Jonathan Nichols, Jr.

Who was Jonathan Nichols, Jr.?

Jonathan Nichols, Jr. was a deputy governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was the son of former Deputy Governor Jonathan Nichols and Elizabeth Lawton. Nichols became Deputy Governor in November 1753 when his predecessor, Joseph Whipple, III, resigned amid the collapse of his personal fortune, and Nichols completed his term. In 1755 Nichols was again selected as Deputy Governor, completing his first one-year term, then dying during his second year in office.

Nichols is credited with building a house in Newport in 1748, later known as the Hunter House. Following his death, the house was owned by Deputy Governor Joseph Wanton, Jr., a loyalist, and following the American Revolutionary War was owned by William Hunter, a United States Senator, and ambassador to Brazil.