THE NICKERSON FAMILY ASSOCIATION is one of the largest family associations in the world. Its focus is on the research of the descendants of William1 Nickerson (1604 – 1689), the founder of Chatham, Massachusetts.
The Association was founded in 1897 by William9 Emery Nickerson, a wealthy industrialist and the mechanical genius behind the safety razor and who, with King Gillette, was responsible for the founding of the Gillette Company. William9 Emery Nickerson’s abiding hobby was genealogy and the good fortune he derived from business enabled him to employ a full time professional genealogist, Anna Kingsbury, whose sole focus was researching and organizing Nickerson Family data from 1895 until the late 1920’s.
Under the leadership of the late Pauline Wixon Derick decades of research have resulted in the publication of the first seven generations of the Nickerson family, with vital statistics on the 8th generation. Work continues on publication of successive generations.
In 1997 the organization realized a long held goal, i.e., the acquisition of a Genealogical Research Center located on land originally owned by William1 Nickerson. It is a striking house/library facility containing information on more than 350,000 descendants.
In 2003 the 1827 full Cape Style homestead of Caleb Nickerson was rescued from demolition and moved onto the NFA’s 2 acre campus. The “Caleb Homestead” serves as a restored example of a genuine Nickerson home of the early 19th Century and is the stage on which we provide our Hands on History programs.
In 2021 the NFA was given an antique barn that was on a North Chatham property believed to have once belonged to William and Anne’s son William. After the barn was flaked (dismantled) it was moved to the NFA Campus. In June 2025 the NFA hosted an old-fashioned barn raising event over the course of two days. The barn is being reconstructed using traditional methods of the 18th and 19th centuries under the direction of timber framer Ian Ellison. Financing the project are Community Preservation Act grants awarded by the Town of Chatham and generous donations from NFA members.