|
In 1748, Johann David von Nida was born on the Atlantic ocean as his parents made their way from Germany to America. It is believed that their early years were spent in Maryland or Pennsylvania but it is not known what happened to the parents of David Nida, as he was now called. David?s name is found as "Niday" on many documents. He worked as a chain carrier for a surveyor and was married to a German girl, Mary, about 1774. David owned considerable land in Hampshire and Berkeley Co., VA and was living in Berkeley Co. in 1780. Shortly after this time, he and his family moved to Botetourt Co., VA where he purchased more than 1000 acres of land.
David and Mary had nine children and they were located in the part of Botetourt Co. that became Giles Co. in 1806 and would then become Craig Co. in 1851. Some of their descendents lived in the area where Niday State Forest is now located and there is a shelter on the Appalachian Trail which is called the Niday Shelter. The community of Niday, VA, and its? postoffice on Wolf Creek have long passed into oblivion. The family were all farmers and the original farm included the area where "Murder Hole" is located.
The eldest son of David and Mary was John Nida, Sr. He was my g-g-g-grandfather and he married Catherine Wall 12 June 1787 in Botetourt Co. They had three children, the eldest being John Nida, Jr. who married Margaret "Peggy" Huffman 13 May 1818 in Botetourt Co. John and Margaret had seven children, including Caleb Nida born 19 Mar 1829 in Botetourt Co. who was my great-grandfather.
In 1858, several of the Nida families moved together to Roane Co.in what is now West Virginia. Caleb was the first to buy land in Roane Co. when he purchased 100 acres in 1877 and there is a Nida Family Cemetery located on this land where he and others of his family are buried at Amma. His wife, Anna, died between 1858 and 1865 but her burial place is unknown. He was then married to Elizabeth Levesty Abbott on 23 Nov 1865 and they had ten children, including Hezekiah Carr Nida, my grandfather, born 04 Sep 1872. Caleb died 09 Jan 1901.
Hezy married Ellender E. Patton on 31 Aug 1893 and they had eight children including my father, Roy Jackson Nida. who was born 13 Jan 1904. They raised their family in the head of Sugar Holler at Amma and Ella died there 01 Jun 1910. He then married Martha E. McGlothlin and they had six children before he died 14 Dec 1926.
Roy married Ruby G. Looney of Newton, Roane Co. on 12 Dec 1929 and they had one son, Roy J. Nida, Jr., who is known as Jack. Roy bought 50 acres of land on Big Sandy at Amma and built a house there for he and his new bride. He worked for the United Fuel Gas Co., a division of Columbia Gas System, for 43 years before retiring to farming. Baseball, fox chasing and singing were some of his favorite activities. Ruby was a school teacher in Roane Co. until she retired at sixty five years of age. Roy died in 1979 and Ruby lived out the rest of her life in the same house until her death there in 1993.
Jack was born at Amma in Roane County, WV on 02 December 1930. It was on the farm of his parents that he learned the basics of agronomy that had been handed down for many generations by our German ancestors. He attended the Amma Elementary School where he did well in Arithmetic and Spelling, winning the school spelling bee when he was in the sixth grade and advanced to the top ten in Roane County. His graduation certificate gives his name as Jackie which he changed to Jack upon entering Spencer High School. He graduated in 1947 at the age of sixteen after winning the school championship in table tennis, his favorite sport. Jack played drums in the high school band for three years and was active in other music activities. He sang and played guitar, mandolin, fiddle and steel guitar and had a radio program on WCHS in Charleston at the age of thirteen where he placed second in a state fiddling contest. Jack attended the Charleston School of Commerce where he graduated with a diploma in Business Education and an Associates Degree in Accounting. After graduation he became employed with the Appalachian Electric Power Co. in Charleston as a bookkeeper but had to obtain a work permit from Roane County as he was not yet eighteen years old. In January 1949, he began a twenty five year career with Union Carbide Corporation that was interrupted by the Korean War in 1950. Jack joined the USAF and spent the next four years at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas as a Supply Sergeant before returning to West Virginia and Union Carbide. He attended night classes at Morris Harvey College, now Charleston University, where he majored in Chemistry and Engineering. In 1965 he was transferred to their Boston Sales Office and then to Chicago in 1968. In 1972, Jack had a career change when he was offered employment by the Aeropak Division of Demert and Dougherty, Inc. in Chicago as their General Manager. The company had four packaging plants in New Jersey, Illinois and California that required a lot of travel and included customers in New York and Puerto Rico. In 1974 he left Demert and started Advance Chemical Products Co. and produced automotive chemicals for franchised car dealers in the midwest. He also started a marketing company, Neoprene International Corporation, in 1976 to sell the products of ACP under the trade name of NICO, which is still in existence today. Jack received a patent from the U.S. and Canada in 1979 for his automotive rustproofing product based on neoprene latex that he researched and developed. In 1982, he moved his operation to Atlanta, Georgia and continued as the CEO of both companies until he sold them and retired in 1997.
Jack enjoys playing music, gardening, hunting, fishing, photography and genealogy and is the author of a hardbound family history book, The Family von Nida, From Germany to America 1262-1998 that will be in its' third printing in 2003. He and his wife, the former Norma Jean Crouch, traveled to Asia and Africa in 1997 and to Europe in 1999 and 2000 as he continues to search for his roots. They have been blessed with two children, Randy and Sandi, and now spend most of their time at their home in Stockbridge, Georgia and in the old farm house where he was born at Amma. They are also active in the First United Methodist Church in Morrow, Georgia.
 Jean and Jack Nida{/b]
[b]Ruby and Roy Nida Hezy Nida Caleb NidaCopyright ? 2000 by Jack Nida |
