When Cleda Lavern Bartholomew was born on 3 May 1901, in Coldspring, Cattaraugus, New York, United States, her father, Fred William Bartholomew, was 32 and her mother, Frances D. Stanton, was 21. She married Hoyt Bertrum Nichols on 4 December 1920, in New York, United States. She lived in Cold Spring, Napoli, Cattaraugus, New York, United States in 1905 and Randolph, Randolph, Cattaraugus, New York, United States in 1920. She died on 10 March 1976, in Jamestown, Chautauqua, New York, United States, at the age of 74, and was buried in East Randolph, Conewango, Cattaraugus, New York, United States.