William Dickson (Part IV)

This is the fourth post in a series about my fourth great-grandfather, William Dickson.

Buffalo, New York, 1855.  William Dickson was living in Buffalo at this time and was captain of a ship that would have anchored in this harbor.
Photo courtesy of Dickinson College.

William Dickson was an affable, sociable man.  Not much given to intellectual pursuits, he preferred to spend time enjoying the company of friends and family.  He also loved being outdoors, not only on the lake while he was working, but in the countryside that surrounded his home in Buffalo, New York.  His grandson, William Dickson Young, expanded upon these tendencies in his biography of William Dickson.  I will continue to quote from this biography to give a sense of William's character.

The home on Barker Street was a center for a large and active group of young people who were sociable.  The Dickson family apparently never cared either for formal social affairs nor for books, but rather for music and informal, jolly good times.

He [William Dickson] never held any public office, and, perhaps because he was away for nine months of each year, took little part in public affairs.  He had never had much schooling in his early days and had small love for books (differing in that way from my grandfather Young), but liked the open, active work and quiet social pleasures.

According to William Dickson Young, his grandfather had a special bond with his youngest child, Elizabeth Jane Dickson (WDY's mother).  She was born in 1847, when William Dickson was 47 years of age.  Perhaps it was because she was the youngest, or that William was getting on in years and focusing more on his family and less on career at the time of her birth, that they became particularly close.  William Dickson Young's glowing memories of his grandfather must certainly have been influenced by the warm relationship William had with Elizabeth Jane.

He was especially fond of my mother [Elizabeth Jane Dickson], and in his last years, when he had retired from the lakes, used to love to have her play the piano for him (the center table in our living room is made from that piano), or read to him stories from the weekly papers of that day, and would weep openly over the sad parts, of which the melancholy stories of those times were well filled.  In the winter he would also drive her every afternoon down to the frozen lake in the Rumsey grounds (where Elmwood Ave. now cuts through Tupper and Tracy Streets), and, standing for hours in his cutter outside the high frame, watch her skate with the other young people.

Elizabeth Jane Dickson

Every person has their quirks, and William Dickson's seemed to revolve around health and disease prevention.  William Dickson Young explains in his biography:

My mother tells of only one thing that her father was afraid of, and that was cholera.  This was a fearful thing in those days, for no one knew the cause of it, and it would rage even through our country here, many people dying of it.  There was one belief that it was caused by eating green vegetables, and Captain Dickson gave the most strict orders that none of his family should eat green things or raw fruit, but eat chiefly boiled rice, which was considered safe.  They did their best but became so sick of rice (in fact my mother still has a feeling about it seventy years later) that when he was away on the lakes they had to break the rules, and no one had cholera.

William Dickson was well-liked by both family and community.  While he was away on the lakes much of the year, he seems to have made the most of his time in Buffalo.

He was apparently a very happy man, tender-hearted on occasions as a child, fond of his family, in fact too fond, for his boys grew up with too much money and too little training for work (although he was of course away from them for long periods).  He was generous, a devout Episcopalian (I have his large prayer book and his old family Bible in our library).  He gave the first $1,000 to help build Ascention [sp] Church on North Street at the head of Franklin, and was at one time its Senior Warden.  He was respected by everyone, one of the leaders on the lakes, which was then the most important business in Buffalo, and an honorable, clean, fine gentleman.

Ascension Church, which William Dickson helped to found, was incorporated in 1855.  It was for more than 150 years, a thriving religious community in Buffalo.  However, in 2014, the decision was made to abandon the church and relocate its congregants to another nearby church.  In making this decision, church officials cited rapidly declining membership and the financial demands of keeping up an old, deteriorating building.  The church that William Dickson funded and loved will be converted into a senior center.

Ascension Church, photo by Mark Mulville/Buffalo News

William Dickson Young's biography paints quite a picture of who William Dickson was as a person and what his family life was like in Buffalo.  In my next post, I'll continue to write about William's family, specifically his children.

William Dickson (Part III)

This is the third post in a series about my fourth great-grandfather, William Dickson.

In my previous posts about my immigrant ancestor, William Dickson, I wrote about his journey to America, his marriage to Mary Ann Browning, and his successful career as a captain on the Great Lakes.  The biography of William Dickson, written by his grandson, William Dickson Young in 1933, is the best source of information about William's personality and habits.  I quote again from this document to give a sense of William's character.

