John G. (John George) Nicolay

Born in Bavaria in 1832, he came to the United States as a child and grew up in Illinois. He worked as a printer, newspaper editor, and state government clerk before becoming closely associated with Abraham Lincoln, whose confidence in him led to his appointment as private secretary in the White House during the Civil War.

After Lincoln’s death, he continued in public service and later served as a U.S. diplomat. He is especially remembered for collaborating with John Hay on Abraham Lincoln: A History, a major multivolume biography that drew on their firsthand experience and helped define Lincoln’s image for many readers.

Nicolay died in Washington, D.C., in 1901. For readers interested in Lincoln, politics, and the making of history, he stands out not only as a witness to extraordinary events, but also as one of the people who recorded them most influentially.