Henry M. Nichols House
The Nichols house is distinguished in Stillwater both by its well-kept and virtually unchanged exterior, and the dramatic and ultimately tragic history of its first occupants, the Henry M. Nichols family. Nichols` diaries and letters, found at the Minnesota Historical, offer unique and detailed insight into the family`s life._x000D_ _x000D_ Henry M. Nichols served the First Presbyterian church in Stillwater from 1853 to 1859. Before his arrival in Stillwater, he studied briefly at Oberlin, and after unsatisfactory experiences as a Methodist minister in the East he agreed to migrate to Minnesota with his wife, Nancy, as president of the Northampton colony, a group of Connecticut Valley settlers. In May, 1853, Nichols signed a lease for 20 acres of land and a house in St. Anthony and began farming, to little avail. Crops failed and cows ate the corn. By October, having received an offer from William Holcombe to serve a congregation in Stillwater, Nichols sold his oxen at a loss and "set up housekeeping" in Stillwater with his wife, Nancy, and son, Henry. Here he felt he would better be able to concentrate on ministry, without the distractions of farming. _x000D_ _x000D_ Church funds were raised through member "subscriptions" and donations, leaving the family quite dependent on the largess and participation of the congregation they served. While the Nichols` letters reflect constant worry over money and household support, the initial welcome in Stillwater was warm. Nancy wrote to her parents about people who left food and sawed wood at their door, among other things: _x000D_ _x000D_ "Well we are settled in Stillwater for the year comfortably, pleasantly and happily...Another sent in pies and bread for several days butter sugar, white and brown- coffee candles and large salmon and mackerel and another three bushels of potatoes and of onions, another left at our door a barrel of flour..."_x000D_ _x000D_ This outpouring of support reflected the community`s strong desire to have a minister in their midst, and those with Nichols` education, conviction and dramatic public speaking abilities were not common on the "frontier." And Stillwater Presbyterians were not the only congregants desiring spiritual comfort. Other communities vied for Nichols` time and attention. Offers accrued, none exactly right, but by 1857, Nichols was involved in serious discussions with representatives from Taylor`s Falls, noting in his diary that not only did his wife wish to be "anywhere but" Stillwater, but also that he had been offered $100 in salary, $200 towards rent, and the gift of two building lots and moving expenses if he would relocate to "the Falls." By February, 1857, Nichols had decided that moving would be best for his family. _x000D_ "My moving could have been prevented two or three months ago, but it is too late now. Had I succeeded in getting a house of my own or had I rec`d offers of assistance in building I should not have thought of leaving."_x000D_ _x000D_ Word clearly spread in Stillwater, however, and counteroffers were made in short order. In a letter dated February 17, 1857, influential church members made their case: _x000D_ "Dear Sir, the Undersigned having learned that you are entertaining a proposition to remove from this place... have taken the liberty in this manner to ask of you the reason... in order that is there is anything which can be done by us or by this community which has been left undone that we may so far as shall it be in our power apply the remedy..." _x000D_ _x000D_ The "undersigned" included E.F. Folsom, A. J. VanVorhes, Noah McKusick, Oliver Parsons and Isaac Staples._x000D_ _x000D_ Nichols was amenable to negotiation, making notes in his diary:_x000D_ _x000D_ Feb 20 "Delano, McKusick & McCombs met me on the street & I had a long talk with them. They will oppose my leaving, offer me anything that I want, if only I will stay, will make my salary 1500 dollars & build me a house, or any thing, if I will only stay,. But it is too late now, my word is given to the Falls people..." _x000D_ _x000D_ Feb 24 "Mr. Delano called in ... the people want to feel that they have control of their church property, especially if they build a new house. All right. He showed me that there were 2200 dols already subscribed as a present to me to build me a house if I remained." _x000D_ _x000D_ Wed March 4 "Walked around town a little with Bro. Cleveland, showed him my lots..." _x000D_ _x000D_ From there, things proceeded apace. Although some local accounts suggest that Nichols was only a tenant in the house and that it ultimately belonged