
Preceded by Alexander Dimitry
Succeeded by John N. Carrigan
Personal details
Born (1787-01-10)January 10, 1787
Hanover, Virginia
Died December 24, 1856(1856-12-24) (aged 69)
Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
Political party Democratic

Robert Carter Nicholas (January 10, 1787 – December 24, 1856) was a United States Senator from Louisiana. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and also served as Secretary of State of Louisiana and Louisiana's Superintendent of Education.

Biography

Born in Hanover, Virginia on January 10, 1787,[1] Nicholas joined the United States Army in 1808, receiving a commission as a Captain in the 7th Infantry Regiment.[2]

Nicholas later served with the 20th and 12th Infantry Regiments.[3] He was promoted to Major in 3rd Infantry Regiment 1810[4] and became Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Infantry Regiment in 1812.[5] He served with his regiment in the War of 1812, including combat at the Battle of Chippewa.[6] After serving with the 30th Infantry, in 1814 he was promoted to Colonel, and he commanded the 8th Infantry Regiment until resigning his commission in 1819.[7][8]

In 1816 and 1817 Nicholas attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.[9][10] He subsequently relocated to Kentucky, and was appointed U.S. Indian Agent to the Chickasaw Nation in 1821.[11] Nicholas later moved to Louisiana, where he owned a sugarcane plantation in Terrebonne Parish while residing in St. James Parish.[12]

Nicholas was elected as a Jacksonian (later a Democrat) to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator-elect Charles E.A. Gayarre, and served from January 13, 1836, to March 3, 1841.[13]

He was Secretary of State of Louisiana in 1845.[14] From 1849 to 1853 he was Louisiana's Superintendent of Education.[15][16]

Nicholas died in Terrebonne Parish on December 24, 1856.[17] He was originally buried at his plantation, and later moved to the Burthe family vault at Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans.[18]

Family

Robert C. Nicholas was the son of George Nicholas (1754-1799) and Mary Smith.[19] and the grandson of Robert Carter Nicholas (1728–1780).[20]

He married Susan Adelaide Vinson, and their children included a daughter, Mary. Mary Nicholas was the wife of Frederick George Burthe.[21]

Nicholas was a nephew of John Nicholas, a U.S. Representative from Virginia and Wilson Cary Nicholas, a Senator from Virginia.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Ni5-1 Robert Carter Nicholas". The Genealogy of the Hester Family of Saginaw and the Bland and Nicholas Families of Shelbyville Ky. Dr. William Hester. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  2. ↑ United States Senate, Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, 1810, page 309
  3. ↑ Hamersly, Thomas H. S. (1880). Complete Army Register of the United States for One Hundred Years (1779-1879). Washington, DC: T. H. S. Hamersly. pp. 137–138.
  4. ↑ Journal of the Senate of the United States of America. Washington, DC: R. C. Weightman. 1810. p. 308.
  5. ↑ Powell, William H. (1900). List of Officers of the Army of the United States from 1779 to 1900. New York, NY: L. R. Hamersly & Co. p. 88.
  6. ↑ Quisenberry, Anderson Chenault (1969). Kentucky in the War of 1812. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 165.
  7. ↑ Anderson Chenault Quisenberry, Kentucky in the War of 1812, 1996, page 165
  8. ↑ United States War Department, A Compilation of Registers of the Army of the United States, from 1815 to 1837, 1837, page 19
  9. ↑ "Alumni of William and Mary College". The New England Historical and Genealogical Register: Volume 42. Boston, MA: 361. October 1, 1888.
  10. ↑ Biographical Directory of the American Congress. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. 1961. p. 1387.
  11. ↑ United States Senate, Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the United States Senate, Volume 3, 1821, page 235
  12. ↑ Robinson, Merritt M. (1843). Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana, Volume 22. New York, NY: A. S. Gould. pp. 7–8.
  13. ↑ Byrd, Robert (1993). Senate, 1789-1989: Historical Statistics, 1789-1992, Volume 4. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 114.
  14. ↑ Michel, John T. (1902). Annual Report of the Louisiana Secretary of State. Baton Rouge, LA: Baton Rouge News Publishing Company. p. 328.
  15. ↑ Jeanne Frois, Louisiana Almanac: 2006-2007, 2006, page 555
  16. ↑ The Boardman, Volumes 6-8, 1951, page 5
  17. ↑ "Louisiana Intelligence: Death of Robert C. Nicholas". The Times-Picayune. New Orleans. December 29, 1856. p. 4. (Incorrectly indicates that Nicholas served 12 years in the Senate and as Chargé d'Affaires in Naples.)
  18. ↑ Robert C. Nicholas at Find a Grave
  19. ↑ du Bellet, Louise Pecquet (1907). Some Prominent Virginia Families, Volumes I and II. Baltimore, MD: Clearfield. p. 316.
  20. ↑ "Historical and Genealogical Notes: Nicholas". William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Volume 27. Williamsburg, VA: William and Mary College. July 1, 1918. p. 132.
  21. ↑ The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 57. Richmond, VA: Virginia Historical Society. 1949. p. 83.
  22. ↑ American Political Leaders 1789-2009. Washington, DC: CQ Press, Inc. 2010. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-60426-537-8.
Political offices
Preceded by
Levi Pierce		 Secretary of State of Louisiana
1845 		Succeeded by
Zenon Ledoux, Jr.
United States Senate
Preceded by
George A. Waggaman		 U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Louisiana
1836–1841
Served alongside: Alexander Porter, Alexandre Mouton		 Succeeded by
Alexander Barrow
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