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George Nicholas, born in about 1685[1] and was the son of a Philip Nicholas of Manston, a member of the lesser gentry.[2][3] The Nicholas family was considered "a very good and ancient family" in Dorset, and they were closely related to the eminent Nicholas families who had lived in neighboring Wiltshire at least since the days of Edward III.[4]
He went to Shaftesbury School in Dorset, and at the age of 17, in 1706, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge. Although in later life he styled himself as a medical doctor, there is no record of his gaining a degree of any sort; however, testimony in his forging and counterfeiting case (see below) indicated he continued at Cambridge "a considerable time."[5][6]
By 1722, George Nicholas was living in Stepney, London. He was indicted for 'forging and counterfeiting worth £80'. At his trial in January 1722/3 it was said that he had become known for being willing and able to carry out a forgery by changing lower denomination notes to ones of a higher value. A Barthomew Ward said that a John Lindsey had told him that if he could get a banknote, he knew a man who could double it. George Nicholas was that man.
His technique was to use a chemical solution to erase the amount written on the banknote, substituting a higher amount for it. In this case, he changed a bill for £11 to one for £80. Nicholas went with Ward to pay the forged bill to a 'Jew in Rotterdam' but it was a large amount and the Jew was wary, refusing to accept the note unless the issuing bank was willing to confirm its value.
Fearing that the deception would be discovered, the pair withdrew and rapidly returned to England with the note. Bartholomew Ward advised Nicholas that the best thing to do was to deface the note, return it to the bank and get back the original £11. Nicholas decided not to play safe but to try to gain a profit by selling the note for £20.
The case record does not tell us how the forgery was detected but Nicholas was arrested. In court, Nicholas blamed Ward as the instigator of the offence but Ward was not on trial. George Nicholas was found guilty and he received the mandatory sentence of death.[7]
He was sent to Newgate gaol where the Ordinary's account of condemned prisoner's conduct states that he spent time reading to one of the other condemned men who could not read. [8]
Whilst his cell mates were hung at Tyburn, George's life was spared. His father, together with 14 of his neighbours from Manston had appealed for clemency. They cited his good family, his education, and his previous good name.[9]
The appeal was successful. George Nicholas received a pardon but it was on condition that he transported himself to Virginia for the rest of his natural life. [10] [11]
Upon his arrival in Virginia, George Nicholas styled himself as a doctor. (The vast majority of colonial medical practitioners held no degree.)[12] "Nicholas reached the peak of his professional career when he became physician to the family of Virginia Governor William Gooch, 'He practices Phisick here with good success,' wrote the Governor about Nicholas in 1733, 'tho' I believe he never took any degree.... he is Phisitian [sic] to my Family and has lately done great services for my son....'"[13]
George Nicholas had been in Virginia for less than two years when he managed to ingratiate himself into one of Virginia's leading families, marrying (about April 1724)[14] Elizabeth (Carter) Nicholas, eldest surviving daughter of Colonel Robert "King" Carter I, at the time, Virginia's wealthiest planter. Elizabeth was the widow of Major Nathaniel Burwell, heir to another wealthy and prominent family. Nathaniel Burwell had died at only age 41, leaving Elizabeth with four living children and another baby on the way (a daughter that lived only two months). Elizabeth's father, who had been very fond of Nathaniel Burwell, was not pleased with her match, calling the marriage "imprudent and obstinate." He did not attend her wedding, and he halted the income she had been receiving from the plantation "Merchant's Hundred." Elizabeth was eventually reconciled with her father, but Robert Carter does not appear to have ever given full approval to her second husband as George Nicholas was the only son-in-law not named as an executor to Robert Carter's will, although Robert Carter did write to his grandson, Elizabeth's child by her first husband, to tell him that George Nicholas was a "very worthy kind husband" to his mother, and that he (her son) must not upset her.[13][15]
By 1726, George Nicholas was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Gloucester County. At some point [date uncertain], he also sat on the vestry of Bruton Parish.[13] "In 1730 the College of William and Mary was allowed to send its own burgess to the General Assembly for the first time. At a meeting on 8 January 1730, the president and masters of the college unanimously elected Dr. Nicholas to serve as their first representative, a position he held until his death some four years later."[16][13]
George Nicholas petitioned for lands to which another person had failed to perfect the title, and in September 1728 he obtained 2,600 acres in what was then Goochland County, Virginia. (Of this, 1,600 acres lying on the north side of the James River in present day Albemarle County had been granted to James Skelton in 1723, but he lost these lands due to failure to perfect the title.) George Nicholas paid $5 for the land and set to improving it; seven years later in a valuation ordered by the Goochland court, the evaluators found on the Nicholas acreage six houses, a land mill, 35 head of cattle, 86 acres of cleared land, 154 peach trees, 340 apple trees, and 6400 fence rails.[17] "Just across the James River, in what was to become Buckingham County, Nicholas acquired an additional 1600 acres. This tract was most likely purchased from a prior owner, as there is no record of Nicholas receiving it as a grant. He definitely planned to put this acreage in crops, making an agreement in 1733 with two of his former indentured servants to farm the tract for shares of the crops. Nicholas obtained these two western tracts totaling 4200 acres to leave to his three sons."[13] George also obtained thousands of acres in Spotsylvania and Hanover counties where iron mines and furnaces were being located and began speculating in the iron business with some partners. The iron business plunged him into debt, which embarrassed his father-in-law, who loaned him a large sum of money.[18] His mounting debt seems to have made George Nicholas desperate in the last years of his life, as he began to bring suits to court that seemed to have no chance of winning. One was dismissed by the court and in the report it was remarked the suit was "very Trifling and incoherent."[19]
George Nicholas may have been suffering from ill health, as he prepared his will in November of 1733. In the early weeks of 1734, his wife, Elizabeth (Carter) Nicholas died. George was left with the responsibility of their three young sons, John Nicholas, George Nicholas, and Robert Carter Nicholas, who were all under the age of 10 years. Their eldest son, John, was probably born in early 1725, George in 1726, and Robert Carter Nicholas on January 28, 1728/29.[13] Grieving and possibly suffering with a long-term illness, George Nicholas followed his wife to the grave a few months later, dying in spring of 1734.[20] "Nicholas' will perished with the destruction of the James City County records in 1865, but its provisions are mentioned in the agreement of John Nicholas, George Nicholas, and Robert Carter Nicholas of April 14, 1752, dividing the residue of the estate." [21] "His executors were named before the Richmond County court on January 8, 1734/5. They included John Carter, Charles Carter, Landon Carter, Benjamin Harrison, Phillip Roots, and William Hopkins." [22][13]
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N > Nicholas > George Nicholas
Categories: Saint Johns Episcopal Churchyard, Richmond, Virginia
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I've put the results here https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:George_Nicholas_of_Manston_Dorset. I have checked what primary sources I can. Unfortunately I can't check the pardon at the National Archives but the catalogue reference used in the dissertation mentioned is the correct one
I also think that this profile has been duplicated https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nicholas-2123 although the date of birth differs (the evidence suggests 1695 as on this profile) The mother Margaret Freke is incorrect (she was born in 1630 and probably died in 1661). This couple however had a son Philip .It is very possible that George is their grand child. will propose merge