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Society Note
Stephen Friel Nuckolls was a very well known, educated man with many land holdings and slaves. His named appeared in hundreds of history books and newspaper articles. You may find out more about him in the Society database. Just click on the N[Notes]
Stephen Friel Nuckolls
Stephen Friel Nuckolls
Stephen Friel Nuckolls, b. Aug. 16, 1825, d. Feb. 14, 1879, Salt Lake City, Utah. He was only :29 when he arrived in Table Creek, Nebr.,1854. He had come to Missouri from Grayson C. H. in i848; returned to Grayson Co., Va.; married, then came back to Missouri. He, his brother Heath Nuckolls, and the men who laid out and founded Nebraska City, Nebr., were mostly youngsters - the leader was S. F. Nuckolls; he devoted the longest hours, gave the most careful thought to the enterprise. Given an education much better than the average, Nuckolls wanted learning well established in Nebr. City. " Crowded Civilization " begun to tell on the nervous, restless Nuckolls. He fathered the idea of the first Cemetery, Wyuka, in 1855 - Indian name: high ground on high hill. When Nebr. was a Territory, he was prominent in securing the change to a State. Nuckolls County is named for him. With sympathy for the South, he thought it best to move his family to Jersey City, N. J., during the War. From 1864 to 1867 he was in New York selling mining claims, dealing in metal stocks and meeting the country's big financiers. In 1867 he moved to Wyoming -starting a store in Cheyenne and greeted the Union Pacific when it joined the town with the outside world. When Wyoming assumed Territorial dress, Nuckolls was one of the leaders, delegate to Congress, helped to write the first constitution, and from this Legislative Assembly was elected a member of the Congress, Washington, D. C. The winter session was a busy one for the young town-builder-all sorts of bills were introduced to relieve the depression-touched territory - among them was an act to reduce the interest rate. "I believe money is worth all you can get for it," Nuckolls said, " but I realize that we are depressed and so I reluctantly vote for the measure. If you keep the rate high you will discourage speculators from wasting money on foolish ventures." " In 1875 Benj. Floyd Nuckolls wrote Stephen Friel Nuckolls for help in building a Methodist Church at what had been Grayson C. H., but at this time the Post Office was Nuckollsville, Va., the ' courts being moved to Independence. He promptly answered, if we would promise to raise $1,000, he would send $1,000 -he sent the $1,000 in New York Exchange checks, stating he wanted us to put up a good building. Our Church was dedicated by Dr. David Sullins in 1876. This Church has been a great blessing to us. My father, Stephen Nuckolls, when a young boy, drove an ox-team and hauled logs to the sawmill for lumber to build this Church." The founder died in Salt Lake City in 1879. There he had hoped to live peacefully for many years, but it was not to be. Worn out from having burned the candle at both ends, he passed away at 54 a victim to the restlessness
which had carried him into a half dozen pioneering communities and 'law him in the forefront of every important exciting adventure. Nuckolls was symbolic of the youth that established in Nebraska City; Youth that sees through untroubled eyes, scoffing at precedent and "perience. Fortunately for our pioneering juveniles, and fortunate for us, they builded well and, as the record shows, prophesied with uncanny accuracy. (Taken from Nebraska City News-Press, @Nebraska City, Nebr., and Pioneer Settlers of Grayson Co, Virginia, by B. F. Nuckolls.)
