Robert Carter Nicholas Sr.
American politician (1728-1780)
Robert Carter Nicholas (January 28, 1728-November 1780) was a Virginia lawyer, patriot, legislator and judge. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and its successor, the Virginia House of Delegates. He became the last treasurer of the Colony of Virginia, and sat on the first High Court of Chancery, one of the predecessors of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Early life and education
Robert Carter Nicholas was born on January 28, 1728 or 1729, in Hanover County to Elizabeth Carter Burwell (1692-1734; widow of Nathaniel Burwell of Williamsburg, Virginia) and her second husband, Dr. George Nicholas (1685-1734). His father was a British medical doctor and convict, transported for forgery. His mother was the daughter of wealthy Virginia landowner, Robert "King" Carter of Corotoman. Carter and his full brother would arguably found another of the First Families of Virginia. He had several elder Burwell half-brothers (Lewis Burwell and Carter Burwell — both of whom died in 1756 — and Robert Carter Burwell who died in 1777) as well an elder full brother, John Nicholas (1726-1814), who served in the House of Burgesses representing Buckingham County, and after its creation served forty years as the clerk of Albemarle County (and was succeeded by his son John Jr.). Earlier, the year Robert Carter Nicholas was born, his father became the burgess representing the College of William and Mary.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3938229. VIAF identifies the subject as 15205386. The Library of Congress control number is n85247842. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1728, 1780, 1729 and 1692.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert Carter Nicholas Sr.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.