Ezra Nuckolls

Ezra Nuckolls, b. Mar. 28, I798, Louisa Co., d. May 4, i857. He and his brothers were much help in the formation of Grayson Co., Va.; they had been well educated and good family training in Eastern Virginia. The men and women were tall in stature, a number of them 7 ft. in height and well proportioned. Ezra served as Sheriff of Grayson Co., Va.; he and his nephews Creed and Clarke Nuckolls with William Oglesby were the first merchants at Grayson Court House, Va., until after the close of the War186I-1865; then the firm was Nuckolls and Jennings. A branch store was opened at Independence, Va. Ezra built the first storehouse there, also the first hotel; he continued in business until he sold out and moved to Missouri about 1853, bringing their children and their slaves. Took up Gov't land where Rock Port, Mo., is now. After locating, they said that some day a burying ground would be needed, and they selected a beautiful site on a little hill that overlooked the countryside. Ezra Nuckolls died first, and in three weeks his wife died of a broken heart. They were buried in that plot, which has always been known as the Nuckolls Burying Ground; though now it adjoins or is a part of the Rock Port Cemetery. It has a good iron fence, well kept, and a nice granite monument is at the grave of Ezra and Lucinda Nuckolls. Many of the Nuckolls family are buried there. In this Nuckolls Burying Ground, there is a flowering shrub) -a Deep Rose Peony -still blooming yearly, that Stephen Friel Nuckolls sent and had planted when he was a Congressman, in Washington, D. C., 1859-----98 years ago