Josiah Nicholson (1730’s - 1807) Currituck County, North Carolina

As explained in the introduction to the Currituck section on this web site, I once thought I descended from Josiah Nicholson of Currituck County.  In reality, he was a distant cousin.  But I did a lot of research on him, some new, that was included in my biography of him for the 2005 Currituck Families book.

Josiah was an interesting man for his times. At one point or another in Currituck County he was Sheriff, Surveyor, Justice of the Peace, and in one document acted as an attorney for someone. He was in an early militia unit in the late 1750’s, and was an officer in a Revolutionary War era militia unit. He had a nice amount of property, and appears to have been married three times with a total of nine children.

This research stands the test of time – with one correction. I list Cortney Nicholson as my second great-grandmother. I now understand that I descend from Reuben Taylor, brother of Cortney’s husband Charles Taylor (the death certificate of Caroline Taylor Foreman - which lists Reuben Taylor as her father - is the header on this page). Charles and Cortney had six children, not eight, as they likely raised two children of Charles’ brother Reuben - Caroline and Albertis.

Albertis’ 1885 Fountain County Indiana death record lists his mother as a “Doxey”, and the hand-written note of that record is the header on the introductory page to this Currituck section. I have the research goal of linking a member of the Doxey family to Reuben Taylor. Reuben and Charles’ sister Catherine, married William Doxey, so there is a chance that William and the wife of Reuben were closely related.

In the meantime, I have included that Josiah Nicholson biography here for interested researchers, with the cover page reference in case anyone wishes to acquire the book: