The earliest surviving record of this family is found in the 1740 Protestant Householders List for Fahan Parish, Donegal, wherein James Nikill is recorded living in the townland of Magherabeg. There are two townlands named Magherabeg in Fahan. The one in which this family lived is 295 acres in size and two miles distant along the road running Northwest from Burnfoot on the East shore of Lough Swilly.

James Nikill living Magherabeg, Fahan, in 1740, had at least three sons: James, William and John, birth order unknown. Son James and his wife Jane had a son Josiah baptized Fahan 1789 but not traced further. Son William, wife's name unknown, had a son William II (1791-1871) who married Susan Nickle (1793-1877). This couple's descendants are well established, having for the most part remained in Fahan within a few miles of the 1740 Nikill homestead at Magherabeg.

The Parish Church of St. Mura, Fahan, (Church of Ireland) to which the family belonged in the late 1700s, still exists and is still attended by William's descendants who today spell their name Nicholl. St. Mura's records contain numerous references to this family, and as might be expected, the spellings vary. We find Nikill, Nichal, Nickle, Nichol as well as the contemporary Irish spelling Nicholl.

John Nichol, third son of James of Magherabeg, married Margaret Dysart in the late 1760s. She was the daughter of Samuel and Frances (Anderson) Dysart of Brook Hall, Ballynashallog, Templemore Parish, Co. Londonderry. No further record has been found in Ireland or America of John and Margaret other than that of their five known children:

1. Josiah Nichol baptized St. Mura's Church, Fahan, 3/26/1770; d. Nashville TN 5/31/1833; he emigrated to American about 1788 probably in the company of his Aunt Elizabeth Dysart Braden. By 1796 he purchased 203 acres of land on the North Fork of the Holston River from his uncle, Col. James Dysart. The following Spring he married 4/19/1797, Eleanor Ryburn born Washington Co., 9/21/1781, died Nashville 11/18/1864. She was the daughter of Matthew and Jane (Beattie) Ryburn. Eleanor was one of the eight founding members of the Nashville's First Presbyterian Church and remained a devoted supporting member of that church until her death in Nashville of old age, 11/18/1864.

Sometime after the birth of their first two children, Josiah and Eleanor Nichol left Virginia for Knox County, Tennessee, where in 1802 he served as a Justice of the Peace. He also opened a store in Maryville, Tennessee that year in partnership with his younger brother, John. The year closed on a sad note though when the young couple lost their third child, John II, not quite fourteen months old.

It was also while in Knox Co. that Josiah formed an enduring friendship with Andrew Jackson, then serving as a Superior Court Justice. Throughout Jackson's years in Washington as both Senator and President, Josiah Nichol served as his representative in many personal business affairs.

The general merchandise business continued to be good for the Nichol brothers, and in 1803 they expanded their operations into Blount County, Tennessee. Although Josiah was listed as a taxpayer in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1806, he and Eleanor had settled in Nashville sometime prior to the birth of their fifth child, Charles, in September of 1805.

In 1809 Josiah purchased land on the Southwest corner of Fourth and Union that remained in the family for over 162 years. That parcel and other real estate in what became Nashville's financial district, was the basis of a large personal fortune. His financial skills and position in the community were recognized by his appointment as President of the United States Branch Bank, in which capacity he was serving at the time of his death, of cholera, May 31, 1833. Josiah and Eleanor Ryburn Nichol had 12 children:

