ENTRY

Armistead S. Nickens (1836–1906)

SUMMARY

Armistead S. Nickens represented Lancaster County in the House of Delegates for two terms (1871–1875). Born into a free family, Nickens became prosperous enough by the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865) that the local agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau listed him as a respectable citizen capable of holding public office. Nickens won his first term in 1871, becoming the first African American elected official in county history. He gained a second term in 1873 by a scant twenty-nine votes. After his term in the assembly Nickens received an appointment as a special collector of delinquent taxes in Lancaster County. A landowner, according to local tradition Nickens advocated a bridge across the Rappahannock River that would connect Tappahannock and Richmond County. He died at home in 1906.

Early Years

Nickens was born in July 1836 in Lancaster County and was the son of Armistead Nickens and Polly Weaver Nickens, both members of African American families that had been free for several generations. Family tradition is that his middle name and his father’s middle name were Stokalas. Little is known about his early life, but descendants claim that his father, who almost certainly died when Nickens was young, taught him to read. He was recorded as being literate in the 1850 census. He may have been the Armistead Nickens described about 1858 in neighboring Northumberland County‘s Register of Free Negroes as five feet ten inches tall with a dark complexion and a scar on his right wrist.

In 1860 Nickens was working as a sawyer in Northumberland, and in that year or the following year married his employer’s sister, Sophronia Wood. They had at least one son and one daughter before she died, probably late in 1869 or early in 1870. What Nickens did during the Civil War is not known. He moved back to Lancaster County about 1866 and worked as a farmer. The following year the local agent of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, identified him and his father-in-law, Holland Wood, as respectable local men who had been loyal during the war. The war and its aftermath likely contributed to Nickens’s financial difficulties in October 1870, when he reported to the Lancaster County clerk $99 in personal property (including livestock and furniture) to be exempt from sale for debt. His situation improved and in 1873 he paid $700 for 135 acres of land along the road from the county seat to Kilmarnock. On November 19, 1871, he married Violet Watkins, a widow with two sons and two daughters. They had three daughters and two sons.

Political Career

Legislature of Virginia

Nickens attended the Republican State Convention in September 1871 and on the following November 7, won election by a vote of 443 to 362 to represent Lancaster County, which had a Black majority, for a two-year term in the House of Delegates. He was the first African American to hold elected office in the county and one of very few until late in the twentieth century. Nickens served on the Committee on Militia and Police and usually voted with his party’s radical minority faction. In 1873 he won the Republican nomination for a second term over a white candidate by reportedly stating that an African American could best look after Black people’s interests. In the November general election he defeated a white Conservative opponent by twenty-nine votes. When Nickens returned to the assembly he was again a member of the Committee on Militia and Police and also sat on the Committee on Agriculture and Mining. Local tradition indicates that he advocated building a bridge across the Rappahannock River to connect the town of Tappahannock and Richmond County. It is not known whether Nickens chose not to run for a third term in 1875 or failed to win nomination against a white radical Republican that year.

Later Years

Address to Virginians.

Nickens apparently did not run for public office again, but he retained his interest in politics. In March 1881 he attended a convention of African American Republicans in Petersburg that laid the groundwork for a coalition with the new Readjuster Party that pledged to provide financial support for the state’s struggling new public school system and refinance the public debt left over from before the war. Perhaps in return for supporting the Readjusters during the general election that year, Nickens received an appointment the following year as a special collector of delinquent taxes in Lancaster County. During the 1882 congressional campaign Nickens received a check to pay back taxes for several men who were later identified as political supporters of the Readjuster candidate and needed to have their tax delinquency removed before they could vote. In a subsequent investigation, Nickens swore that he did not know the money was for the benefit of men who backed the Republican-Readjuster coalition only.

Nickens later received credit for constructing a school for the county’s African American children in 1876. He was one of five trustees of Saint John’s Colored Baptist Church in 1890 and reportedly hauled logs and laid bricks during construction of Calvary Baptist Church. Nickens was ordained a deacon in that church on June 11, 1892. For much of his life, he appears to have been financially independent, but during the winter of 1885–1886 he acknowledged being $25 in arrears on his state taxes, and in 1898 he mortgaged his 135-acre farm to enable him to pay his debts. Despite the difficulties, in 1902 the county court named him a commissioner to help settle an estate. His own property then consisted of 153 acres of real estate worth about $1,000 and personal property that after his death was valued at a little more than $300. Nickens died at his home on either April 25 or 26, 1906, and was buried in the family plot in Lancaster County.

