A Long Time Ago/23 Nicholson
Nicholson
This page is part of A Long Time Ago: A History of the Atkins-Paynter and Allied Families, the chunked book edition on the Wally Atkins Family Wiki.
- Book section: Nicholson
- Page range in the book: 167-180
- Chunk order: 23 of 36
This section has been lightly cleaned and reconstructed from the working transcript. It preserves the strongest readable Nicholson material, especially where the line crosses into Rivers, Myrick, Ellington, and the later Paynter and Atkins branch.
Source note
- Book: A Long Time Ago: A History of the Atkins-Paynter and Allied Families
- Transcript source: `022-nicholson.md`
- Editorial note: the transcript begins with carryover from the preceding Thorpe/Throckmorton material, but the Nicholson chapter itself becomes clear and well-structured once the real section begins
Cleaned import
The Nicholson branch matters in this book because it helps explain the dense family network around Three Creek and the later marriages that tie together Rivers, Myrick, Ellington, and ultimately the Paynter and Atkins line.
Early Virginia Nicholsons
The chapter says the Nicholson family appears first in the counties of Charles City, Surry, and Sussex, and then extends southwestward into Southampton, Brunswick, and Mecklenburg. Other Nicholson families appeared elsewhere in Virginia and Maryland, but the book says the lines followed here are the ones traceable into the family's own descent web.
It explains that George Nicholson and Robert Nicholson came into Virginia as headrights. Virginia land office records are said to show that on June 30, 1635, Captain John West granted Stephen Webb 300 acres near the mouth of Chippoakes Creek for his personal adventure and the transportation of several people, including George Nicholson and Robert Nicholson.
The Surry / Chippoakes Creek branch
The chapter follows the line through Robert Nicholson, who patented 500 acres in Charles City County in 1655, and through later family members living around Upper Chippoakes Creek and Swans Bay. It describes the Nicholsons as part of the same Tidewater world already seen in related sections.
Robert Nicholson, Joanna Joyce, and the Three Creek line
The most important later figure in the chapter is Robert Nicholson, son of George Nicholson and Mary Bird Nicholson. His will, made in 1710 and proved in 1719, named his wife Joanna Joyce and their sons John, Joshua, and Robert, together with daughters Joyce and Elizabeth.
After Robert's death, Joanna married Harry Flood. The book notes that Robert's will referred to money in both America and England, suggesting the family still had ties across the Atlantic.
Joshua Nicholson and the Myrick connection
The direct family significance sharpens with Joshua Nicholson, who married Sarah Briggs, daughter of Captain Charles Briggs. The chapter says that Captain Briggs bequeathed to Joshua and Sarah Nicholson 425 acres on the south side of Three Creek, then in Isle of Wight County, later part of Southampton County.
The book pauses here to make an important observation: when the branches are studied together, it becomes clear why the families intermarried so often. Nicholsons, Riverses, and Myricks were all settled in the same general Three Creek / River's Mill area.
Joshua Nicholson's will, dated September 16, 1762 and proved June 17, 1765, names his wife Sarah and children including:
- Elizabeth
- Lucy, who married Colonel Howell Edmunds
- Fanny, who married Owen Myrick
- Joshua Jr., who married Mary Kirby and served in the Virginia militia during the Revolutionary War
- Sarah
The marriage of Fanny Nicholson to Owen Myrick is one of the key links that later produces Nancy Myrick, wife of Joshua Rivers. Through that path, the Nicholson line flows directly into the branch that leads to Elizabeth (Bettsy) Rivers, John Ellington, Frances Ellington, Thomas Paynter, and eventually the later Atkins family.
Why Nicholson matters
The Nicholson chapter matters because it shows the family web operating at ground level. It is about shared land, neighboring branches, and repeated intermarriage among families living near the same creeks, mills, and county lines. It helps explain why the later maternal-side branch does not look like a single line, but like a tightly woven local kinship world.
Context notes
- Nicholson works best when read together with A Long Time Ago/20 Myrick, A Long Time Ago/16 Ellington, and A Long Time Ago/15 Paynter.
- The most important family-relevant bridge here is the Nicholson-to-Myrick connection.
- The Three Creek / River's Mill geography is one of the strongest structural features in this chapter.
Related pages
- A Long Time Ago/20 Myrick
- A Long Time Ago/16 Ellington
- A Long Time Ago/15 Paynter
- Mt. Auburn Church Cemetery
- A Long Time Ago: A History of the Atkins-Paynter and Allied Families
