Thomas Clark Nicholls

Who was Thomas Clark Nicholls?

Thomas Clark Nicholls was a Louisiana jurist and temperance crusader in the 1830s and 1840s. Nicholls died almost three decades before his son, Francis T. Nicholls, was first elected governor in 1876.

Thomas Nicholls was probably born in Maryland to Cornish American Edward C. Nicholls and the former Williamina Hamilton. He relocated to Louisiana in 1805 and read law in the office of his brother-in-law, Nathan Morse. He received his law license in 1809, when he was eighteen years of age. In June 1814, he married Louisa Hannah Drake, a sister of the poet Joseph Rodman Drake. In addition to the future governor, the couple had four children: Robert W., Edward F., Lawrence D., Thomas C., and Josephine Williamina, who married William W. Pugh.

Nicholls opened his law office in Opelousas, the seat of St. Landry Parish. He moved to New Orleans during the invasion of Louisiana by British forces, joined the Orleans Volunteers, and participated in the battles of December 23, 1814, and January 8, 1815, the latter commonly called the battle of New Orleans.