to the church, it is clear from the archived personal records that he regarded it as his property, and that it was received in a murky area in which it could be construed simultaneously as a gift, a payment, or a bribe. _x000D_ _x000D_ Nichols had ambitions for his home, and found interesting examples far and wide. _x000D_ March 23 "Went with Spaulding and Delano to compare a plan of a house with my lot. Decided definitely & the bill of lumber is to be made out immediately. "_x000D_ At the end of March, he "Went with Mr. Delano to see the house of Mr Tarbox [a Stillwater lumberman] to take some pattern from it for the Parsonage." And while the house was well under construction by May, he also found possible inspiration in Cleveland while returning from a General Assembly meeting in New York: "Rode out this afternoon with Mr Firtch to Prof. Kirklands beautiful grounds, green house, cabinet, library &c was very much interested." _x000D_ _x000D_ While in Stillwater, Henry took almost daily pleasure in working on the grounds around the house, with numerous diary entries similar to these entries from June, 1857: _x000D_ _x000D_ June 8 "Went to work earnestly in my garden"_x000D_ June 9 "Had a man spading my garden I worked with him most of the time"_x000D_ June 10 "Worked in garden some but it rained half the time."_x000D_ June 11 "Completed garden work for this week & now I must to my study"_x000D_ June 19 "Worked on my lot in the forenoon cutting brush. Afternoon had some cedar posts drawn on to my lot."_x000D_ July 14 "Shot a real gopher in my garden, the first one I have seen fully."_x000D_ _x000D_ By July, Nichols was in the midst of the tribulations common to those who build houses: _x000D_ July 9 "Have been obliged nearly all day to be at my house to direct in the setting of partitions & division of rooms."_x000D_ July 15 "Work on the house is not progressing so fast this week. I do not see that we can possibly move till late in August." _x000D_ July 21 "Had some boards & ashes drawn up to my new house." _x000D_ July 22 "Beginning to clear up around my new house built a temporary wood shed & began to stock it with loose ends."_x000D_ July 27 "Purchased a carpet."_x000D_ July 28 "Made three tables, or toilet stands. Spent the day at the new House."_x000D_ _x000D_ And, finally, on August 27: "For two or three days past have been busy moving and to night sleep in the new house on the floor." _x000D_ _x000D_ He wrote to his father descriptively about his new home and its financing: _x000D_ "We moved into our new house the 1st of Sept. it is all finished throughout, I painted within & without, There are 7 rooms & a pantry on the lower floor, 4 good sleeping chambers & a large unfinished back chamber, & a large attic in the third story, a good cellar frost tight, running water in the wash-rom & cupboards & closets & shelves here & these, such as the women like. The house cost about $2700, above the cellar, 2100 of this has bee paid by the people, leaving about 600 which I assume. My cellar cost me about 130, my water arrangement 25 & I have put on blinds at 125 & some other little et ceteras around, making the whole cost of the house about $3000. My lots cost me originally $450 add for interest taxes & improvements another 100 & my place has cost me 3550. As times were in the fall before the panic came on it would have sold for $5000, now probably for not more than $4000. Had it not been for the hard times coming on the people would have paid the whole 2700, but I can very well I think afford the balance myself."_x000D_ _x000D_ Nancy Nichols was busy in her own way after moving into the house, first hosting a ladies sewing circle in October, and in November giving birth to second son William Nichols. The small family was able to celebrate a fine Thanksgiving: _x000D_ Nov 26 "Thanksgiving in New England & most of the states today. Celebrated in memory of home by having baked chicken, & wife went out into the dining room, where we ate for the first time. "_x000D_ _x000D_ While the house seemed to be Henry`s pride and joy, his diaries over the next period reflect murmurs of discontent in the community, and Nichols` furthur tenure in Stillwater was fraught with tensions. These resulted from, among other things, Presbyterian factions, rival church building, and Nichol`s abolitionist and "radical" positions. In addition, Henry wrestled regularly with the home`s water system, which required pumps and pipes to get the water up the bluff, and tinkered with various chimney configurations. His health began to waver, noting, for example, in 1858: _x000D_ _x000D_ Feb 11 "Took some electric shocks in evening at Major Van`s." _x000D_ March 11 "Have felt almost crazy to day Head confused, cannot control my thoughts Have too much upon my mind."