NICHOLSON, A.O.P., 31 Aug 1808 - 23 Mar 1876. (C.S.A., 1st. Tenn. Inf., Successful and controversial antebellum Democratic politician A.O. P. Nicholson was born in the Carter Creek area near Spring Hill in 1808. He received private tutoring before attending Woodward Academy in Columbia, Tn. In 1823 he entered the University of North Carolina, graduating four years later. After college, Nicholson studied medicine and then law, receiving his license to practice law in 1830. He married Mary (Gordon) O'Reilly in 1829 and they had eight children. A Democratic stalwart, Nicholson represented Maury Co. in the Tenn. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837; he later served in the state Senate from 1843 to 1845. He supported Hugh Lawson White in the 1836 presidential contest, but he returned to the Democratic fold by serving as a presidential elector on the Martin Van Buren ticket in 1840. In 1840 Governor James K. Polk rewarded Nicholson for his hard campaigning by selecting him to complete Grudy's term in office from Dec. 1840 - Feb 1842, when the general assembly would either reelect Nicholson or select a successor. Nicholson also served his party as a newspaper editor. He was one of the compilers of the Statutes of Tennessee in 1836. He edited Columbia's Western Mercury from 1830 - 1834 and the Nashville Union from 1845 to 1846, after which he was selected as a director and later president of the Bank of Tennessee, 1846-1847. He served in the 1st Tenn. Inf., C.S.A. After the war, he was a member of the 1870 state constitutional convention and then became the new chief justice of the State Supreme Court, serving in the position until his death on 23 Mar 1876. He was formally expelled from the senate as were all Senators from the states joining the Confederacy with the exception of his fellow Tennessean Andrew Johnson, a loyal Unionist. Ref: Below
Photo from Wikipedia. Info compiled & sent by MB Richardson 9 Nov 2009.
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