William T. Nichols

William Thomas Nichols (March 24, 1829 - April 10, 1882) was a 19th-century politician, soldier, and businessman.

Trained as a lawyer,[1] he served as an assistant clerk in Vermont’s House of Representatives and then as the state's attorney in 1858–59.

In 1861, he enlisted as a private in the short-lived 1st Vermont Infantry, remaining until the unit was mustered out of service three months later.

[6] Nichols—who afterwards wrote a detailed account of the sinking to his wife in a letter that has survived—managed to get into lifeboat number 2, which two days later was rescued by the sailing ship Horace Beals.

[2] Nichols was also the president and treasurer of a subsidiary venture that manufactured farm tools, the Chicago Scraper and Ditcher Company.

[8] Nichols died of pneumonia in Maywood in 1882 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Rutland, Vermont.

[6] She accompanied a 2004 expedition to the site of the SS Republic wreck, which had been located the year before.