_x000D_ October 26. "Feel very poorly. Took a blue pill, at advice of Dr. Harlow. The first I ever took." _x000D_ _x000D_ In 1859, Nichols` new baby girl died a few months after her April birth. By the fall of 1859, the First Presbyterian congregation could not meet mortgage payments on their church, built at the same time as Nichols` house (and down a long flight of stairs leading from the house), nor, it seems, could they maintain Nichols` stipend. Nichols agreed to an offer from the Plymouth Congregational church in Minneapolis. His house remained important to him, however, and he attempted to negotiate a commuter option. The new congregation insisted on his regular presence in Minneapolis and in April, 1860, Nancy wrote to her family: _x000D_ _x000D_ "You now see by this letter that we are in Minneapolis, we expect to remain & tomorrow start for Stillwater to pack our things and move them over here. ... I shall do my own work and the house that we have rented needs cleaning ... we have rented out house for one hundred and fifty for the year & rent one here for ourselves for fifty. It is small but convenient, don`t look much like our own but we are going to economy this year so we can pay three hundred on our house."_x000D_ _x000D_ While the Nichols had hopes of a new and settled life, it was not to be. In April, the Plymouth Church burned to the ground; some claimed it was in response to Henry Nichols`s ardent temperance crusade. In July, Henry, Nancy, and Henry Jr., age 13, drowned in a catastrophic swimming accident in Lake Calhoun, along with brother--in-law Arba Cleveland and his young children. A lengthy and dramatic report was filed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press._x000D_ _x000D_ "It seems that Mr. Nichols and his family, together with his brother-in-law, Mr. Cleveland and wife and two children went out on a pleasure ride to the lake on Thursday about noon. After they had been at the lake a short time, the children, Henry, son of Mr. Nichols, aged 13, and Emmorette, aged 13, and Ella, aged 11, daughters of Mr. Cleveland, received permission to go in bathing, and, after putting on their bathing dresses, they selected a spot where the water seemed shallow, and went in. The children, supposing that the water grew deeper gradually, ventured out some eighteen or twenty feet where the water was about two feet and a half in depth, when suddenly, the youngest girl, who was a little in advance, stepped off from the bank into water nearly twenty feet in depth. The boy, who was an excellent swimmer, immediately sprang after to rescue her, and succeeded in getting her back to the place where the bank broke off so suddenly, but, meeting with some difficulty in getting her up, the other sister extended her hand witch the boy grasped, when the youngest sank and dragged them all into deep water together. The little hero, almost exhausted, still struggled to save them, however, and fairly succeeded in keeping them both up, until Mr. Cleveland and his father and mother, hand in hand, had got to the edge of the bank, and were almost within reach. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Cleveland, who was a large heavy man and no swimmer, reached too far out, and in so doing, lost his balance. And in another instant the whole six were struggling in the water together. Mr. Nichols was a powerful swimmer, but with four or five helpless persons clinging to him, he was, of course, perfectly helpless. In the meantime, Mrs. Cleveland was running frantically to and fro upon the shore wringing her hands and screaming at the top of her voice but before anyone could get to the spot (the nearest house was half a mile away,) they had all risen and sank the third and last time, Mrs. Nichols, as she went down the last time, bidding her sister good-bye, and to take care of little Willie, a little two year old and the only remaining member of the Nichols family. The two Hamilton brothers, upon hearing the screams of Mrs. Cleveland, immediately hastened as fast as possible to the lake, and, although completely out of breath, one of them immediately plunged in, but, very singularly, met Mrs. Nichols` shawl as it was rising to the surface, and got so tangled in it as to come very near drowning himself. His brother, after almost superhuman exertions, finally succeeded in getting him out, however, but in a senseless condition..."