A. B. Nicholas, the second member of the firm of Mulholland & Nicholas (see sketch of Mulholland), was born in Morris County, New Jersey, November 22, 1842, the son of Amos S. and Mary (Jennings) Nicholas, also natives of that State. On the paternal side his ancestry is traceable back to the sixteenth century and are of Welsh extraction; on his mother's side his ancestry is English. Both his parents are deceased. He was reared in his native State to farm life. At the age of sixteen years he began to learn the carpenter's trade, but before the expiration of his apprenticeship he enlisted in August, 1862, in Company C, Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged June 22, 1865, at Hall's Hill, Virginia. He was on constant duty during his entire term of service, participating in some of the most noted battles, as the first and second Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, those of the Wilderness, Shenandoah Valley, Petersburg, etc.

After the close of the war he returned to New Jersey, and engaged at his trade, which he followed until the spring of 1867, when he came to Council Bluffs, where he has since made his home, excepting eighteen months in the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad, during its construction. In 1870 he established himself in the grocery business in Council Bluffs, and followed that until 1882, when he engaged in his present trade.

In his political sympathies he is a Republican. In 1878 he joined as a charter member of Fidelity Council, No. 156, Royal Arcanum, in which he has passed most of the chairs. In January, 1879, he married Miss Grace A. Wood, daughter of Amasa and Olive Wood, born in New York State, at Dutch Flats, July 12, 1854.