John NICHOLS, Congress, NC (1834-1917)

NICHOLS, John, a Representative from North Carolina; born near Eagle Rock, Wake County, N.C., November 14, 1834; attended the common schools; learned the printing trade, serving six years; at the age of twenty-one attended Lovejoy Academy, Raleigh, N.C., for one year; engaged in the book and job printing business and newspaper publishing; principal of the North Carolina Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind 1873-1877; revenue-stamp agent in Durham, N.C., 1879-1881; postmaster of Raleigh, N.C., 1881-1885; secretary and treasurer of the State fair association; elected as an Independent to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1889); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1888 to the Fifty-first Congress; appointed chief of the division of mail and files, Treasury Department, July 22, 1889; transferred as private secretary to the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury April 1, 1893, and resigned June 30, 1893; returned to Raleigh, N.C., and served in the office of the collector of internal revenue from November 26 to December 17, 1893; appointed United States commissioner for the eastern district of North Carolina on July 1, 1897, and served until his death in Raleigh, N.C., September 22, 1917; interment in Oakwood Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present