Nicholasonj  
 

Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",  published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.

     JOHN NICHOLASON is one of the extensive real estate owners of Lincoln county.  He has nearly two thousand acres of land about four miles south from Wilbur, which is devoted to general farming and is one of the very valuable estates of the Big Bend country.
     John Nicholason was born at sea, under the Norwegian flag, on March 7, 1854.  His father, Newton Nicholason, a native of Scotland, was the owner of a schooner with which he coasted along the shores of Norway.  On one of these trips, he met Magline Larson, a daughter of a prominent Norwegian family, who later became his bride.  Mr. Nicholason then went to Norway to live except what time he was at sea.  He did business until the ship went down and he was lost.  Our subject was educated in the common schools of Norway until eight years of age, then shipped on the steamer Bergan.  He sailed to various parts of the world on Norwegian, Spanish, and English ships and afterward came to Quebec whence he went to Detroit, and worked as a common laborer.  He wrought through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri.  In 1871 he was a teamster for General Custer, on the Musselshell.  He was one of the pioneers to the famous Black Hills country and from there went to Montana, then to Colorado and afterwards, in 1878, to the Pacific coast.  He was in business in Seattle for a while and then went to mining.  In 1882, Mr. Nicholason came to his present location and settled on a homestead.  The land was in dispute and for fourteen years the controversy continued with the result that he finally won out.  His labor and business ability have gained a fine competence and in addition to the magnificent estate mentioned, he has considerable other property.
     In 1892, Mr. Nicholason married Miss Carrie H., daughter of Jacob and Katherine (Johnson) Anderson, natives of Norway and Finland, respectively.  Mrs. Nicholason was born in Wardo, Norway, on July 18, 1878.  To this marriage five children have been born, Rolf, Nina, Lena K., Edna, and Bjorn.
     Mr. Nicholason started in life with no means and after he was eight years of age, his labors supplied the means to support his widowed another.  He has traveled very extensively, having visited various portions of the globe, and his inquiring mind has given him a vast fund of information.
 

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