A Dickinson Family of Virginia and Illinois
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A Dickinson Family of Virginia and Illinois Eureka, Illinois, 1955 FOREWORD This narrative is made up from data collected by Elijah W. Dickinson of Eureka, Illinois and Hugh Quarles Dickinson of Louisa, Virginia, with other data and family tradition furnished by Major Ralph Dickinson of Dunedin, Florida, Miss Mary Waller Dickinson of Culpeper, Virginia, Mrs. Harry Manning Woodward of Louisa, Virginia, Mrs. Dwain E. Wood of Dexter, Kansas, and others. Dr. Burrus Dickinson of Eureka, Illinois has furnished valuable assistance in editing and publishing. The late· Professor William E. Dickinson of the University of West Virginia made a considerable study of the family history but unfortunately his records were lost after his death so are not available. Any account covering so wide an extent as this in time and locality, will undoubtedly have errors, and there are plainly many omissions. However, as far as it goes this record is believed to be reasonably correct and is offered in an effort to add to our knowledge of the family history. Correspondence concerning it will be welcomed. Richard J. Dickinson Eureka, Illinois 1955 tssr QUAM\J\~ ~~~~~n~l08& COAT OF ARMS ·This is the coat of arms used by Virginia Dickinsons, and shown as the frontispiece of the Massachusetts Dickinson Book of 1884. In the original the background is dark green, the cross is gold and the heads a reddish golden brown. In the Massachusetts Dickinson Book -Rev. Charles A. Dickinson stated that these arms adorned the Kenson Manor House and were used by the earliest of the Dickinsons. He quoted Wharton Dickinson. "These arms are certainly as old as the reign of Henry III. They tell an intere~ting story of some of our ancestors. The green fields and the hinds heads signify that the wearers were rangers in royal forests, most likely Epping Forest in Yorkshire, which was established by ~✓illiam the Conqueror and his son Rufus. The cross was not added until the time of the last crusaqe under E4ward I, and signifies that some of the Dickinsoris were e~gaged in thit holy war_,,·· Smith, in Colonial Families in An1erica, Vol. I, shows a coat of arms with three lions, stating that it was used by Obadiah Dickinson of Hartford, Conn., to seal his will in 1798. She also describes the coat of arms shown here, quotes the motto and states that these arms were brought to America by the brothers Walter, Henry and John. She also mentions three other designs which have been used at one time or another. However, Wha"rton Dickinson and others, in the Massachusetts Dickinson Book, state that the one illustrated here is undoubtedly the oldest and most generally used. The motto "Esse Quam Videri" (To be, rather than to seem) is quoted in a number of Dickinson family records. CONTENTS Coat of Arms . 5 Origin of Name. 7 Appearance of Family in Virginia. 8 System of Numbering ................................ 10 Descendants of Richard and Ann Quarles Dickinson ....... 11 Dickinsons in Illinois ................................ 39 Notes ............................................. 61 General Notes ..................................... 68 ORIGIN The origin of the name Dickinson is not certain. There is a Norse account of a soldier named Ivar, a favorite of King Halfden Huilbein of Norway, who was made General of the Army and, about 725 or perhaps later, married Enrittea the King's daughter. Their great grandson Rolf, or Rollo "the most adventurous prince of his age" was a leader of the Norsemen who overran Normandy in 910. His youngest son Walter received the town and castle of Caen as his inheritance. Walter's son, or grandson, Walter de Caen accom panied William the Conqueror to England. The Massachusetts Dickinson Book has substantially this same account in considerable detail in the appen dix p 195, probably furnished by Wharton Dickinson. Most sources refer to this Walter who lived in the town of Caen (hence Walter de Caen, and Walter de Caen' s son) who came to England in the Norman Invasion and settled at Kenson Castle, hence Walter de Kenson. Smith in Colonial Families in America, Vol. I, gives this as the probable origin. The Massachusetts Dickinsons have a record, with a reference to Walter de Caen, of a Robert Dyconson who lived in Northrawe Durham about 1230. His descendants continued in England for fourteen generations. In the fifteenth generation one John Dickenson ( as the name was spelled by that time) was a "marriner"; came to New England, was at Barnstable, Mass., in 1639 and later lived at Salisbury. The Virginia Dickinsons have a record which refers to Walter de Caen of Kenson Manor, Yorkshire. It names Johnne DyKonson of Kingston-on Hull, Yorkshire, who died there in 1316. His line continued in that neighbor hood until William Dickinson ( as he spelled the name) in the eleventh