_x000D_ _x000D_ An account written by Henry Nichols` grandson in 1937 concludes: _x000D_ "A few hours later hundreds of citizens of Minneapolis were at the scene, and six bodies were presently recovered from the lake. The next afternoon at sundown six coffins were placed in a row on the lawn of the Nichols home [in Minneapolis], while over a thousand persons gathered in the neighborhood for the funeral." _x000D_ _x000D_ Following this stunning turn of events, Willie returned east with his aunt, Clarissa (Burr Sikes) Cleaveland as the two remaining family members. City directories place various ministers in the house through the rest of the century. _x000D_ _x000D_ By early 1906, the home was sold, apparently as part of the family estate to support Willie and his aunt, to Gustave Erickson, a furniture dealer and (ironically, perhaps) an undertaker who had been living in the house as early as 1900, according to census records. The Erickson family was associated with the house until the 1970s. After Gustave`s death in 1921 and wife Carolina`s in 1930, city directories indicate that the home was vacant until 1937, when son Richard Erickson and his family relocated from another home in Stillwater. _x000D_ _x000D_ Blueprints found in the home suggest a major interior renovation was conducted before this younger family moved in. The Ericksons remained until 1972. Very few exterior alterations were made, however, and appear to have been restricted mainly to the removal of a shed or carriage house outbuilding once connected to the rear of the house. Window replacement has been very limited, and some still windows show the waving and sagging characteristic of very old glass. The house itself, with scrolled vergeboards and steep rooflines, is noteworthy for its Gothic Revival style, a suitable reference to its religious context and to the domestic country cottages promoted by Andrew Jackson Downing during the era of its original construction. Architectural historian Roger Kennedy noted of the house: "It is of white pine, its design taken from a pattern book. There is a small comer porch with slender, square pillars, a prominent chimney, tall windows, and `carpenter`s lace` along the eaves." _x000D_ _x000D_ Since 1972, the home has been owned and painstakingly cared for by George and Kathy Schmitt.
Henry M. Nichols House
The Nichols house is distinguished in Stillwater both by its well-kept and virtually unchanged exterior, and the dramatic and ultimately tragic history of its first occupants, the Henry M. Nichols family. Nichols` diaries and letters, found at the Minnesota Historical, offer unique and detailed insight into the family`s life._x000D_ _x000D_ Henry M. Nichols served the First Presbyterian church in Stillwater from 1853 to 1859. Before his arrival in Stillwater, he studied briefly at Oberlin, and after unsatisfactory experiences as a Methodist minister in the East he agreed to migrate to Minnesota with his wife, Nancy, as president of the Northampton colony, a group of Connecticut Valley settlers. In May, 1853, Nichols signed a lease for 20 acres of land and a house in St. Anthony and began farming, to little avail. Crops failed and cows ate the corn. By October, having received an offer from William Holcombe to serve a congregation in Stillwater, Nichols sold his oxen at a loss and "set up housekeeping" in Stillwater with his wife, Nancy, and son, Henry. Here he felt he would better be able to concentrate on ministry, without the distractions of farming. _x000D_ _x000D_ Church funds were raised through member "subscriptions" and donations, leaving the family quite dependent on the largess and participation of the congregation they served. While the Nichols` letters reflect constant worry over money and household support, the initial welcome in Stillwater was warm. Nancy wrote to her parents about people who left food and sawed wood at their door, among other things: _x000D_ _x000D_ "Well we are settled in Stillwater for the year comfortably, pleasantly and happily...Another sent in pies and bread for several days butter sugar, white and brown- coffee candles and large salmon and mackerel and another three bushels of potatoes and of onions, another left at our door a barrel of flour..."