Robert Nuckalls

Transcribed by Debbie Woolard
Taken from "The Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope and Hardin Counties"
Published in 1893 by Chicago Biographical Publishing Co.

Robert Nuckalls. Among the prominent, wide-awake and honorable business men of Metropolis, Ill., Robert Nuckalls deserves prominent mention, for he has obtained a wide reputation for the superiority of his wines and liquors of all kinds, which reputation is teh direct result of an intimate acquaintance with the finest and purest of foreign and domestic products. His premises are conducted in an orderly and capable manner. His father, John Nuckalls, who was born in the Old Dominion in 1832, and was brought up in the mercantile business, to which occupation his time and attention were given after his removal from the State of his birth to Ballard County, Ky., in 1845, he successfully conducting a general store at Woodville until 1861. The threatening war clouds then caused him to dispose of his goods, after which he removed to Fulton County, Ky., purchased a tract of land, and began farming and was a successful follower of the plow until his death in 1870, when just in the prime of his manhood. His untimely death was a source of much sorrow to all who knew him, as well as to his own immediate household. He was married in 1837 to Miss Nancy Powell, of Kentucky, and to their union a family of four children was born: Amy, wife of G.L. Thompson, of Paducah, Ky.; Fannie, wife of R.W. Arnold, also of Paducah; Robert, the subject of this sketch, and Johnnie, widow of John Barrett, of Paducah. The father of these children was a man of unblemished reputation, a law abiding citizen and a man of much energy and force of character. After his death his widow experienced considerable difficulty in providing her children with the necessaries of life, but in thes arduous undertaking she was manfully assisted by her son Robert, who bravely put his shoulder to the wheel and gave his time and strength to his mother's service until he was twenty years of age.

Robert, the subject of this sketch, was born in Fulton County, Ky., June 29, 1865, but was reared in the city of Paducah, and as he was but five years of age when his father died his education opportunities were of a very meagre description and were by no means calculated to fit him for the stern realities of life. When a small lad he entered the employ of the Paducah Furniture Manufacturing Company, thus earning considerable money, but at the age of twenty years he went to Memphis, where he remained for one year in a like establishment. For two years succeeding this he worked on a farm in Illinois, after which one year was spent in a furniture store in Metropolis. We next find him tending bar in Obermark's saloon, but a year later he rented the Palace Hotel, which he conducted for another year. Immediately succeeding this he opened what was known as Oak Hall saloon on his own account, at Brooklyn, Ill., and is now also the owner of the Obermark saloon, these establishments being conducted in a business-like and thoroughly respectable way. Mr. Nuckalls is the agent for the Annheuser-Busch Brewing Association in his section, and being possessed of great energy and excellent managerial ability, he has developed his connections among the most desirable trade in a rapid and promising manner. In addition to this business, he owns a controlling interest in a cigar manufactory at Metropolis. He is honorable in his business methods, is kind and considerate in the family circle, and has many friends among the best class of citizens in his community. In this connection it may truly be said that.

"Honor and shame from no condition rise,
Act well your part, there all the honor lies."

Mr. Nuckalls was married November 26, 1885, to Miss Idora Cummings, a daughter of Samuel Cummings, of Illinois, and three children have blessed their untion: George, Lenna, and Flora. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias, and in his political views is a Democrat.

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