Herman Gould Nickerson

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Herman Gould Nickerson
Hermon Gould Nickerson 1921.jpg
Nickerson in 1921
Member of the Wyoming Council
8th Wyoming Territorial Legislature
Political party Republican
Spouse
Harriet Justina Kelsey
​
​
(m. 1851⁠–⁠1921)​
Children4
Occupation American pioneer, Farmer, US Army Captain, Indian agent, Wyoming Legislature member, and Judge
NicknameCaptain H. G. Nickerson

Herman Gould Nickerson, (Captain H. G. Nickerson) was an American pioneer, born in Litchfield, Ohio of Medina County on May 4, 1841. Nickerson died on October 23, 1927, at the age of 86 in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Nickerson is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander, Wyoming. Herman Gould Nickerson's father was Erastus Nickerson (-1892), who manufactured shoes. His mother was Harriet (Clifford) Nickerson, also a native of the state of Ohio. Nickerson was an American Civil War Veteran, politician, gold miner, Wyoming historian and judge.

Contents

Biography

Nickerson joined the United States Army on December 14, 1861, when he was 22. He enlisted in the Union army Company D with the 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment as a First sergeant. Later, he was transferred to the 186th Ohio Infantry Regiment, where he was promoted to Captain of Company I. He fought in the American Civil War till it ended on September 18, 1865. Nickerson took part in The Battles of Bull Run and the Battle of Antietam. At the Battle of South Mountain, he was captured and became a POW for three months, held at the Libby Prison. He joined General Sherman's March to the Sea. After the war, he went back to Ohio to study law, but moved to Powder River in Montana to look for gold in 1866. Montana gold was discovered in 1852, and the 1862 Homestead Acts drew many American settlers to Montana. [1] He moved out west on the Oregon Trail in an ox-drawn covered wagon. Not finding much gold, he moved to South Pass, Wyoming for mining. Nickerson married Miss Harriet Justina Kelsey (1851-1921) on April 13, 1874, while in Elyria, Ohio. Harriet and Herman had four children. Nickerson entered politics in 1871, he was elected as a member of the Wyoming Legislature. Next, Nickerson was elected to the office of county treasurer for Fremont County, Wyoming. From 1884 to 1887, Nickerson was a probate judge for Fremont County. In 1892, he was appointed to the United States General Land Office in Lander. Nickerson became a Indian agent in 1893 in Lander. Nickerson also served as the first county superintendent of schools of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, chairman of the board of county commissioners of Fremont County, and a justice of the peace in Lander. Nickerson owned 160 acres of farmland next to Lander. Nickerson resigned his post as Indian agent on May 1, 1902. Captain Nickerson was the first president of the Wyoming Oregon Trail Commission from 1913 to 1921. Nickerson made and placed Wyoming historical monuments and markers. [2] Nickerson worked with Ezra Meeker and the Daughters of the American Revolution to help commemorate the Oregon Trail. With the Wyoming Oregon Trail Commission, Nickerson traveled the Oregon Trail, marking out routes and forts over the length of the trail in Wyoming. [3] [4] In July of 1924, Nickerson wrote his memoirs about early Wyoming history. [5] . [6]

Women's suffrage in Wyoming

Nickerson is known for writing about early Women's suffrage in Wyoming and Esther Hobart Morris role in the suffrage tea party. Nickerson wrote in the Wyoming State Journal in February 14, 1919, about meeting with Morris and the suffrage tea party when he was a Member of the Wyoming Council. He wrote:

To Mrs. Esther Morris is due the credit and honor of advocating and originating woman's suffrage in the United States.

Grace Raymond Hebard a historian, used Nickerson writtings in 1920 to tell the history of the early Women's suffrage in Wyoming. Hebard pamphlet based on Nickerson writtings was titled "How Woman Suffrage Came to Wyoming (1869)" [7]

See also


References

  1. ↑ Graetz, Rick; Graetz, Susie. "Gold Gives Birth to Western Montana". This is Montana. University of Montana. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  2. ↑ Marking The Oregon Trail The Bozeman Road And Historic Places In Wyoming 1908-1920
  3. ↑ A. W. Bowen on Captain H. G. Nickerson, Fremont County Archives
  4. ↑ Mike Jording’s A Few Interested Residents: Wyoming Historical Markers and Monuments, Skyhouse Publishers: Helena, MT, 1992.
  5. ↑ Nickerson memoirs, State of Wyoming Historical Department’s Historical Bulletin, July 1924
  6. ↑ Jones, #lookback by Mick Pryor with Edward (February 10, 2023). "#Lookback: The Early History of Fremont County Part 1 - By H.G. Nickerson".
  7. ↑ Karin, Marcy Lynn; Babcock, Professor Barbara; Wayne, Erika (Fall 2002) [February 28, 2003]. "Esther Morris and her Equality State: From Council Bill 70 to Life on the Bench". Women in the Legal Profession. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
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