• General Notes

  Immigrant
  
  *Edmund Nicholson, & wife Elizabeth came to New England from Bootle, Cumberland Co England. He died in Marblehead Mass, 1660. Issue: Christopher, b 1638, m Hannah Rednap (d of Joseph, who moved to Perq Co N. C. very early). 2 Joseph, b 1640—3 Samuel, b 1644—4 John, b 1646—5 Elizabeth, b 1649, m Nicholas Anderson—6 Thomas, b 1653.
  (New England Hist & Genealogical Reg.)
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  Occupation:  Fisherman
  
  Edmund Nicholson died at sea, off the coast of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
  
  EDMOND NICHOLSON
  
  Born: abt 1612 Boothby, Cumberland, England
  Died: bet 4 Jun 1660 and 27 Nov 1660 by drowning, Essex Co. MA
  
  Parents:Thomas NICHOLSON Birth: 1584, Lancaster County, England
          Alice KENYON     Birth: 1588, Lancanshire. England
  
  Married: 1636/37 in England to Elizabeth Simpson (Simson), b. abt 1616
  
  Edmond came to America possibly as early as 1644. He is first recorded at Marblehead, MA in 1646 when his eldest son, Christopher, received a small bequest from the estate of George Pollard. He and Elizabeth probably came to America in company with her brother, Francis Simson. The brothers-in-law owned property together, and had various business dealings together, although Edmond Nicholson was a fisherman.
  
  Edmond was not a Quaker although his wife, Elizabeth had certain leanings toward the religion and was brought into court at least three times. It is know that her brother, Francis Simson, was also brought into court and fined for the same reasons and finally moved to Rhode Island to escape persecution.
  
  Edmond drowned sometime between 4 Jun, when he appeared in court, and 27 Nov when Elizabeth, his wife, and Christopher Nicholson, his son, were appointed to administer his estate which was valued at 150 pounds, with 54 pounds in debts. It was ordered that 10 pounds be paid to each of the six children when he reached 21 years of age, or married with the consent of their mother. Edmond was a fisherman and died by drowning. His wife and two sons, in a celebrated witchcraft case, were accused of causing the drowning on June 26, 1660.
  
  His estate consisted, in part, of the following; 1 house with outhouses and land, a boat fit to go to sea and a canoe, 1 cow with hay, 1 bed with bolster, pillows, rug and blanket, 9 yards ticking, 10 sheets and pullovers, 1 piece of white kersie, wearing apparel, 2 rugs, 2 pair blankets, 1 bolster and 2 pillows, 1 chest and box, 1 fowling piece and 3 axes, 1 sword, 1 iron pot, 2 iron kettles, 3 bras kettles and 2 scilletts, pewter, earthen ware, wooden and lattin ware, 3 wheels, lome, sleies, wheel with barrell and other lumber......(detailed pg 324 Vol I, Probate Records, Essex Co MA).
  
  
  At this time the Quakers in New England were suffering severe persecution and among them were the ancestors of Timothy Nicholson. It was near the year 1660 that Edmund and Elizabeth Nicholson came from Cumberland, England, to Massachusetts, with their six children. In Sewel's History of Friends it is recorded that following the death of the husband and father, his widow was heavily fined while the two eldest sons, Christopher and Joseph, were made to stand under the gallows certain hours with ropes about their necks and were whipped so mercilessly that one of them swooned away under the torture. This was after the three had been cleared of the trumped-up charge of having caused the death of Edmund Nicholson, whose body had been found in the sea, the real animus behind the accusation and the persecution being apparent in the fact of “information being given that these people did sometimes show love to those they called cursed Quakers.”
  
  This was after the three had been cleared of the trumped-up charge of having caused the death of Edmund Nicholson, whose body had been found in the sea, the real animus behind the accusation and the persecution being apparent in the fact of “information being given that these people did sometimes show love to those they called cursed Quakers.”
  
  As a result of the bitter treatment given them in New England, many Friends removed to other colonies, some going to the Albemarle settlements in North Carolina, following shortly the religious visit of Edmundson and Fox. The first marriage certificate recorded in the records of the North Carolina Friends, was that of Christopher Nicholson and Ann Atwood, it being reasonably certain that he was the Christopher Nicholson who had suffered at the hands of the Boston and Salem persecutors.
  
  The following is per Sewells "History of the Quakers": May 18, 1660
  
  Henry Bacheller and (June 26th) the wife of Edmond Nicholson, the wife of William Vincent, Samuel Salmon, and other Friends are prosecuted. (So she was in court even before he died).
  ___________________________________________________________________
      Historical Outline of
  The Marblehead Police Department
                        by
  
          Donald A. Doliber, Sr.
  
  
  1600 -- First murder mentioned:
  
     Edmund Nicholson at sea..

Details of Edmund 's family with Elizabeth  SIMSON