Introduction

Biography

Nickerson was the son of Ed­ward Nick­er­son (same name) and Je­ru­sha Hig­gins. He is some­times con­fused with his fa­ther, who was a sea cap­tain.

He mar­ried twice, first to Sa­rah Jane (Jen­nie) Cross­man (1858), sis­ter of Dea­con An­drew J. Cross­man of the Brown Street Bap­tist Church in Pro­vi­dence, Rhode Is­land. Af­ter Jen­nie died, he mar­ried Jo­se­phine Colwell (1875, Lynn, Mas­sa­chu­setts).

At age nine, fa­mi­ly fi­nanc­es forced Ed­ward the young­er to go to work in a cot­ton fac­to­ry.

The 1870 cen­sus lists him as a far­mer.

Around 1874, he bought half in­ter­est in the Church Un­ion. From 1875–76, he served as a po­lice of­fi­cer in Pro­vi­dence.

In 1884, he joined the Sal­va­tion Ar­my (SA), fol­low­ing an SA meet­ing in Sa­lem, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

He rose to the rank of SA cap­tain, serv­ing on the staff of Ge­ne­ral Com­mis­sion­er Tho­mas E. Moore. Some ref­er­enc­es to him are writ­ten as Capt. E. E. Nick­er­son.

With the SA, he tra­veled in ov­er ten Am­eri­can states, vi­sit­ing large towns from Maine to New Jer­sey.

By 1891, he had be­come an itin­er­ant preach­er and ev­an­gel­ist. He had a fine ba­ri­tone voice, and oft­en ac­com­pa­nied him­self on pi­ano, or­gan, gui­tar, or ban­jo.

As of 1895, he was serv­ing in Patch­ogue, New York. Of his stay there, the Brook­lyn Dai­ly Ea­gle said, The night­ly col­lect­ions have been large, the church is well free from debt, the trea­su­ry is well stocked with mo­ney, but the evan­gel­ist does not re­ceive any­thing. He tra­vels around in all in sum­mer cloth­ing.

Works

• Highway Songs (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: E. E. Nick­er­son, 1886)