Jonathan Nixon was born about 1753 in Frederick County, Virginia, the son of George (Nickson) Nixon and Elizabeth Arnold55. He married Nancy Sarah Pugh about 1774 in Augusta County, Virginia and set up housekeeping in Hampshire County, Virginia (WV) where Jonathan intended to patent a 133-acre farm that that he had warranted from Lord Fairfax of the Northern Neck of Virginia. The land included the cove and headwaters of Chenoweth's Run, which was a tributary of the Great Cacapon River.

Possibly because of the encroachment of the Revolutionary War on his land, in 1779, Jonathan Nixon re-assigned the Hampshire County, Virginia farm to Edward Curtis and moved his family to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania which at that time was also being claimed as Monongalia County by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The family remained in Pennsylvania until about 1786. From the book, "The Ten Mile Country and Its Pioneer Families", the original Petition for a New State circa 1780 located in the Library of Congress, has Jonathan Nixon's signature on it. In 1782, he also signed Petition No. 8 from the inhabitants of Yohogania and Monongalia counties to the Governor Harris of the State of Virginia asking the Governor whether the signers were still Virginia citizens or should they now swear their allegiance to Pennsylvania3. Jonathan appears on the 1783 Westmoreland County Property Tax rolls as having 30 acres, 3 horses and 2 cattle. Then with the formation of Fayette County in 1784, Jonathan sells his land on Georges Creek, Fayette County, Pennsylvania to Alexander Jamison5. After the sale of his land, Jonathan Nixon still appears on the 1785 and 1786 Fayette County Pennsylvania State Tax lists in German Township. By 1787, Jonathan warrants 385 acres near Boothsville, Harrison County, Virginia (WV) where he moves his family and lives out the rest of his days.

Jonathan had originally wanted to migrate to Kentucky and purchase land from Daniel Boone. There is a verbal history as told by Rev. Jesse Nixon (1816-1906), Jonathan Nixon's grandson, to Rev. Henry Morgan that a group of men from southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia left on a trip to Kentucky to meet up with Daniel Boone concerning land. The group included Jonathan Nixon, William Hibbs, Edward Parrish, Thomas Townshend, Charles Snodgrass and a number of others. After crossing the Tygart Valley near current Grafton, West Virginia, a couple of the men remained at a cabin due to the illness of one man and the others continued on the journey. The men that stayed behind were killed by Indians. This event put an end to the Kentucky plans of Jonathan Nixon and his friends. The traveling party took the dead men home, saw them buried and, afterwards, returned with their families to live out their lives in the Upper Monongahela Valley in the areas of Harrison, Marion and Taylor Counties.

Jonathan Nixon died in Booth's Creek, Harrison County, Virginia (WV) on 4 July 1799 at the age of forty-five and is buried in the Nixon Cemetery on the Apple Valley Rd., Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.

Jonathan (Nickson) Nixon (1753-1799)