generation moved to Staffordshire and died there in 1599. His grandson Charles Dickinson lived in London, died 1632. Charles' son Henry moved in 1654 to the region of Spottsylvania, Virginia. Hening, in the West Virginia Quarterly, writing on Captain John Dick inson, mentions John and Henry Dickinson as early settlers in the Virginia Colony. John entered the colonial military service, as a Captain. He had a son, also named John, who was in the service from Augusta County. He states that from this Captain John have descended most of the Dickinsons in Virginia, and that they first settled in Caroline, Cumberland and Spottsylvania Counties. Wharton Dickinson, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, relates that a Dr. Edmund Dickinson of London, court physician to both Charles II and James II, was 8 A DICKINSON FAMILY the father of John and Henry above. He further ran the line back to a John Dickinson of Leeds, in the period of Henry VII. '.:. \X(hartop Dickinson also stated that these two had another brother, Walter (~if~ Jlachael .Means) who_ . lived _in Lancaster County, Virginia, and later moved to :_Maryland where he left .a number of distinguished descendants, ~µ.~lud~ng Governor John Dickinson ''The Pennsylvania Farmer'' and Governor Philemon. Dickinson.. ... Wharton was also of this line. ·. Stille~ in "The Life and Times of John Dickinson" mentions these three brothers,. John, Henry and Walter, as coming to Virginia in 1654. He also states-.-that Walter moved in 1659 to Talbot ·County Maryland, was ancestor of the Pennsylvania Dickinsons, etc. He further states that the three brothers were sons of one Charles Dickinson who died in London in 1654. The sons, who were Quakers, then came to Virginia to escape persecution. · · · The 1fassachusetts Dickinson Book states that this Charles Dickinson, a merchant of London (wife Rachael Carter) , was a son of Symon Dickinson of Bradley and his wife Catherine Dudley. It shows, page 160, that Symon descended from Hugh de Kenson, and Catherine from Edward III. APPEARANCE OF THE FAMILY IN VIRGINIA These records are conflicting in various \vays but they indicate a probable approximation of the origin and development of the name, and of the appearance of the fan1ily in Virginia. ·· Wharton Dickinson, '1vith William J. Dickinson of Brickley' s Mill~. Virginia, arid Dr. Smelt Winston Dickinson of Marion, Virginia, had consider able correspondence concerning their studies of the family line, resulting in their belief that the Henry, b 1623, mentioned by Stille and by Wharton Dickinson, had a son :Richard, who had a son Henry, who had a son Nathaniel, wife Mary, who lived in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, and died there in 1753. The foregoing should be classed as family tradition rather than history as we do not have sufficient evidence to support it fully. However, when we come to Nathaniel we have definite and reliable information. His will, and other references in Virginia county records, show that he had several children, among them a son named Nathaniel, wife Elizabeth, who also lived in Spott sylv~!lia County. ·This second Nathaniel died in 1775 leaving several children. See General Notes page 68. This Nathaniel evidently was in the Continental army for his land bounty as sergeant was paid to his son Richard as his heir in 1782. · OF VIRGINIA AND ILLINOIS 9 ~t,,i .. •.· ~·:•·:/\,. :·* . _,;_ ........ ' Rlch::r:i Dickir.s:::n Ann Quarles This son Richard b Oct. 14, 1750 - d 1804, was married Mar. 11, 1779, to Ann Quarles, b 1760 - d 1843, daughter of William Quarles and Mary Mills Quarles. They were married by Rev. - - Douglas (Douglas Records page 18) . They lived on a plantation in the extreme western part of Spott sylvania County, about a mile fror.:1 the Orange County line. This was probably "Mercer Hall" as vve know that Ann lived at Mercer Hall during her widow hood. See General Notes Page 68. A water color portrait of Richard and Ann, made just before their marriage, was taken to Kentucky by their daughter Elizabeth, ,vho married William Tandy and lived in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Their grandson, William T. Tandy, a banker in Hopkinsville, had the picture photographed and there are a number of copies of the photograph in the family. A copy is shown above; the original is now owned by Elizabeth's great granddaughter, Mrs. James B. Winfree, No. 5534, of Hopkinsville, Ky. Another portrait of Ann Quarles is now owned by her great great granddaughter, Mary Waller Dickinson, No. 2416, of Culpeper, Va., a copy on page 68. There is a family tradition that Richard served in the Revolution under Gen. Hugh Mercer. It relates that. while he was away at war Ann heard that the British were coming near. She took baby Willian1 in her arms and, with 10 A DICKINSON FAMILY only a slave for escort, rode horseback to her father's home for protection.