_x000D_ _x000D_ This outpouring of support reflected the community`s strong desire to have a minister in their midst, and those with Nichols` education, conviction and dramatic public speaking abilities were not common on the "frontier." And Stillwater Presbyterians were not the only congregants desiring spiritual comfort. Other communities vied for Nichols` time and attention. Offers accrued, none exactly right, but by 1857, Nichols was involved in serious discussions with representatives from Taylor`s Falls, noting in his diary that not only did his wife wish to be "anywhere but" Stillwater, but also that he had been offered $100 in salary, $200 towards rent, and the gift of two building lots and moving expenses if he would relocate to "the Falls." By February, 1857, Nichols had decided that moving would be best for his family. _x000D_ "My moving could have been prevented two or three months ago, but it is too late now. Had I succeeded in getting a house of my own or had I rec`d offers of assistance in building I should not have thought of leaving."_x000D_ _x000D_ Word clearly spread in Stillwater, however, and counteroffers were made in short order. In a letter dated February 17, 1857, influential church members made their case: _x000D_ "Dear Sir, the Undersigned having learned that you are entertaining a proposition to remove from this place... have taken the liberty in this manner to ask of you the reason... in order that is there is anything which can be done by us or by this community which has been left undone that we may so far as shall it be in our power apply the remedy..." _x000D_ _x000D_ The "undersigned" included E.F. Folsom, A. J. VanVorhes, Noah McKusick, Oliver Parsons and Isaac Staples._x000D_ _x000D_ Nichols was amenable to negotiation, making notes in his diary:_x000D_ _x000D_ Feb 20 "Delano, McKusick & McCombs met me on the street & I had a long talk with them. They will oppose my leaving, offer me anything that I want, if only I will stay, will make my salary 1500 dollars & build me a house, or any thing, if I will only stay,. But it is too late now, my word is given to the Falls people..." _x000D_ _x000D_ Feb 24 "Mr. Delano called in ... the people want to feel that they have control of their church property, especially if they build a new house. All right. He showed me that there were 2200 dols already subscribed as a present to me to build me a house if I remained." _x000D_ _x000D_ Wed March 4 "Walked around town a little with Bro. Cleveland, showed him my lots..." _x000D_ _x000D_ From there, things proceeded apace. Although some local accounts suggest that Nichols was only a tenant in the house and that it ultimately belonged to the church, it is clear from the archived personal records that he regarded it as his property, and that it was received in a murky area in which it could be construed simultaneously as a gift, a payment, or a bribe. _x000D_ _x000D_ Nichols had ambitions for his home, and found interesting examples far and wide. _x000D_ March 23 "Went with Spaulding and Delano to compare a plan of a house with my lot. Decided definitely & the bill of lumber is to be made out immediately. "_x000D_ At the end of March, he "Went with Mr. Delano to see the house of Mr Tarbox [a Stillwater lumberman] to take some pattern from it for the Parsonage." And while the house was well under construction by May, he also found possible inspiration in Cleveland while returning from a General Assembly meeting in New York: "Rode out this afternoon with Mr Firtch to Prof. Kirklands beautiful grounds, green house, cabinet, library &c was very much interested." _x000D_ _x000D_ While in Stillwater, Henry took almost daily pleasure in working on the grounds around the house, with numerous diary entries similar to these entries from June, 1857: _x000D_ _x000D_ June 8 "Went to work earnestly in my garden"_x000D_ June 9 "Had a man spading my garden I worked with him most of the time"_x000D_ June 10 "Worked in garden some but it rained half the time."_x000D_ June 11 "Completed garden work for this week & now I must to my study"_x000D_ June 19 "Worked on my lot in the forenoon cutting brush. Afternoon had some cedar posts drawn on to my lot."_x000D_ July 14 "Shot a real gopher in my garden, the first one I have seen fully."_x000D_ _x000D_ By July, Nichols was in the midst of the tribulations common to those who build houses: _x000D_ July 9 "Have been obliged nearly all day to be at my house to direct in the setting of partitions & division of rooms."_x000D_ July 15 "Work on the house is not progressing so fast this week. I do not see that we can possibly move till late in August." _x000D_ July 21 "Had some boards & ashes drawn up to my new house." _x000D_ July 22 "Beginning to clear up around my new house built a temporary wood shed & began to stock it with loose ends."_x000D_ July 27 "Purchased a carpet."_x000D_ July 28 "Made three tables, or toilet stands. Spent the day at the new House."