Nix, James T., Sr.

Submitted by Mike Miller

Nix, Col. James T., Sr., successful and prominent attorney and high fraternalist, New Orleans, La., was born at Nixville (named for his ancestors),in old Beaufort district, now Hampton county, S. C., June 12, 1852; eldest son of Rev. John Darling and Martha J. (Trowell) Nix. He died at New Orleans, La., Nov. 7, 1912, from injuries sustained in a fall of his horse. The family ancestry of James T. Nix contains the names of many personages, both men and women, who rendered conspicuous service to the republic in its early history, and to the public and humanity at large down through the succeeding years to the present generation. He was a great-grandson of Col. John Darling Nix, who fought side-by-side, in the war of the American Revolution, with Gen. Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox of the Carolinas." He was the maternal great-grandson of Capt. Nathan Johnson, one of the English colonists who came over to settle in the new world, and who, for bravery in conflicts with the hostile Indians, was presented with a sword of the finest temper and most elaborate workmanship by His Royal Highness King George of England. This token of royal favor was presented in the year 1768, and was afterward used by its recipient with much efficiency in defense of the American colonists. The sword is now in the possession of Dr. Nathan Johnson, of Lawtonville, S. C. In addition to soldiers and statesmen, there have been several noted churchmen among the family ancestors. The father, Rev. John Darling Nix, served as a lieutenant under Gen. Robert E. Lee, and took part in no less than 7 of the fiercest battles of the Civil war. He volunteered in 1861 and served with distinguished gallantry until the final surrender. On one occasion half of his regiment was slaughtered in battle, and in a succeeding fight a short time afterward the remaining remnant of this command was destroyed, the dead including one of his brothers and two nephews. At the last battle in which the father participated, April 6, 1865, 3 days before Gen. Lee's surrender, he received a wound in the head from a minnieball, and never wholly recovered from this injury. Three of the mother's brothers also devoted their lives to the service of the church. The parents, like so many other of the time, were impoverished by the devastating blight of the Civil war, and there was not means at hand to do all that was desired or needed. A Federal officer became much attached to the boy, James T. Nix, while stationed near the Nix home, and asked of the parents that he might be allowed to give the son an education. They finally assented to this, and at the age of 12 years the lad was taken by this officer to a frontier army post, where he remained 3 years attending school. At the end of that time he returned to his home, but while en route the boy was robbed of a considerable sum of money with which he had been provided on the start for home. He complained of his loss to the captain of the boat upon which he was traveling, but received small consideration from the master of the craft. The mate of the steamer, however, proved to be the right man in the right place, for this occasion , at least. FHe took an interest in the boy's case, and through his efforts this stolen money, greatly needed, was untimately [sic] restored to the parents in South Carolina. On his return to his parents, young James T. Nix at the age of 15 years began teaching a school, to assist in providing for the family, and at the same time he began studying law. The money mentioned above, arriving about this time, proved of great advantage. The famed John T. Morrison of South Carolina became one of the young law student's instructors for a time, and a little later he went to the Chatham academy, Savannah, Ga. For 2 years he traveled with and studied under Dr. George McLellan Miller, surgeon in the U. S. army. He was also a pupil of the Revs. W. H. Dowling and H. C. Smart, and was prepared for college by the Rev. E. W. Peeples. He matriculated at Furman university, Greenville, S. C., where, chosen as one of the orators in a public debate, he came out as victor. He graduated in law from the latter institution when 19 years of age, and shortly following was admitted to the bar and began practice as an attorney in Hampton county, S. C. He practiced in that state 13 years and in North Carolina 1 year, 1887. The young lawyer paid off a mortgage that had previously menaced the family homestead, and every year while separated from his parents sent remittances to them. While yet living in South Carolina, the officer who had so generously befriended him at a time of great need returned to that locality in straightened financial circumstances, and was rewarded for his kindness of years before with a check for two thousand dollars from the young attorney. This officer was never heard from again. In 1889 Attorney Nix removed to Denver, Colo., where he practiced his profession 4 years, at the expiration of which time he removed from Colorado to New Orleans, where he resided and engaged in practice until the time of his death from an accidental injury as stated above. In 1892 he was admitted to practice before the supreme court of the United States. He won fame as a lawyer, and left an enduring name to his descendants. Col. Nix was esteemed by a legion of friends as a man of the rarest qualities. His unfailing smile and happy greeting to everyone, with a hearty hand-clasp and an encouraging word for any and all, always appearing with a dainty fresh bouttonnier in his lapel every morning, had won a place in the hearts of his fellow citizens that will remain sacred to his memory. While he was well and widely known by reason of his success as a lawyer and public speaker, he is also remembered and deeply mourned through his abiding interest and practical intimate activities in fraternal work throughout the varied ramifications of this branch of brotherly cooperation. No banquet or other gathering was complete until Col. James T. Nix had been included among its list of speakers. On these occasions he responded to many toasts, and to each and all in the easiest, happiest, and most graceful manner and language, causing his appearance to be looked forward to with the keenest relish and anticipation of an enjoyable occasion. He championed the cause of everything and every move within the bounds of justice or charity that seemed to need an advocate or a defender, and his purse was ever open to any in need, irrespective of creed or color. Col. Nix was past commandant of Camp Beauregard, United Sons of Confederate veterans, and was a 32nd degree Mason, past-master of Union lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, past potentiate of Jerusalem temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine, and had served with distinction as grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. In 1885 Col. Nix was married to Miss Evelyn B. Flemming of Charleston, S. C. Four children were born to their union, these being, in order of their birth: Annie, who died in babyhood; Robert Raphael, a West Point graduate and captain in the U. S. army; James T., Jr., a practicing physician in the city of New Orleans; John D., Jr. New Orleqans, the 2 latter being elsewhere referred to in these pages. In addition to these and his widow, Col. Nix is also survived by two sisters and two brothers-Mrs. Ida P. Loadholt, Mrs. Susan A. Long, Rev. J. J. Nix of South Carolina, and John D. Nix, well-known attorney of New Orleans, also elsewhere mentioned in this work. Col. Nix's life was centered in his family, upon which he lavished the affection of an almost ideal husband and father, and from the happy circle about his own hearthstone he inhaled that priceless incense which buoyed the pulses of his heart and inspired his thoughts and tongue, making his life a blessing to those for whom and with whom he lived.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 326-327. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.