Thomas H. Nicholls was born June 30, 1791 in Montgomery Co, MD, a son of Thomas and Lucinda "Lucy" Harbin Nicholls. The family were early settlers of Island Creek township, Jefferson County, Ohio. Thomas became a shoemaker, farmer, and horseman. He married Rachel Dowden about 1811.
On March 21, 1815, Thomas H. Nicholls and his wife Rachel of Jefferson Co, Ohio sold 65 8/10 acres to (his brother?) James Nicholls of Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania in Section 21, Twp 7, Range 2 in Jefferson Co, Ohio for $700. This said tract of land had been granted to Thomas Nicholls by Thomas Edgington of Brooke Co, Virginia by deed dated September 4, 1813. Thomas and Rachel had 8 children:

Sarah Elizabeth b. 1812 married Lewis Allensworth
Naomi b. 1814 married William Frazier
Cassandra b. 1816 married James Barcus
Ireane b. 1818 married Jacob Grafton
Charlotte b. 1819 married Alexander Mitchell Elson
Washington Luther b. 1821 married Mary House
Upton b. 1824 (single in 1850)
Albert McNeely b. 1825 married Eliza Jane Myers

By 1820, Thomas H. and Rachel had moved to Green Twp, Harrison County, Ohio where his name was found in a court case in 1821. By 1830, they were back in Jefferson County in Island Creek Twp where Rachel died in September of that year, leaving Thomas with a young family. He remarried in 3 Feb 1834 to Catherine Rose. Thomas and Catherine had 2 daughers:

Margaret b. 1835 married William Cox, remarried Edwin Smith
Rachel b. 1838 married Ephraim C. Watkins

Thomas died the same year on May 6, 1838 when the youngest child Rachel was just 2 months old. Catherine remarried a year later on 25 April 1839 to John Rudd and went on to have 11 more children. She died shortly after the birth of her last child in 1861 in Medina Co, OH.