Nixon Township is one of thirteen townships in DeWitt County, Illinois, US. As of the 2020 census, its population was 490 and it contained 250 housing units. The last settled township in DeWitt County was Nixon. The first settlement began in 1850 and the first to locate in this township was Cicero Twist in the spring of 1850. He settled in Section 8 and that year broke a small patch of prairie and raised a crop of sod corn. There had been land cultivated within its boundaries, years before but by parties living outside the immediate area not citizens of the township. Milo Twist, one of eight, was the first white child born in the township and the Twist family lived in a crude cabin constructed of rough logs just as they were cut from native timber. George, William and Morris Nixon were also some of the most early settlers of the area. They were brothers and came from Ohio in the year 1850, settling in different parts of the township. William Nixon and Smith Fuller of DeWitt Township rode on horseback to Houston, Texas, in 1856 to buy 500 sheep each. They drove the one thousand head of sheep back to eastern DeWitt County and were the first farmers in the community to have cattle and sheep grazing on the prairies where Weldon now stands. A.M Pue broke the first prairie sod and raised the first crop of corn. In 1859, at the time of the township organization, the commissioners gave the township the name of Nixon in their honor. John Manlove and a brother-in-law, Hiram Chandler, were also early citizens. C S Lisenby improved land in the early days of the township but resided in Creek Township. A Rush and Kate Shipman were the first couple married in the township. John McGinnis was the first postmaster of Nixon Township. The post office was located and housed in a room of an old house on the farm where Duane Riddle later lived in the 20th century. Grains of corn, wheat and oats were to become the main cash crops and were delivered to market by wagon westerly to Clinton and northeast to Mt. Pleasant (later changed to Farmer City). During the frozen seasons, delivery was made to Decatur by wagon on roads, or sled on the ice of Friends Creek, running in a southerly direction to the Sangamon River,