At age twenty-one, he studied at the Lovejoy Academy in Raleigh for a year, then opened a book and job printing business and published a newspaper.

Nichols was a leader in founding the North Carolina Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, and served as its principal from 1873 to 1877.

He was a revenue-stamp agent in Durham from 1879 to 1881, Raleigh's postmaster from 1881 to 1885, and then secretary and treasurer of the State Fair association.

Nichols returned to Raleigh, and served briefly in the office of the Collector of Internal Revenue from November.

He was appointed United States commissioner for the eastern district of North Carolina on July 1, 1897, serving until his death in Raleigh in 1917.