Today is President's Day, and what better way to celebrate than learning that a US President has family ties to our area!
President Nixon's great-grandfather, George Nixon III, moved from his farm in Canton Township, Washington County, PA to a farm in Smith Township, Washington County in 1833 near the present site of @sunnibellstables on Route 18 near Atlasburg.
Here, Samuel Brady Nixon, the President's grandfather, was born in 1847. Around 1856, when Samuel was 9 years old, the family moved from Smith Township to Ohio, and most of them settled there. George III would be killed at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 at the age of 43.
Samuel Brady Nixon's only son, Francis A Nixon, was born in Ohio in 1878 but would eventually move to California after being frostbitten working in the Ohio winter.
California is where Richard Nixon would be born in 1913, eventually serving as a US Representative from California from 1947-1950, US Senator from California from 1950-1953, Vice President of the United States from 1953-1961, and finally President of the United States from 1969-1974.
