Mathias S. Nidey was born 15 July 1844 in Newark Twp, Licking Co, OH and in his early life was a canal boatman. He came to Illinois with his father's family in 1861. He served through the Civil War on the gunboat "Flotilla" which went down the Mississippi from Cairo. On his return from the war he took up the trade of a plasterer and until 1872 when he married Nancy Jane Bailiff. They bought a farm two miles west of West York, IL. Mrs. Nidey was born in Clark County, Illinois in 1853. She was the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Baliff, one of the pioneer preachers of the state. They had seven children and fourteen grandchildren. Mathias and Nancy Jane moved to Baca Co, Colorado, in 1914. On 23 April 1914, their home was destroyed by a "cyclone." Mrs. Nidey was killed. Mathias moved back to Illinois where he died on 26 October 1916 from complications of injuries received in the cyclone.

Submitted by John and Cindy McChachern