" stormy Day at Block Island " (1886). His prin- cipal paintings in oil are " Bass Kocks near Glou- cester, Mass." (1879); "On Marblehead Neck," " Shower at Block Island " (1880) ; " On the Rocks near Portland" (1881); "Harbor View" (1882); " Marblehead Rock " (1883) ; " Sunlight on the Sea " (1884); "Summer Morning" (1885); "Fog and Sunshine," and " An August Evening " (1886).
NICOLLET, Jean Nicholas, explorer, b. in
Cluses, Savoy, 24 July, 1786; d. in Washington,
D. C, 11 Sept., 1843. He was educated at the col-
lege in his native place, and in 1805 became as-
sistant in mathematics in Chambery. Later he
went to Paris, where in 1817 he became secretary
and librarian of the observatory, also studying as-
tronomy with Laplace, who refers to Nicollet's as-
sistance in his works. In 1823 he was given an
appointment in the government bureau of longi-
tudes, at the same time holding the professoi'ship
of mathematics in the College of Louis le Grand,
and the post of examiner of candidates for the
naval school. In 1832 he came to the United
States for the purpose of acquiring an extended
knowledge of the physical geography of North
America. After exploring the southern states he
studied the great basin that is embraced by the
sources of the Red, Arkansas, and Missouri rivers,
and in 1836 extended his investigations to the
sources of the Mississippi. He determined, by as-
tronomical and barometrical observations, the geo-
graphical position and elevation of many impor-
tant points, also collecting many interesting de-
tails respecting the history and dialects of the In-
dian nations, and the productions and natural his-
tory of the country. On his return to Washington
he was engaged by the war department to visit the
far west and prepare a general report and map for
the government. Lieut. John C. EVemont was de-
tailed to accompany him as assistant. In 1841 he
presented a paper on " The Geology of the Upper
Mississippi Region and of the Cretaceous Forma-
tion of the Upper Missouri " before the Association
of American geologists and naturalists, and in
1843, at the Albany meeting of this association, he
gave further particulars respecting the cretaceous
formation, and exhibited the beautiful map of the
country that he had completed for the govern-
ment. He published " Cours de mathematiques a
I'usage de la marine " with M. Reynaud (Paris,
1830), and " Report intended to illustrate a Map
of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Missis-
sippi River" (Washington, 1843).
NICOLLS, Mathias, jurist, b. in England about
1630 ; d. on Long Island, N. Y., 22 Dec, 1687. He
was the eldest son of the Rev. Mathias Nicolls, of
Plymouth, England. The name was spelled " Nick-
holls " in the 14th century, was written " Nicolls "
in the 17th, and in the early part of the 18th was
changed in this country to its present form of
" Nicoll." Mathias was a barrister of Lincoln's
Inn, when he was appointed by Charles II., in
1664, secretary of the commission, and a captain
in the forces under Col. Richard Nicolls, who was
sent out by that king to settle disputes in the New
England colonies and to capture New Netherlands
from the Dutch, the king having previously granted
it to his brother James, Duke of York. The sur-
render occurred on 8 Sept., 1664, and Richard
Nicolls became the first English governor, his title
in his commission being " Deputy Governor " to
the Duke of York. Mathias Nicolls was appointed
the first secretary of the province, both commis-
sions having been issued and delivered in England
in the spring of 1664, about two months before the
expedition sailed. On the formation of the gover-
nor's council, which was immediate, Mathias Nicolls
was appointed a member. In October, 1664, he
attended at Hempstead the promulgation by the
governor of " The Duke's Laws," the first code of
English laws in New York, and authenticated them
by his official signature as secretary. This code,
mainly the work of Mathias Nicolls, was compiled
from the law of England, the Roman-Dutch law of
New Netherlands, and the local laws and regula-
tions of the New England colonies, and is a liberal,
just, and sensible body of laws. After being sub-
mitted to the duke and his council in England, it
was there printed and copies sent out by the duke,
with orders to promulgate and establish it as the
law of New York, which was done by the governor
in a meeting of delegates that was called for that
purpose at Hempstead, in Queens county. In the
court of assizes that was established by these laws,
Mathias Nicolls sat as presiding judge, and also
with the justices in the minor courts of session.
In 1672 he was chosen the third mayor of New
York, and he was also the first judge of the court
of common pleas in that city. On the remodelling
of the courts under the act of the legislature of
1683, he was appointed one of the judges of the
supreme court of the colony. After this appoint-
ment he also continually performed all the duties
of secretary of the province, and occasionally acted
in his military capacity as captain of the militia,
for which he is sometimes spoken of in the records
of that time as Capt. Nicolls. He purchased large
tracts on Little Neck and Great Neck, in Queens
county, on the former of which he dwelt, his estate,
called Plandome, consisting of upward of 2.000
acres. There he died and was buried. He mar-
ried before he came to this country, and left one
son and one daughter. The latter, Margaret, b.
in 1662, became the wife of the second Col. Richard
Floyd, of Suffolk county.— Mathias's son, William,
jurist, b. in England in 1657 ; d. on Long Island
in Mav, 1723, was made clerk of Queens county in
1683, but in 1688 removed to New York. He was
a lawyer by profession, and opposed the usurpa-
tion of Jacob Leisler in 1688, for which the latter
imprisoned him. After his release by Gov. Hough-
ton, on the fall of Leisler in March, 1691, he was at/
once appointed a councillor of the province. In
1695 he was sent by the assembly as agent of the
province to England to solicit the crown to corn-
pel the other American colonies to make their
respective contributions to the defence of the con-
tinent against the French, the expense of which
bore heavily and unjustly on New York. In 1698
Gov. Bellomont, who took sides with the Leisle-
rian party, suspended him from the council. In
1701 he was elected to the assembly from Suffolk
county, but, being a non-resident, could not take
his seat. He then built a house on his estate of
Islip Grange, in that county, on Great South bay,
which he purchased from the natives in 1683, and
which, with adjacent purchases, was granted to
him by a royal patent in 1697. In 1702 he was
again elected member of assembly for Suffolk
county, and chosen speaker of the house, and from that time he was continuously re-elected till his death, and also chosen speaker till 1718, when, on account of his health, he declined a re-election, though retaining his seat upon the flooiv Thus he was a member of the house twenty-one years in succession, and sixteen years in succession its speaker. As a lawyer he was engaged in the prosecution of Leisler in 1691, the defence of Nicholas Bayard in 1702, and that of Francia Makemie in 1707, and he was a man of principle, ability, and influence. He married Anne, daughter
