California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


WILLIAM B. NICHOLL., son of John and Agnes (Booth Hodge) Nicholl, was born in what later 
came to be called the Town of Richmond, California, on February 6, 1874. His father, John 
Nichol], was of Irish birth and parentage, claiming County Antrim as his native place in Ireland. 
He was born in 1824 and came to America with his parents as a lad. They were farming people, 
mid John Nicholl worked on his father's farm until 1848, when he made his way to New York 
City and found work as a stone mason until 1854. In that year he came to California via the 
Isthmus of Panama and settled in Contra Costa County, where he got possession of a tract of 
600 acres, probably through the homestead laws. He farmed on that land until 1902 when the 
logical moment arrived to better himself by the platting of the Town of Richmond in the year 
1902. He sold Point Richmond to the Santa Fe Rail- road Company, that point being the Pacific 
Coast terminal for their road since that time. He had other land holdings, however, among 
them being a 960 acre tract he secured in 1868, located in Ventura County. This land he rented 
out for many years. He died in August, 1914, leaving a widow and eight children, briefly named 
as follows: Mrs. Jeannette Weir of Vicarville, [sic] (Vacaville?) California ; John H., manager of 
the Nicholl estate, residing in Oakland ; Maizie E., also of Oakland; Ruth Ann, who married 
Mose Wells. and is now deceased; Joseph L., farming the old home-stead at Richmond; Mrs. 
Lulu Grace Wilson of Oakland ; Hester H. of Oakland; and William B., of this review.
William B. Nicholl had his early education in the public schools of Oakland, and when he had 
finished the high school entered the University of Colorado, graduating in 1901 with the degree 
of M. D. He practiced medicine in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for one year, but gave up his practice 
because of failing health, after which he gave ten years to extensive traveling. His health 
restored, he did not return to his profession, but came to Ventura and here has occupied 
himself in farming pursuits on the 120 acres he inherited from his father. He finds the life much 
more suited to his natural bent than a professional career could ever be, and enjoys the close 
contact with Nature as he never enjoyed his medical work. Walnuts and beans are the principal 
crops on his ranch.
He was married in Los Angeles on December 6, 1912, to Miss Isabel Melven, and they have one 
child, John Melven Nicholl, now three years old.
Mr. Nicholl and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and politically he is a 
republican. It is possible that his wife shares his political views.