Napoleon Bonaparte Nichols
b.1860 12 Mar - Buchanan Co., VA
d.1929 18 Sep - Glen Alum, WV
----- Marriages -----
m01. - + Cora Mullins
m02. 1881 Oct - + Elizabeth Vance
The Arc of A Life
In 1880, in the home of Ephraim and Phoebe Vance Hatfield, on Blackberry
Creek (down what is now Lover's Lane), we find a young man named Napoleon
Bonaparte Nichols. To my knowledge, he is the only Napoleon who ever
lived on Blackberry Creek. I have tracked him down over the past few
days, trying to figure out who he was, why he was living there with
Ephraim and Phoebe, and what is fate might have been. I have tried as
best I can to trace out the shape of his life as he moved through the Tug
Valley. Here is what I have found so far.
Napoleon Bonaparte Nichols was the son of James Nichols and Louisa Vance,
of Virginia. Louisa was the daughter of Elijah Vance and Virginia Jane
Matney. Elijah was one of the sons of old Abner Vance (who we now know
did NOT come into the Tug Valley while he eluded capture for murder) and
the brother of Elizabeth "Betty" Vance, who did come into the Tug Valley.
As many of you know, Betty's children included Uncle Jim Vance, Richard
Vance, Nancy Vance (mother of Devil Anse), Polly Vance (wife of River
Wall Hatfield) and Phoebe Easter Vance (wife of Ephraim Hatfield, this
Ephraim being the son of Joseph and grandson of old Eph of All). So young
Napoleon Nichols, 20 years old in 1880, was staying with his mother's
first cousin, Phoebe.
In October of 1881, Napoleon Nichols married another Elizabeth Vance.
This Elizabeth Vance was the daughter of Uncle Jim Vance and his wife
Mary Collins Vance. At some point, Napoleon and his wife Elizabeth moved
to West Virginia, and by 1902 Elizabeth has died. In 1902 Napoleon
marries Cora Mullins in Mingo County. He shows up in the 1910 census as a
coal miner living in Glen Alum. Napoleon and his new wife have one son,
Howard, who is 5 years old. Also living with them in the coal camps of
Glen Alum is Jeff D. Nichols, the son of his marriage to Elizabeth Vance.
Jeff D. is also a coal miner.
One last entry - on Sept 18, 1929, Napoleon Bonaparte Nichols died in
Glen Alum. The cause of death was listed as senility, with a contributing
factor being an "injury to back and legs 25 years earlier." I suspect
that some time around 1915, he may have been injured in a coal mining
accident.
Glen Alum is gone now, too.
-- Ryan Hardesty
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hatfieldmmcoy/permalink/505693676174841/
------------------------------------
Name: Napoleon B Nichols
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Census
Event Year: 1910
Event Place: Glen Alum, Mingo, West Virginia, United States
District: 152
Gender: Male
Age: 50
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Race (Original): White
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Head
Birth Year (Estimated): 1860
Birthplace: Virginia
Immigration Year:
Father's Birthplace: Virginia
Mother's Birthplace: Virginia
Sheet Number and Letter: 6B
Household ID: 92
Line Number:
Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA)
Affiliate Publication Number: M1283
GS Film number: 1375701
Digital Folder Number: 004454895
Image Number: 00966
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Napoleon B Nichols M 50 Virginia
Wife Cora Nichols F 26 Kentucky
Son Howard Nichols M 5 West Virginia
Son Jeff D Nichols M 21 West Virginia
Sources
"United States Census, 1910," index and images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MPNF-1B2 : accessed 23 Jan 2014),
Napoleon B Nichols, Glen Alum, Mingo, West Virginia, United States;
citing sheet , family 92, NARA microfilm publication T624, FHL microfilm
1375701.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Name: Napoleon Bonapart Nichols
Event Date: 18 Sep 1929
Event Place: Mingo, West Virginia
Gender:
Age (Expanded):
Birth Date:
Birthplace:
Marital Status:
Spouse's Name:
Father's Name: Jim Nichols
Father's Birthplace:
Mother's Name: Unknown
Mother's Birthplace:
Occupation:
Address:
Residence Place:
Cemetery:
Burial Place:
Burial Date:
GS Film number: 1953474
Digital Folder Number: 4256278
Image Number: 1031
Affiliate Repository Type: County Records
Reference ID: 13014
http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view2.aspx?FilmNumber=1953474&ImageNumber=
1031
"West Virginia Deaths, 1804-1999," index, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F1BS-KJH : accessed 23 Jan 2014),
Napoleon Bonapart Nichols, 18 Sep 1929.