John Pugh Nichols was the eldest child of John Nichols and Ann Pugh. He was born in mid 1802 most likely at Prospect where John Nichols was recorded in the 1802 Muster as supporting one woman and one child. As his parents did not marry until after the death of Mary Carroll he was legally known as John Pugh. By his death he was known as John Pugh Nichols. He grew up on his father's farm at Prospect and learnt to read and write though his parents were illiterate.
John Pugh Nichols married Rebecca Moss on 17 January 1825 at St Luke's Church of England, Liverpool. Rebecca's father, John Moss, a district constable, had come to New South Wales as a convict on the William Pitt in 1792. Her mother, Elizabeth Hinks, was also a convict, having arrived on the Speke in 1808. Rebecca Moss was born on 5 December 1809 and was baptised at St John's Church of England, Parramatta.
John Pugh Nichols had become a sawyer, an occupation important to the development of the colony. John and Rebecca's first son John Pugh was born on 25 September 1826 in Sydney and baptised at St James' Church of England on 9 October 1826. He had received a grant of land at Liverpool but was not residing there. Their first daughter Maria Emma Pugh was born on 25 September 1829. The family then moved to Shellharbour (known then as Peterborough) where John was the manager of William Charles Wentworth's cedar estates.
Ann Louisa Pugh was born on 11 January 1831 at Shellharbour. William Thomas Pugh was born on 11 June 1834 also at Shellharbour. By 1836 John was a farmer. Eliza was born in 1837, Rebecca in 1839 and George James in 1841. John worked on properties belonging to W.C. Wentworth at Shellharbour but also had leased land at Jamberoo. He moved his family there by late 1842. His daughter Sarah Jane Pugh was born at Jamberoo on 19 February 1844. Matilda was also born there in 1846 as was Clara Pugh in 1849. In March 1849 the eldest daughter, Maria, married John Keevers at Kiama. Her youngest sister Lucy Mary Pugh was also born at Jamberoo in 1852.
John Pugh Nichols died on 23 January 1861 at Jamberoo aged 58. He was buried at Jamberoo Old Cemetery in an unmarked grave. His widow Rebecca died on 9 June 1886 at Bulli, aged 76. At the time of her death the Illawarra Mercury claimed she had exactly 100 descendants. A memorial tablet, shared with George's wife Sarah Ann Nichols, at St Augustine's was sadly broken when the graveyard was later demolished.
JOHN PUGH NICHOLS AND REBECCA'S CHILDREN:
John Pugh (1826-1854)
Maria Emma (1829-1891) married John Keevers in 1849
Ann Louisa Pugh (1831-1914) married John Bradney in 1869
William Thomas (1834-?) (by 1861)
Eliza Jane (1837-1923) married Charles Inskip in 1852
Rebecca (1839-1893) married Charles Graham in 1859
George James (1841-1908) married Sarah Ann Spinks in 1860
Sarah Jane (1844-1849)
Matilda (1846-1918) married (1) Thomas Plunkett in 1867
and (2) George John Trivett in 1906
Clara Catherine (1849-1908) married William Augustus Hall in 1867
Lucy Mary (1852-1892) married William John Spinks in 1871