The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1898-08-26
GREENFIELD HILL
THE NICHOLS REUNION.

Saturday, the ooh inst, about 20 of
the descendants of Peter Nichols held
family reunion on the homestead premi-
ses, now the residence of Charles Nichols.
Representatives of four generations were
present, including, besides Charles Mich
OILS and bis daughter, Alice I. Nichols,
Mrs Eunice Merwin and daughter, Mrs
Mary Banks of LYONS Plain, Horace Ly-
on and family of Stratfield, FL. Augustus
Nichols and family of Fairfield Woods,
Je, ONE Nichols and family of Newtown,
Edgar B. Nichols and family of Cohoea,
N. Y, Charles r. Nichols and family and
Levi French of EastOn. At about 80
p. M, the party sat down, under the
shade of q magnificent, wide-spreading
| maple, to table laden with food Uf great
variety and of excellent quality. After
feasting till all were satit fed, the men,
bers of the party were assembled by
Willis Hutchinson and photographed in
| a group. at the conclusion of this GER
emnnY Edgar B. Nichols, an attorney-at-
law, arose nd said that few remarks
seemed appropriate to an occasion which
had been dignified with the name Of
reunion. He then spoke Of the wonder
ful growth and progress of our country
since the Declaration of Independence,
in 1776; of the achievements of it's navy
and armies, in the cause of humanity,
which distinguish the closing days of the
present century and of the place which
it has attained in wealth and resources
| and as a ruling power among the nations
of the world. Then he contrasted the
simplicity OF the past, the days of the
nations Infancy, with the present. He
aaid that in the same year the nation had
| ts birth, in l776, their common ancestor,
Peter Nichols, was 'rr, upon the very
premises where they we're then assem-
bled; there for IS years, cOeval with the
nation, he lived; and there he died.
| There, during his manhood, he tOiled, a
plain blacksmith. at the forge, as did his
| father. Peter, before him, and the soil
! beneath their feet which nourished the
stately maple, held still embedded and
was enriched by cinders, the product Of
their forges. Here he produced q set of
account books, kept, after the English
fashion, in pounds, ahillings and pence,
by the first Peter Nichols, before and
duri ing the Revolution. These gave a
pretty accurate history of the life of the
first of the family to settle ON the prem
Uses, and showed how much the times
| have changed. 1t was to these sturdy,
sober and Industrious, though simple,
lives Of our ancestors, the speaker said
that we were indebted for our vigorous
national life and character, and though
the activities of the present, and business
cares do crowd, thick upon uo, we should
not lose sight Of these ir fluences of the
past, nor omit the reverence due to those
who have preceded US. He believed we
also owe it as duty to p0sterity to pre-.
serve some record of their lives. before
al vestiges are obliterated. He then
hastily traced the line of descent of the
family from Francis Nichols, who came
to Boston from England, with his family,
in 1886 or 1886, and was settled in STRAIT.
ford as early as 1899, and gave some
account Of the Nichols family in Eug-
land. He concluded with the hope that
such occasions should be of annual re-
currence and marked with Increasing
numbers and interest. The party sepa.
rated after dav full of enjoyment, we'll
pleased with the success of their first
| reunion.