Nicholson, Alfred O. P.

Born: 1808-08-31 Franklin, Tennessee

Died: 1876-03-23 Columbia, Tennessee

Alfred O. P. Nicholson was a lawyer, state legislator, newspaper editor, public printer, banker, and United States senator. He attended rural schools in Williamson County, Tennessee, before matriculating to the University of North Carolina, from which he graduated in 1827. After graduation, he read law, earned admission to the Tennessee bar, and opened a law practice in Columbia, Tennessee. Nicholson gravitated to newspaper editing, state politics, and the Democratic Party. From 1832 to 1835, he edited Columbia's Western Mercury, and in 1833, he won election to the Tennessee House of Representatives, serving in that body until 1839. In 1840, the Tennessee General Assembly elected Nicholson as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy left by the death of Felix Grundy. Nicholson served in the U.S. Senate from December 1840 to February 1842. Returning to Tennessee, he entered the Tennessee Senate, serving as a state senator from 1843 to 1845. In 1844, Nicholson moved to Nashville, where he became the editor of the Nashville Union. He remained editor of the Union until 1846, when he became director of the Bank of Tennessee. He directed the bank until 1847. Nicholson subsequently moved to Washington, DC, becoming editor of the Washington Union, a post he held from 1853 to 1856. He also served as public printer of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1858, the Tennessee General Assembly returned Nicholson to the U.S. Senate. He served in the Senate from March 1859 to March 1861, when he withdrew in response to the secession crisis. In July 1861, the Senate expelled him for his support of the Confederacy and for his failure to notify the Senate of his withdrawal.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1588; Gravestone, Rose Hill Cemetery, Columbia, TN.