MAP
TIMELINE
July 1836
Armistead S. Nickens is born in Lancaster County.
1850
Armistead S. Nickens is recorded as being literate in the federal census.
ca. 1858
The Northumberland County Register of Free Negroes describes an Armistead Nickens as being five feet ten inches tall with a dark complexion and a scar on his right wrist.
1860
Armistead S. Nickens is working as a sawyer in Northumberland County.
1860 or 1861
Armistead S. Nickens marries his employer's sister, Sophronia Wood. They will have at least one son and one daughter.
ca. 1866
Armistead S. Nickens moves from Northumberland County to Lancaster County, where he works as a farmer.
1867
The Lancaster County agent of the Freedmen's Bureau identifies Armistead S. Nickens and his father-in-law, Holland Wood, as respectable local men who were loyal to the United States during the Civil War.
Late 1869—early 1870
Sometime during this period Sophronia Wood Nickens, wife of Armistead S. Nickens, dies.
October 1870
Armistead S. Nickens reports to the Lancaster County clerk $99 in personal property to be exempt from sale for debt.
September 1871
Armistead S. Nickens attends the Republican State Convention and is nominated to run for the House of Delegates from Lancaster County.
November 7, 1871
Armistead S. Nickens, of Lancaster County, wins election to the House of Delegates by a vote of 443 to 362. He is the first African American to hold elected office in the county.
November 19, 1871
Armistead S. Nickens marries his second wife, Violet Watkins, a widow with two sons and two daughter. They will have three daughters and two sons.
1873
Armistead S. Nickens attends the Republican State Convention and is renominated to run for the House of Delegates from Lancaster County. He reportedly states that an African American can best look after black people's interests.
1873
Armistead S. Nickens pays $700 for 135 acres of land along the road from the Lancaster County seat to Kilmarnock.
November 1873
Armistead S. Nickens, of Lancaster County, defeats his Conservative Party opponent by twenty-nine votes to be reelected to the House of Delegates.
1875
Armistead S. Nickens, of Lancaster County, either chooses not to run or is not nominated for a third term in the House of Delegates.
1876
A school for African American children is constructed in Lancaster County. Armistead S. Nickens later receives credit for the effort.
March 14, 1881
Armistead S. Nickens attends a convention of African American Republicans in Petersburg that lays the groundwork for a coalition with the new Readjuster Party.
1882
Armistead S. Nickens receives a check to pay back taxes for several men who are later identified as political supporters of the Readjuster candidate and need to have their tax delinquency removed before they can vote. He later denies any wrongdoing.
Winter 1885—1886
Armistead S. Nickens acknowledges being $25 in arrears on his state taxes.
1890
Armistead S. Nickens is one of five trustees of Saint John's Colored Baptist Church in Lancaster County.
June 11, 1892
Armistead S. Nickens is ordained a deacon at Saint John's Colored Baptist Church in Lancaster County.
1898
Armistead S. Nickens mortgages his 135-acre farm in Lancaster County to enable him to pay his debts.
1902
The Lancaster County court names Armistead S. Nickens a commissioner to help settle an estate.
April 25 or April 26, 1906
Armistead S. Nickens dies at his Lancaster County home and is buried in the family plot.
October 15, 2022
A historical highway highway marker is dedicated to Armistead S. Nickens.
FURTHER READING
  • Jackson, Luther Porter. Negro Office-Holders in Virginia, 1865–1895. Norfolk: Guide Quality Press, 1945.
  • Lowe, Richard. Republicans and Reconstruction in Virginia, 1856–70. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991.
  • Moger, Allen W. Virginia: Bourbonism to Byrd, 1870–1925. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1968.
CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Gottlieb, Matthew & Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Armistead S. Nickens (1836–1906). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/nickens-armistead-s-1836-1906.
MLA Citation:
Gottlieb, Matthew, and Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Armistead S. Nickens (1836–1906)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 21 Nov. 2023
Last updated: 2022, October 19
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