1. Margaret Dysart Nichol (1798-1834) married Capt. Robert Armstrong. He served in War 1812, was later promoted to General in the Militia, was Postmaster of Nashville 1829-1835, ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Tenn. in 1837, and served as U.S. Consul in Liverpool, England. Issue seven children.
2. William Nichol (1800-1878) was said to have been Tennessee's first millionaire. He was Andrew Jackson's business manager, first president of Bank of Tennessee, and Mayor of Nashville at the time of its selection as State Capitol. He married Julia Margaret Lytle of Rutherford Co. Their thirty room mansion, "Belair," still stands at 2250 Lebanon Road, Donelson, Tennessee. Issue eleven children. One of their great-grandsons, Quintin McGarel Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham, served as Lord Chancellor of England 1979-1987.
3. John Nichol II (1801-1802) named for his grandfather, he died in infancy at Knoxville.
4. James H. Nichol (1803-1878) married (1) Adelaide McCulloch, (2) Martha Edmunds and (3) Sarah Whitfield. Issue eight children.
5. Charles McAlister Nichol (1805-1867) married Lydia T. Gallaher. Issue one daughter.
6. Mary Eleanor Nichol (1808-1845) died unmarried.
7. Josiah Nichol Jr. (1810-1836) died without issue in Nashville of a wound received from the accidental discharge of a cannon.
8. Jane Dickenson Nichol (1812-1813)
9. Alexander Ramsey Nichol (1814-1892) married Sarah Osborne. Issue one child.
10. Elizabeth Nichol (1816-1823)
11. Jane Ramsey Nichol 1818-1899) married John Preston Watts Brown. Issue three children.
12. Mary Ann Henrietta Nichol (1820-1848) married Charles B. Percy. Issue five children.
2. Margaret Nichol baptized St. Mura's Church, Fahan, 9/25/1774; nothing further known.
3. Elizabeth Nichol baptized St. Mura's Church, Fahan, 8/14/1775; nothing further known.
4. James Nichol died at sea according to Massengill; nothing further known.
5. John Nichol, Jr., born Magherabeg, Fahan Parish, 5/1/1782; died Nashville, TN, 2/4/1853. He emigrated to America with his older brother, Josiah, about 1788 probably in the company of his aunt Elizabeth Dysart Breden. He began his business career as his brother's partner eventually becoming quite a wealthy merchant in Nashville. He married three times, first 7/8/1812, in Nashville, Rachel Bosley daughter of Beal and Margery (Shulte) Bosley. Rachel died in Nashville 8/9/1824. Issue six children as follows:
1. Eleanor R. Nichol (c.1813-1841) married William Livingston
2. Elizabeth Nichol (1815-1823)
3. John Nichol III. (c. 1816-1870)
4. Josiah Nichol, mentioned in his Uncle Josiah's will, he has not been traced further.
5. James Beal Nichol (c.1820-1868) married Lodicia R. Hart. Apparently died without issue.
6. Margery Nichol (c.1824-1824)

John Nichol, Jr. married secondly 1/1/1828, in Nashville, Harriet Morford, born Princeton, NJ, 4/28/1796, died Nashville 1/28/1834. She was the daughter of Zebulon Jr. and Mary (Denton) Morford. Issue four children as follows:

7. William Charles Nichol (1828-1869) lost a leg at Battle of Peachtree Creek while serving as 2nd Lieutenant Co. B, 11th Tenn. Infantry, CSA. Died unmarried.
8. Samuel Denton Nichol (1830-1914) served as 1st Lieutenant Co. G, 11th Tenn. Infantry CSA. He married Sarah Ella Johnson. Issue nine children.
9. Philip Lindsley Nichol (1832-1922) married Susanna M. Shaffer. Issue five children. One of their great-grandchildren, William Bowen Walton IV, is a co-founder of Holiday Inns of America.
10. George Nichol (1834-1834) died at birth.

John Nichol, Jr's. third and final marriage was 1/2/1839, in Nashville, to Evelina Matilda Bradford, born Fauquier Co., VA, 7/22/1807, died Nashville 12/16/1861. She was the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Blackwell) Bradford. Issue four children all born Nashville.

11. Benjamin Franklin Nichol (1840-1913) served as a 2nd Lieutenant Fisher's Artillery Company, CSA. Married Margaret Patterson. Issue four children.
12. Bradford Nichol (1841-1913) served as Major of Artillery, CSA, taking part in over thirty battles including Shiloh, Chicamauga, Atlanta, Nashville, Murfreesborough and Missionary Ridge. He founded Bradford Nichol Furniture Company of Nashville after the war and was elected to the highest office in Masonry, Grand Master of the General Grand Council of the United States of America 1897-1900. He married Florence Gaines (1841-1931). Issue four children.
13. Elizabeth Nichol (1843-1927) married Wilbur Fisk Foster, Major of Engineers CSA. He founded Foster-Creighton Construction, builder of many of Nashville's major buildings and civil works. Issue two daughters.
14. Louisa Nichol (1850-1917) married Richard R. Hightower, a tobacco merchant. Issue eight children.

The above information was extracted from "Nichol of Nashville", a book published by Bromfield Nichol. in 1990. Brom also has a web page, Nichol of Magherabeg - Descendants and Connections.

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