The C. C. Nicholson Family

By Mrs. Hattie Nicholson Schultz

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chester Nicholson, natives of north Alabama, came to Jacksonville in the spring of 1910 with their three children, John Bradford (J. B.), Hattie and Lala. Mr. Nicholson, with his brother, V. L. Nicholson, had bought the Cherokee Drug Store on Main Street.

As a young man, Charles Nicholson had studied law at the insistence of his father, who was a lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in Alabama. However, while working one summer vacation in a drug store, he became enamored with the drug business, studied pharmacy, and became a registered pharmacist, a profession he followed the rest of his life.

Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson were active in the Methodist Church, in which he was a Steward for years and teacher of the Men's Bible Class for ten years. Mrs. Nicholson held various offices in the Women's Wesley Bible Class and Missionary Society, and was District Superintendent of Society for a term.

Mrs. Nicholson helped organize and was first president of the Mothers' Club, forerunner of the P. T.A. When she was in her late sixties, she wrote a collection of charming stories of her girlhood, which have been printed in book form.

Mr. Nicholson was a Mason, Woodman of the World, and belonged to the Knights of Pythias. He served on the school board for a number of years.

All three of their children graduated from Lon Morris College, where Hattie specialized in piano and Lala in "expression."

Their son, John Bradford, who was linguistically talented and at the age of eighteen, already speaking Spanish, French and German, was appointed by the Civil Service to the post of student interpreter to Changsha, China. There he studied Chinese, Japanese and Russian, and was promoted to Vice-Consul. After serving several more years, wishing to continue his education, he returned to the states to enroll in Columbia University. He received his A.B. and M.A. degrees, writing his thesis in Chinese. He had a career of lecturing, writing and teaching. Now retired, he lives in New York City.

The Nicholson's older daughter, Hattie, taught school several years. She married Carl H. Schultz, Jr., who came to Jacksonville in 1914 from Granbury, Texas, when he completed a business course at Tyler Commercial College. He served overseas during World War I, and on his return became an automobile dealer. Both are active in the Methodist Church and belong to a number of civic organizations.

They reared two daughters, Carol and Linda. Carol attended Lon Morris and graduated from Federal Institute in Tyler. For the past nine years, she has been employed as executive secretary with S-K Church Furniture Co. She is the mother of three daughters, Leigh Owen, a sophomore at Stephen F. Austin State University, and Kathleen and Alyson in Joe Wright School.

Linda, now deceased, married Charles Lambright of Jacksonville. Two daughters, Marie and Clair, were born to them and are presently attending Junior High School and East Side School, respectively. At the time of her death in 1970, Linda was president of the Utile Dulce Club and treasurer of Friends of the Library.

The second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson, Lala, married J. T. Renfro of Hillsboro. He was with the Internal Revenue Service in Austin and Dallas for many years. Now retired, they live at Lake Travis, Austin.

Their two sons are Dr. William Charles (Bill) Renfro who married Patricia Wagner of Minneapolis, Minn., and Robert Terry Renfro, who married Nancy Winberg of Floral Park, New York. Both boys served with the Air Force during the Korean war.

Bill has a B.S. and M.A. degree from The University of Texas and a Ph.D. from Oregon State University, where he was professor of oceanography until August, 1971, when he went to Monaco with his wife and four daughters, Lisa, Leslie, Terran and Laura.

A specialist in radioecology, he has been selected to serve for two years with a number of other scientists from several nations at the Laboratory of Marine Radioactivity in Monaco, now directed by the famous French oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau.

Robert Renfro holds a B.A. degree from The University of Texas and a B.I.D. degree from Pratt Institute, N. Y. He also has a Master of Architecture from Yale University and is employed by an architectural firm in San Antonio, just recently coming back to his native state from New Haven, Connecticut.

C. C. Nicholson is shown in a photo taken in 1908, two years prior to coming to Jacksonville from Alabama.

Mrs. C. C. Nicholson came with her husband and three children from Alabama to Jacksonville in 1910.