From the time of the early settlement of America down to the last war in which the United States has been engaged, the Nims family has participated in the offensive and defensive campaigns of the country save only in the war with Mexico. Indeed it may truly be said that the commander of Nims' Battery came of good fighting stock. The family of Nims is descended from the old Huguenots of France, coming from that part of the country where is situated the city Nismes, from which is derived the family name de Nismes, or as it is now written Nims. Godefroi de Nismes, or as known here, Godfrey Nims came to this country in the 17th century, the first mention of his name being found in the records of Northampton under the date September 4, 1667. He was in Turner's Fight, May 18, 1676 and was a soldier in King Philip's War. He was twice married. His first wife was Mary, daughter of William Miller and widow of Zebadiah Williams. His second wife was Mehitabel, daughter of William Smead and widow of Jeremiah Hall. He had six children by his first wife and five by the second. Rebecca (died young), Rebecca, John, Henry, Thankful, Ebenezer, Thomas, Mehitabel, Mary, Mercy and Abigail. The family of Godfrey Nims were victims of that terrible Indian tragedy which resulted in the destruction of Deerfield, Mass., to which place Mr. Nims had moved in 1686. This calamity occurred February 29, 1704. On that fatal day, Mrs. Nims was captured and was slain on the way to Canada. Her dwelling was destroyed by fire. The eldest surviving daughter, then Mrs. Mattoon, was slain, together with an only child, Henry; the eldest son was captured and slain. Ebenezer, the second son, was captured and carried to Canada. Mehitabel, Mary and Mercy were burned with the house. Abigail, the youngest was captured at the age of four years and carried to Canada, where she married another captive, Josiah Rising, then christened Ignace Raizeune, received a permanent home, and a large domain.
It does not appear that Godfrey Nims was captured at this time. The suggestion has been made that he was with a military company elsewhere. An inventory of his estate was taken at Deerfield, March 12, 1704, or 5, the presumption being that he had died there just previously.
Ebenezer and John were the two surviving sons of Godfrey. John has many descendants in Michigan and other parts of the West. Ebenezer was carried to Canada as was also another captive, Sarah Hoyt. These two were married in Canada and had there one son also named Ebenezer. They were redeemed by Stoddard and Williams with difficulty in 1814 and returned to Deerfield, where four more sons were born, David, Moses, Elisha, Amasa. David, son of Ebenezer, was born at Deerfield, March 30, 1716 and died in Keene, July 21, 1803. He came to Keene while a boy and was appointed scribe by the proprietors July 25, 1737. At the first town meeting after the town was chartered by New Hampshire which was held May 2, 1753, he was elected first town clerk and after that held some town office nearly every year till 1776. In 1740, he was granted 10 acres of upland in Keene, for hazarding his life and estate by living in the place to promote the settlement of the township. Still later he was granted 104 acres in that part of Keene, which is now in the town of Roxbury. This estate is at present occupied by David Brigham Nims, his great great-grandson. He had ten children one of whom Asahel fell at the battle of Bunker Hill. "On the morning when Captain Wyman and his men left Keene for Massachusetts, Asahel came into town from his home on the Sullivan Hills where he was clearing land and getting ready to settle with one whom he hoped soon to marry. He saw the military movement and was fired with that spirit of military and patriotic fervor which has been such a characteristic of the Nims family. One fellow who had enlisted did not have the courage to start. Asahel consented to take that fellow's place and lost his life in his first battle. He was buried on the battlefield and his name is recorded on one of the gates of Bunker Hill Park."
Zadok, another son and the grandfather of Col. Ormand Nims fought at Lake Champlain, and it is a tradition concerning him that at this time he became so exhausted that his commander and comrades believed him dead. They were preparing his body for burial, when to their delighted surprise he came to his senses and afterward fully recovered.
Col. Ormand F. Nims was born in Sullivan, N. H., August 30, 1819, his father, Philander Nims, being a farmer in that vicinity and his mother, the daughter of Col. Solomon White of Uxbridge, Mass.
Colonel White served seven years in the War for Independence and later commanded a Massachusetts regiment at the head of which he marched to Worcester at the time of Shay's Rebellion. An uncle, Frederick Nims, served during the War of 1812 performing creditable military service.
Ormand Nims was twenty-three years old when he left the farm in Sullivan and came to Boston, where in 1854 he bought a drug store on Cambridge Street and set up in business for himself. His first taste of a military career had been when, a boy of fifteen, he had joined the Sullivan Militia commanded by his brother. In 1853 he with his two brothers joined the Lancers and this branch of the militia of Massachusetts had no more ardent members than these three young men from New Hampshire.
It happened that about this time General Sherman's Battery of United States artillery came to Boston from Newport for the purpose of giving an exhibition in encampment, parade, and drill on Boston Common. Young Nims saw the drill and was delighted; after this nothing would do for him but the artillery.
Early in 1854 he enlisted in a new battery raised under command of Capt. Moses G. Cobb, and was made first sergeant on the night of his enlistment. After three years of service, he was made fourth lieutenant and later received command of the battery. During his term of command he made this battery famous for its efficiency and perfect organization.
"I resigned from my command in 1860," said Colonel Nims in an interview some years since, "and my last appearance with it, my last parade in fact, was on the occasion of the review on Boston Common by the Prince of Wales, the late King Edward, who was on a visit to America."