Salome was actually born in Virginia on September 6, 1831, and lived there along with his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Armentrout Nicely. A native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, Salome attended the Virginia Military Institute for one year. According to the VMI archives, Salome was in the class of 1860.
Virginia seceded from the Union in April, 1861. On July 6, 1861, Salome enlisted in Company H, 25th Virginia Infantry, at Richmond Mountain, West Virginia. He was 23 years old and listed his occupation as farmhand.
His service was cut short by a wound in the left leg, obtained in the Battle of Allegheny Mountain on December 13, 1861.
The Confederates were at the summit of the mountain at Camp Allegheny where they could protect the road that went up deeper into Virginia. The Union was in sight for months before the actual battle erupted in December.
Confederate loss, 20 killed, 98 wounded, 28 missing, total 146. Read about the battle here.
In the 1861 records for Private Nicely, he was said to be slightly wounded. Eventually he was sent home and throughout in the records, he is marked as absent.
By this 1863 record, it is noted that he lost his leg because of his wound.
After being wounded, Salome returned to Virginia and is enumerated there in 1870 with his parents at Kerrs Creek, Rockbridge County, Virginia. Jacob and Elizabeth, 61, his parents were joined by Salome, 30; William, 22; Jacob G., 18, and Jane Stuart, 21, and Alice Robinson, cook.
In 1873, Salome, along with his father, Jacob, and brother, William P. (William Philander), went to California and registered as voters there in Tulare County, Farmersville. All three were listed as farmers. At some point, Salome, at least, returned home.
By 1880, he was living in Washington Township, Defiance County, Ohio with Mary Byers, 41, and her children: Harriet, 22; Frank, 17; John, 12 and Clara, 10. Salome Nicely was single, aged 39, and working as a farmer. Mary was listed as keeping house. Neither was listed as head of the household, although it would be assumed Mary was, as she was listed first.
Next door was Jacob Nicely, 27 and his son, Oney, 1. The age difference between Jacob and Salome determined by the 1870 census, indicated that this was probably Salome's brother. Why was Salome staying with Mary, rather than his brother? Wouldn't that have been rather scandalous for the times? Or did the enumerator make a mistake?
A few years later, Mary and Salome were married on December 26, 1882. It was reported in the Defiance County Express on January 5, 1883, that Salome Nicely had married Mrs. Mary E. Byers of Sherwood, Ohio. Once again, Salome was ready for a move. The couple moved to California and Salome was listed as a voter in the 1888 Ventura County Voter Registration Book. Salome Nicely, 50, born in Virginia, a teacher, lived in the Santa Paula precinct.
What happened to this marriage? Did Salome want to come home and Mary did not? For whatever reason, Salome did come back to Defiance County and he filed for divorce in 1894. Mary stayed in California. The legal notice appeared for six weeks in local newspapers.
"Mary E. Nicely, whose residence is Santa Paula, county of Ventura and state of California, will take notice that on the 26th day of September 1894, in the court of common pleas of Defiance county, Ohio, where that action is now pending, being case No. 6104, the undersigned, Salome Nicely, filed his petition against the said Mary E. Nicely, praying for a divorce from her, alleging gross neglect of duty and wilful absence of the said Mary Nicely from said complainant without just cause for three years past..."
Salome Nicely died on August 6, 1899, alone..
Mary stayed in the Santa Paula, California home and ran a boarding house there. She appeared in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses there as a widow. By 1910, she had only one child living.
Salome Nicely was mentioned in the May 31, 1923, Defiance Democrat, when his grave was decorated for Memorial Day. In 1940, an application was made for a military headstone for his grave.
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| Defiance Democrat, May 31,1923 |
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