Robert B. Nimmons
Robert B. Nimmons Jr. was born in 1839 to Robert and Elizabeth Nimmons. His father had been born in New Jersey in 1800 to John and Berl Nimmons. The family, including Martha and Mary, Robert's twin sisters, lived in a small house on Cayuga Lake, near the northern boundary of Varick. As Robert grew into adulthood, he took up his father's trade, carpentry, and moved to Seneca Falls, where he lived in Sherrzwell Van Alstyne's boarding house. While in Seneca Falls, he joined the Pocahontas Lodge of the Freemasons.
Although Robert had moved away from Varick, he apparently maintained contact with his friends from home. He enlisted in the Normal School Company on August 14, 1862, and once in Albany, he was elected a sergeant of the company. He participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg, but with all of the lying in the mud and marching in the rain, he soon developed a bad cold, which developed into typhoid fever. The "Seneca boys" knew he was sick, but none of them realized the severity of his illness. He entered the regimental hospital, but the regimental surgeon could not save him. Robert died at about one in the morning on January 2, 1863, of typhoid pneumonia, with his friend Thompson Barrick by his side. He was 24 years old.
His remains were wrapped in the national flag and placed in one of the best coffins in Virginia, with his friends from Seneca County forming a guard over his remains. The next morning, Albert Husted, two masons from the company, and Thompson Barrick and James Woodworth accompanied the body to Aquia Creek, where it was shipped to Seneca Falls for a grand funeral. The men of Company E paid for his return to Seneca Falls, and were later reimbursed by James Sanderson, Secretary of the Pocahontas Lodge. Robert Nimmons was buried in St. Clumbkill Cemetery in Seneca Falls. His father, Robert Sr., lived for another 30 years, dying in March 1893 at the age of 93.