Thomas David Nicholls (September 16, 1870 – January 19, 1931) was an Independent Democratic member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Formative years

Thomas D. Nicholls was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on September 16, 1870. During his childhood, he and his parents moved to Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, where he worked in the area's mines as a boy, studied mining by correspondence and passed a state examination in 1897, after which he was awarded a mine foreman's certificate of competency.

Career

Subsequently appointed superintendent of mines, he became district president of District No. 1 of the

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...

. He served in that capacity from 1899 until 1909 when he resigned for health reasons. Nicholls was elected as an Independent Democrat to the Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1910. After completing his legislative tenure, he settled on a farm in Somerset County, Maryland, near

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

and engaged in the raising of

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...

, beginning in 1911.

Death and interment

Nicholls died in Princess Anne on January 19, 1931; he was interred in the Antioch Methodist Episcopal Cemetery.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Thomas David 1870 births 1931 deaths Members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania People from the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area United Mine Workers of America people Pennsylvania Democrats Pennsylvania Independents Independent Democrat members of the United States House of Representatives