James Lawrence (Levi) Nichols was born May 3, 1851 in Coburg, Germany. He came to America in 1857 and was orphaned two years later. By the age of nineteen he had educated himself to the point that he was able to teach school. At the age of 25 he came to Naperville, Illinois and entered North Western College (North Central), graduating with honors in 1880. He taught one year in the public school in Naperville and then for eight years in the commercial department of North Central College. He married Elizabeth Barnard August 18, 1886 in St. Paul, Minnesota and they were the parents of three children, Grace Margaret (Daniel Edward Sawyer), James Lawrence II, and Laura Isabelle (Herbert Jacob Matter). He died August 18, 1895 in Battle Creek, Calhoun County, Michigan and was buried in the Naperville Cemetery. He bequeathed $10,000.00 in his will to the City of Naperville for the creation of a Public Library, which the city named for him, The Nichols Library.
Nichols is the author of The Business Guide, first published in English in 1886; it was translated into German by F. W. Heidner, Professor at North Western College, Naperville, Illinois, and published as Der Geschäftsführer in 1890.
See also:
Find a Grave webpage for J. L. Nichols
Miller, Darryl W. “Forgotten Classics: The Business Guide by James L. Nichols (1894).” Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 2016, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 564-584, ill.