Wilson Cary Nicholas (January 31, 1761 – October 10, 1820) was an American politician who served in the U.S. Senate from 1799 to 1804 and was the 19th governor of Virginia from 1814 to 1816.
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Early life
Nicholas was born in Williamsburg in the Colony of Virginia on January 31, 1761. The son of Robert Carter Nicholas Sr. and his wife Ann Cary, he was born into the First Families of Virginia and had ten siblings (of whom seven reached adulthood). His eldest brother George Nicholas (1754–1799) became a Virginia legislator before moving to Kentucky, and his elder brother John Nicholas (1756–1820) would serve as a Virginia legislator and U.S. Congressman before moving to New York. His youngest brother, Philip Norborne Nicholas (1776–1849), served as Virginia's attorney general from 1800 to 1819 before becoming a state judge. Only their brother Lewis Nicholas (1766–1840) failed to enter politics. His eldest sister Sarah married John Hatley Norton of Winchester, and his sister Elizabeth Carter Nicholas (1753–1810) married Edmund Jennings Randolph (1753–1813), who preceded Nicholas as Governor of Virginia. However, his sisters Mary (1759–1796) and Judith (b. 1765) and brother Robert (b. 1768) never reached adulthood.