_x000D_ _x000D_ And, finally, on August 27: "For two or three days past have been busy moving and to night sleep in the new house on the floor." _x000D_ _x000D_ He wrote to his father descriptively about his new home and its financing: _x000D_ "We moved into our new house the 1st of Sept. it is all finished throughout, I painted within & without, There are 7 rooms & a pantry on the lower floor, 4 good sleeping chambers & a large unfinished back chamber, & a large attic in the third story, a good cellar frost tight, running water in the wash-rom & cupboards & closets & shelves here & these, such as the women like. The house cost about $2700, above the cellar, 2100 of this has bee paid by the people, leaving about 600 which I assume. My cellar cost me about 130, my water arrangement 25 & I have put on blinds at 125 & some other little et ceteras around, making the whole cost of the house about $3000. My lots cost me originally $450 add for interest taxes & improvements another 100 & my place has cost me 3550. As times were in the fall before the panic came on it would have sold for $5000, now probably for not more than $4000. Had it not been for the hard times coming on the people would have paid the whole 2700, but I can very well I think afford the balance myself."_x000D_ _x000D_ Nancy Nichols was busy in her own way after moving into the house, first hosting a ladies sewing circle in October, and in November giving birth to second son William Nichols. The small family was able to celebrate a fine Thanksgiving: _x000D_ Nov 26 "Thanksgiving in New England & most of the states today. Celebrated in memory of home by having baked chicken, & wife went out into the dining room, where we ate for the first time. "_x000D_ _x000D_ While the house seemed to be Henry`s pride and joy, his diaries over the next period reflect murmurs of discontent in the community, and Nichols` furthur tenure in Stillwater was fraught with tensions. These resulted from, among other things, Presbyterian factions, rival church building, and Nichol`s abolitionist and "radical" positions. In addition, Henry wrestled regularly with the home`s water system, which required pumps and pipes to get the water up the bluff, and tinkered with various chimney configurations. His health began to waver, noting, for example, in 1858: _x000D_ _x000D_ Feb 11 "Took some electric shocks in evening at Major Van`s." _x000D_ March 11 "Have felt almost crazy to day Head confused, cannot control my thoughts Have too much upon my mind."_x000D_ October 26. "Feel very poorly. Took a blue pill, at advice of Dr. Harlow. The first I ever took." _x000D_ _x000D_ In 1859, Nichols` new baby girl died a few months after her April birth. By the fall of 1859, the First Presbyterian congregation could not meet mortgage payments on their church, built at the same time as Nichols` house (and down a long flight of stairs leading from the house), nor, it seems, could they maintain Nichols` stipend. Nichols agreed to an offer from the Plymouth Congregational church in Minneapolis. His house remained important to him, however, and he attempted to negotiate a commuter option. The new congregation insisted on his regular presence in Minneapolis and in April, 1860, Nancy wrote to her family: _x000D_ _x000D_ "You now see by this letter that we are in Minneapolis, we expect to remain & tomorrow start for Stillwater to pack our things and move them over here. ... I shall do my own work and the house that we have rented needs cleaning ... we have rented out house for one hundred and fifty for the year & rent one here for ourselves for fifty. It is small but convenient, don`t look much like our own but we are going to economy this year so we can pay three hundred on our house."_x000D_ _x000D_ While the Nichols had hopes of a new and settled life, it was not to be. In April, the Plymouth Church burned to the ground; some claimed it was in response to Henry Nichols`s ardent temperance crusade. In July, Henry, Nancy, and Henry Jr., age 13, drowned in a catastrophic swimming accident in Lake Calhoun, along with brother--in-law Arba Cleveland and his young children. A lengthy and dramatic report was filed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press._x000D_ _x000D_ "It seems that Mr. Nichols and his family, together with his brother-in-law, Mr. Cleveland and wife and two children went out on a pleasure ride to the lake on Thursday about noon. After they had been at the lake a short time, the children, Henry, son of Mr. Nichols, aged 13, and Emmorette, aged 13, and Ella, aged 11, daughters of Mr. Cleveland, received permission to go in bathing, and, after putting on their bathing