Representative Matthias H. Nichols

Matthias H. Nichols (October 3, 1824 – September 15, 1862) was a United States Representative from Ohio who served three consecutive terms in the mid-nineteenth century and whose political affiliations reflected the shifting party alignments of the antebellum era. He was born in Sharptown, New Jersey, where he attended the common schools and received a basic formal education typical of the period. As a young man, he learned the trade of a printer, a skilled occupation that exposed him to current events, public affairs, and the world of letters, and likely helped shape his interest in law and politics.

In 1842 Nichols moved west to Ohio and settled in Lima, Allen County, which would remain the center of his professional and political life for many years. While in Lima he undertook the study of law, preparing for admission to the bar through the customary apprenticeship and self-directed reading of the time. He was admitted to the bar in 1849 and commenced the practice of law in Lima, building a local reputation as an attorney and entering into the civic life of the growing community.

Nichols’s first significant public office came with his election as prosecuting attorney for Allen County in 1851. In that capacity he was responsible for representing the state in criminal proceedings at the county level. He resigned the following year, however, in order to campaign for a seat in the United States House of Representatives, marking his transition from local legal practice and county office to the broader arena of national politics.

Nichols was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress and took his seat on March 4, 1853. As the political landscape rapidly realigned in the 1850s over issues including slavery and sectional conflict, his party affiliations shifted accordingly. He was elected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress and then reelected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress, serving continuously from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1859. His successive elections under three different party labels reflected the fluid nature of party organization in Ohio and nationally during the decade preceding the Civil War, as former Whigs, anti-Nebraska Democrats, and emerging Republicans coalesced into new political groupings.

After three terms in the House, Nichols sought to continue his service in Congress but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1858 to the Thirty-sixth Congress. With the conclusion of his congressional career in March 1859, he returned to Ohio and resumed the practice of law, again engaging in his profession outside of public office. During these later years he continued to reside in Ohio, practicing as an attorney while the nation moved closer to civil conflict.

Nichols died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 15, 1862, during the early years of the Civil War. He was initially interred in the Old Cemetery in Lima, Ohio, reflecting his long association with that community. His remains were later reinterred in Woodlawn Cemetery, also in Lima, where he is buried among other notable local figures.