John Wesley Nichols was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on August 3, 1882. From around 1910 to 1917, he worked as an inspector at the C. D. Coffey lumber yard in North Wilkesboro. By 1940, he had retired to his farm in Millers Creek in rural Wilkes County. Nichols died in Statesville (Iredell County) on June 18, 1947.