dresses, they selected a spot where the water seemed shallow, and went in. The children, supposing that the water grew deeper gradually, ventured out some eighteen or twenty feet where the water was about two feet and a half in depth, when suddenly, the youngest girl, who was a little in advance, stepped off from the bank into water nearly twenty feet in depth. The boy, who was an excellent swimmer, immediately sprang after to rescue her, and succeeded in getting her back to the place where the bank broke off so suddenly, but, meeting with some difficulty in getting her up, the other sister extended her hand witch the boy grasped, when the youngest sank and dragged them all into deep water together. The little hero, almost exhausted, still struggled to save them, however, and fairly succeeded in keeping them both up, until Mr. Cleveland and his father and mother, hand in hand, had got to the edge of the bank, and were almost within reach. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Cleveland, who was a large heavy man and no swimmer, reached too far out, and in so doing, lost his balance. And in another instant the whole six were struggling in the water together. Mr. Nichols was a powerful swimmer, but with four or five helpless persons clinging to him, he was, of course, perfectly helpless. In the meantime, Mrs. Cleveland was running frantically to and fro upon the shore wringing her hands and screaming at the top of her voice but before anyone could get to the spot (the nearest house was half a mile away,) they had all risen and sank the third and last time, Mrs. Nichols, as she went down the last time, bidding her sister good-bye, and to take care of little Willie, a little two year old and the only remaining member of the Nichols family. The two Hamilton brothers, upon hearing the screams of Mrs. Cleveland, immediately hastened as fast as possible to the lake, and, although completely out of breath, one of them immediately plunged in, but, very singularly, met Mrs. Nichols` shawl as it was rising to the surface, and got so tangled in it as to come very near drowning himself. His brother, after almost superhuman exertions, finally succeeded in getting him out, however, but in a senseless condition..."_x000D_ _x000D_ An account written by Henry Nichols` grandson in 1937 concludes: _x000D_ "A few hours later hundreds of citizens of Minneapolis were at the scene, and six bodies were presently recovered from the lake. The next afternoon at sundown six coffins were placed in a row on the lawn of the Nichols home [in Minneapolis], while over a thousand persons gathered in the neighborhood for the funeral." _x000D_ _x000D_ Following this stunning turn of events, Willie returned east with his aunt, Clarissa (Burr Sikes) Cleaveland as the two remaining family members. City directories place various ministers in the house through the rest of the century. _x000D_ _x000D_ By early 1906, the home was sold, apparently as part of the family estate to support Willie and his aunt, to Gustave Erickson, a furniture dealer and (ironically, perhaps) an undertaker who had been living in the house as early as 1900, according to census records. The Erickson family was associated with the house until the 1970s. After Gustave`s death in 1921 and wife Carolina`s in 1930, city directories indicate that the home was vacant until 1937, when son Richard Erickson and his family relocated from another home in Stillwater. _x000D_ _x000D_ Blueprints found in the home suggest a major interior renovation was conducted before this younger family moved in. The Ericksons remained until 1972. Very few exterior alterations were made, however, and appear to have been restricted mainly to the removal of a shed or carriage house outbuilding once connected to the rear of the house. Window replacement has been very limited, and some still windows show the waving and sagging characteristic of very old glass. The house itself, with scrolled vergeboards and steep rooflines, is noteworthy for its Gothic Revival style, a suitable reference to its religious context and to the domestic country cottages promoted by Andrew Jackson Downing during the era of its original construction. Architectural historian Roger Kennedy noted of the house: "It is of white pine, its design taken from a pattern book. There is a small comer porch with slender, square pillars, a prominent chimney, tall windows, and `carpenter`s lace` along the eaves." _x000D_ _x000D_ Since 1972, the home has been owned and painstakingly cared for by George and Kathy Schmitt.
Posted Date
Sep 27, 2021
Source Name
Heirloom Homes and Landmark
