TRUMAN NICHOLS

From "Past and Present of Eaton county" - 1906

June 24, 1851, L. Waldo was united in marriage to Miss Malinda Nichols, who was born near was born near London, province of Ontario, Canada, November 24, 1833, being a daughter of Truman W. and Betsey (Mitchell) Nichols, the former of whom was born in Massachusetts, April 15, 1782, and the latter in Jefferson county, New York, April 27, 1794. Both passed the closing years of their lives in Eaton county, Michigan, having been honored pioneers of Oneida township, where the father died at the patriarchal age of ninety-six years and the mother at the age of
sixty-nine years.

They were married in the state of Vermont, whence they removed to Canada. Rather than swear allegiance to the crown of England. Mr. Nichols left the dominion, coming to Michigan in 1837, the year which marked the admission of the state to the Union, and making Eaton county his destination. The trip was made with ox teams and wagons, by which means the household goods and the family were transported, and he also drove to the new home a number of cows. It was found necessary to cut timber for a distance of twelve miles in order to make a road by which to reach the land which he had secured. He was the first settler in that part of Oneida township which was later and is still known as the Canada settlement.

His eldest son had preceded the other members of the family and had built a log shanty, which served as the original home in the forest. Mr. Nichols secured a large tract of government land, reclaiming a considerable portion of the same before his death. He was twice married, his first wife having been Olive Mitchell, after whose death he married her sister Betsey. Five children were born of the first union and nine of the second, Mrs. Waldo having been the youngest. She and her sister Maria, wife of Abraham Smith, of Grand Ledge, are the only survivors of the immediate family.