Researching John Nixon

He was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, on March 1, 1727, to Christopher and Mary Nixon. In 1755 he served in the Massachusetts militia during Sir William Johnson's campaign against the French during the French and Indian War.

In 1775 Nixon had moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts, and was a captain of the town's Minutemen whom he led at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. He and his men fought at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, his unit was one of the last to leave the field. After the battle Nixon was promoted to colonel of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment. Col. Nixon's regiment was placed into Gen. John Sullivan's brigade and took part in the New York and New Jersey campaign during 1776. In August 1776, Nixon was promoted to brigadier general, and he commanded a brigade consisting of the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th, and 8th Massachusetts Regiments. He led his brigade in the Battle of Harlem Heights and later in the Saratoga Campaign, when it was reinforced by Cogswell's, Gage's and Mays's regiments of Militia. Nixon's brigade was involved in the Battle of Bemis Heights in October 1777, and took part in the final assault; during this attack a cannonball passed so close to his head that his sight and hearing were affected the rest of his life. Nixon resigned his commission September 12, 1780.

General John Nixon moved to Weybridge, Vermont in 1806 and died while visiting his son in Middlebury on March 24, 1815. He was buried at a cemetery on his farm, which was later incorporated into what is now First Weybridge Hill Cemetery.

Nixon was born in Philadelphia, the son of a shipping merchant. Upon the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, he signed the non-importation agreement against the Act, became active in opposing the encroachments of the English government upon American liberties, and was a member of the first committee of correspondence in Pennsylvania.

In April 1775, he became lieutenant-colonel of the third battalion of the Philadelphia Associators, a militia unit. He was also a member of the Committee of Safety. From May to July 1776, he was in command of the defenses of the Delaware River at Fort Island, after which he was put in charge of the defenses of Philadelphia.

In 1776 Nixon was promoted colonel and later served under George Washington at the Battle of Princeton. He became a member of the Navy Board, and two years later was with Washington again at Valley Forge.

In 1780, he became a director of the Bank of Pennsylvania. Afterward he assisted in organizing the Bank of North America, of which he was president from 1792 until his death.

Nixon died in 1808; he was interred in the churchyard of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia.

Born and raised in Graddum, a townland located between the village of Kilnaleck and the hamlet of Crosskeys in County Cavan, Nixon became a district inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), and transferred to its successor in the then newly created region of Northern Ireland, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). By 1922, he was responsible for controlling access to the Roman Catholic Ardoyne and "Bone" areas of Belfast, and worked closely with the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC).

Irish nationalist writer and activist Michael Farrell has alleged that during this period he led the Cromwell Club, an unofficial organisation of security officials responsible for killing several Catholic civilians. These allegations have not been independently confirmed and during his lifetime Nixon successfully sued The Derry Journal and a book publisher for libel. Nixon was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1923 "... for services rendered by him during the troubled period."

In 1924, Nixon, long a member of the Orange Order, made a political speech at an Orange lodge. This contravened RUC regulations, and he was dismissed on the orders of Sir James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

Nixon was elected to Belfast Corporation as an Independent Unionist, but at the 1925 Northern Ireland general election, he stood unsuccessfully as an Ulster Unionist Party candidate in Belfast North. In 1929, running once again as an Independent Unionist, he was narrowly elected as the MP for Belfast Woodvale. From September 1932 until the 1933 election, he was the only opposition MP attending the Parliament. Around this time, he joined the Ulster Protestant League, an organisation with a reputation for anti-Catholicism.

Nixon held his seat until his death in 1949, denying the murder allegations against him until the end of his life.

Nixon was the son of William Nixon, a husbandman of Blechington and his wife Joan Silvester. He became a merchant at Oxford and acquired a considerable fortune. On 2 October 1622 he was elected on to the Common Council, and in 1623 became bailiff. He was admitted a freeman on 3 February 1625 and in 1627 was elected senior bailiff. He became mayor of Oxford in 1636. In April 1638 he was elected an Alderman. As a zealous puritan, he was a witness against Archbishop Laud at his trial. Although he was a prominent Parliamentarian, in 1642 he contributed four pounds of powder and two pieces of match to a general royalist fund. However, in 1643 he fled from Oxford when the King was on his way and the then mayor on the advice of the king recommended that he and other aldermen and councillors who had left the city should be disfranchised, forfeit the freedom of the City, and be deprived of any offices they held in the City. In June 1646, five days after the Royalist troops began evacuating Oxford, the act of disenfranchisement was repealed and Nixon was restored to his freedom and his place on the council. He was elected mayor of Oxford again in 1646.

In December 1646, Nixon was elected Member of Parliament for Oxford as a recruiter to the Long Parliament. In October1647, a Parliamentary Order of 4 October demanded "the Continuance of the old Mayor and Bayliffes in theire places until further order", and Nixon continued as Mayor in place of the mayor chosen for 1647. He was a commissioner for assessment for Oxford in 1649 and was appointed one of the City Coroners in 1653. He was mayor of Oxford for the third time in 1654.

In 1658, Nixon founded a free school for the sons of freemen. It opened at Guildhall Yard in 1659, and survived for 235 years until 1894. In January 1659 Nixon stood for parliament again but was unsuccessful. He was appointed commissioner for assessment for Oxford in 1660. In May 1661 he was reported to be unable to do the work of a Commissioner of Barges "owing to his weakness of body", but in August he took part in the procession that went out to meet Charles II, wearing a scarlet gown and tippet.

Nixon died in 1662 and was buried on 17 April at St Mary's Church with the following epitaph on his monument.

: : : : : : : : : {{lang|enm|italic=no|May many more this worthy pattern lye,||:

Nixon married Joan Stevenson of Weston-on-the-Green. There are portraits of John Nixon and his wife in Oxford’s Town Hall.