NICHOLAS, COL. GEORGE, Lawyer, Soldier, and Jurist, was probably born in James City County, Virginia, about 1743. His father, Robert Carter Nicholas, was a distinguished lawyer of that State; and was treasurer of the Virginia Colony, member of its Council, and of the House of Burgesses. Col. Nicholas served in the Revolutionary War; subsequently practiced law in Charlottesville, Albemarle County ; was a member of the Virginia Convention, assembled for the consideration and adoption of the Constitution of the Federal Union ; was an earnest and influential advocate of the Constitution in that Convention; was a member of the Virginia Legislature from Albemarle County, and had taken rank among the first men of that State long prior to his removal to Kentucky. It does not clearly appear that he permanently settled in Kentucky before 1789, but it is, perhaps, certain that he made a trip to this State in the former year, and not unlikely in 1787, and practiced his profession in the “General Court of the Kentucky District.” He settled in Mercer County, near Danville, and was a member, from that county, of the Constitutional Convention which met at Danville in 1792, and formed the Constitution under which Kentucky was admitted into the Union. Although that Convention was composed of the best and most able men then living in the State, it has been claimed that he was the particularly bright luminary of them all. Pie had, in Virginia, figured conspicuously in a similar convention, associated with such men as Madison, Randolph, and Henry, and was soon established in the confidence of the people of Kentucky, largely influencing the State in the course taken in the politics of 1798. He was the first Attorney-General of
Kentucky, under Gov. Shelby, appointed June 15, 1792, serving five or six months only.
He spent the last years of his life in Lexington; and, in 1799, became the first law professor in Transylvania University. He was the law preceptor of many Kentuckians who became eminent in their profession, among them such men as Daveiss, Rowan, Martin D. Hardin, Barry, and Robert Wickliffe. He lived for several years in Bath County, and while there was largely interested in the manufacture of iron. Nicholas County was named in honor of him. He was a man of great virtue and many noble traits of character; was universally beloved throughout the State ; and was one of the most distinguished men and lawyers who figured at any time in the early history of Kentucky. He died at Lexington in 1799.
Col. Nicholas was married to Mary Smith, of Baltimore, Maryland, sister of General Samuel Smith, Brigadier-General in the Revolutionary War, originally a merchant of Baltimore, once mayor of that city, and many times elected to both branches of Congress; also sister of Hon. Robert Smith, Secretary of Navy under President Jefferson, and Secretary of State under President Madison. Their youngest daughter is now living, and is the widow of Judge Richard Hawes, late the most noted citizen of Bourbon County. The late Judge Samuel Smith Nicholas, of Louisville, was their son. (See sketch of Samuel Smith Nicholas.)
