Genealogy Wylie » Francis Nichols (1594-1650)

Personal data Francis Nichols 

• He was born in the year 1594 in England.
• He died on January 16, 1650 in Stratford,Fairfield. CT, he was 56 years old.
• This information was last updated on April 19, 2004.

Household of Francis Nichols

He is married to Mrs. Francis Nichols.

They got married in the year 1610 at London,London,England, he was 16 years old.

Child(ren):

1. John Nichols  ± 1616-1655 
2. Caleb Nichols  ± 1618-1690 
3. Isaac Nichols  ± 1620-1695 
4. Ann Nichols  

Notes about Francis Nichols

Francis Nichols: Hester Nichols' Grandfather

Francis was one of the founders of Stratford in 1639, where the CT. General Court placed him in charge of military affairs. He was married twice. The mother of Isaac is the first wife who is unknown. The second wife is Ann Wines.

By Joe Dewald, Editor, Prentice Newsletter

Valentine Prentice's son, John Prentice, married, first, Hester Nichols, and he married, as his
second wife, Esther Nichols who was Hester's first cousin. Both were granddaughers of Francis
Nichols.

An ongoing mystery is the identity of Francis' parents.

It is commonly, but erroneously, believed by many persons that Francis Nichols is the son of
Francis Nichols and Margaret Bruce of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England. That erroneous
assertion can be found, for example, in "Sergeant Francis Nicholls of Stratford, Connecticut,
1639, and the Descendants of his son, Caleb Nicholls" by Walter Nicholls, former librarian of
Bridgeport CT Public Library, and published in 1909 by The Grafton Press of New York. It is
also found in "Genealogy & Family History of the State of CT" and "Americana Quarterly" Vol
15.

Francis and Margaret also had a son, Col. Richard Nichols, who later became Governor of the
State of New York.

However, not all early authorities accepted Walter Nicholls' views. Donald Lines Jacobus, in the
"History and Genealogy of the families of Old Fairfield" said:

"It should hardly be necessary to refute the foolish assertion that he was brother of
Gov. Richard Nicholls of New York..."

In the Fall of 1988, while visiting in London, England, I had the opportunity to do some research
at the highly-regarded Guildhall Genealogical Library in London to see if I could locate
information about Francis Nichols and Margaret Bruce of Ampthill and their sons. The Guildhall
library had a copy of Col. Richard Nichol's Will of 1672 which quite clearly recited the death of
his brothers:

"Edward and Francis, the one dead at the Hague, the other at Paris during the late
usurpation."

The sentence structure of Col. Richard's Will would indicate that Edward died at the Hague and
that Francis died in Paris. But even if the death locations were reversed, it is clear that Francis
died in Europe. Further, there was no indication in Guildhall records that the Francis, who died in
Paris or the Hague, was ever married or had any children.

Since Col. Richard Nichols' Will demonstrates his personal knowledge of his brother Francis'
death in Paris, or the Hague, the Francis who died in CT quite obviously had to be a different
person and it would have been on that basis that Jacobus dismissed Walter Nicholls' "foolish
assertion" that Francis was the son of Francis and Margaret of Ampthill.

So, if Francis and Margaret of Ampthill are not the parents of Francis Nichols of CT, who are his
parents? We do not yet know.

If you have any information about the ancestry, or descendants, of any of the folks mentioned
above, please contact us at (XXXXX@XXXX.XXX)

Do you have supplementary information, corrections or questions with regards to Francis Nichols?
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