· Born 1729
· Attended College of William and Mary
· Able lawyer
· Served about 17 years in the House of Burgesses
· Died 1780
The Nicholas-Tyler Office, Williamsburg, VA, was possibly used as Robert Carter Nicholas’s law office and is located on part of the lands where he had built a large home.
Robert Carter Nicholas was born on January 28, 1728/9 in Williamsburg, VA, and died on September 8, 1780, Hanover County, VA, probably at his home, Retreat Plantation. He married Anne Cary, daughter of Wilson Cary of Warwick County in 1751. He was the son of Dr. George Nicholas and Elizabeth Carter (widow of Nathanial Burwell). He was the namesake of his maternal grandfather Robert Carter (1762/63-1732) of Corotoman Plantation who at one time was one of the wealthiest men of Virginia. I descends though his son Lewis Valentine Nicholas of Albemarle County, VA.
More information on this Nicholas Family of Virginia and their rise and fall in Virginia can be found at the University of Virginia Library Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship:
I greatly appreciated the permission given to me by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to allow us to reprint this article below.
Conservative Virginia patriot
Robert Carter Nicholas, like Speaker Peyton Randolph, was one of Virginia's conservative patriots. An alumnus of the College of William and Mary and an able lawyer, Nicholas served for many years as a burgess and became treasurer of the colony in 1766. Nicholas helped draft the arguments the House of Burgesses used against the proposed Stamp Act in 1764. Although he opposed the Stamp Act, he was not one of the "young hot, and giddy members" who supported Patrick Henry's Stamp Act resolves in May, 1765.
Introduced resolution for June 1 day of fasting and prayer
Nicholas introduced the resolution of May 24, 1774, setting aside June 1 as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer in sympathy with Bostonians on the closing of that city’s port. He is also remembered for trying to prevent premature violence in March, 1775, by opposing Patrick Henry's resolution to put the colony in a “posture of defense".
Nicholas’s legal skill and unquestioned integrity led to his appointment to the Court of Chancery in 1778.
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