Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Nicolay, John George

NICOLAY, John George, author, b. in Essingen, Bavaria, 26 Feb., 1832. He came to the United States with his father in 1838, lived for some time in Cincinnati, where he attended the public schools, and then moved to Illinois. At the age of sixteen he entered the office of the “Pike County Free Press” in Pittsfield, and before he came of age he was proprietor and editor of the paper. He went to Springfield in 1857 as an assistant to the secretary of state, and remained there until Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the presidency, when he became his secretary. After the election he was appointed private secretary to the president, and served in that capacity until Mr. Lincoln's death. From 1865 till 1869 he was U. S. consul at Paris, and on his return he edited for a time the Chicago “Republican.” He was marshal of the U. S. supreme court from 1872 till 1887. He is the author, in collaboration with John Hay, of the “Life of Abraham Lincoln,” now (1888) in course of publication in the “Century Magazine.” He has also published “The Outbreak of Rebellion,” in “Campaigns of the Civil War” (New York, 1881).