There was little dependable paper money at that time and men were paid in silver or gold coin.  On one occasion when he [William Dickson] came late into port he started to walk out to his home on Barker Street, and for safety against dock thieves he took his money with him in two bags.  On Main Street at Virginia two men tried to rob him, but he knocked them down with the bags and went on.

Mother [W.D. Young's mother, Elizabeth Jane Dickson] says that at times he would get home late, in the above fashion, and because he loved the country but saw little of it he would sit on the fence outside his home (it was almost country out there then and there was a rail fence) for half the night, looking about and enjoying himself.

In the winter time his boat was of course laid up, and as he had ample means he would not work in that season.  He bought a tract of land of 21 acres out in the woods, bounded by what are now Forest, Bird and Delaware avenues and Chapin Parkway, although only Delaware was then in existence.  It was densely wooded and in winter he would in part occupy himself in clearing it.  There was much hard wood and he had quite a little furniture made of it.  We have one or two curly maple chairs and the maple bureau made of that timber.  The land was at last cleared, and grandmother, after his death, held it as long as she could, but in the early seventies a great trunk sewer was put through Bird Ave.  It was a contractors steal, for that region was all open waste or farm land, but the taxes were so heavy that they were almost equal to the value of the land, some $10,000, and she was forced to sell it to the Rumseys, who had the means to hold it.  This they did and finally cut it into small lots, it now being solid with houses.

The approximate location in modern-day Buffalo of the 21-acre lot once owned by William Dickson

William Dickson loved horses, although he never invested in any of particular quality.  He had one old white horse in particular however named Billy of which my mother tells, and which had been some sort of  a racing horse in his earlier years.  One recreation of grandfather's in the winter was to race on the snow in a cutter, which impromptu races were then held on Main Street from North or Cold Springs (Ferry Street), as Main Street was then little more than a country road.  After his time this racing was on Delaware from Virginia to North Street, uphill, and still later on Richmond from Bryant to the Circle, uphill.

Grandmother [Mary Ann Browning] was afraid of horses.  He [William Dickson] however liked to take her driving and would promise not to race but he could not withstand the temptation, and when Billy won he would be in high feather.

Another story of old Billy was that his master  [William Dickson] had a habit of driving down town and spending much time in yarning with his old lake cronies or the merchants.  He would sometimes tie the lines about the whip, fold up the buffalo robes, and tell Billy to go home, all alone up Main Street, for there was of course little traffic, and Billy would come along safely and stand at the barn door to be let in.  Everyone knew Billy and did not molest him.

William Dickson's friend, General Bennet Riley,  in a portrait painted by Lars Gustaf Sellstedt. 1852.

Another recreation of grandfather's was to go to auctions with some of his special friends (in particular General Bennet Riley, who was the man, then a major, who first gave military escort to traders' trains on the Santa Fe trail, first used oxen on that trail, and was later first military Governor of California Territory.  He lived then on North Street in Buffalo).  At these auctions they would bid on any old lot of miscellaneous stuff which was offered.  And in my boyhood there was still old stuff about the house from these auctions.  I remember many rolls of cheap ribbons, but they seemed especially to bid for books.  Neither he [William Dickson] nor his wife were either readers or book lovers, and she would protest vigorously against these sleigh loads of books which he would bring home and threaten to burn them.  Many of them were not of much value, but a number of them I have now, chiefly old biographies, some published in Auburn, N.Y. (then a publishing center).

Source: buffaloah.com

Grandfather also loved to go over and play cards in the evening with Levi Allen, who lived on Delaware Avenue, southwest corner of Summer, where the Rumsey house is, now occupied by Col. Donovan.  Sometimes he would fail to tell where he was going, and as the hours passed his wife would become more and more worried, until along midnight they would hear him coming down through the paths in the back gardens, whistling and happy.

In my next post about William Dickson, I'll continue to quote his grandson and further illuminate his character and family life.

William Dickson (Part II)

This is the second post in a series about my fourth great-grandfather, William Dickson.

Capt. William Dickson in his later years

In my last post about my immigrant ancestor, William Dickson, I wrote about his birth in Northern Ireland and his journey to North America, where he married Mary Ann Browning.  The biography of William Dickson, written by his grandson, William Dickson Young, in 1933, provides insight into the life of William and Mary Ann after their marriage in 1831, and William's career as a ship captain on the Great Lakes.

He [William] was evidently an able seaman, for a letter I have, written in 1835, says he was given command of the best boat his employers had, one he thought as good as he wanted.

He worked hard, saved his money, and soon had a vessel of his own, probably a schooner or small brig, for the lakes were then full of sailing vessels.

In 1835 they came to Buffalo to live, and at first had a house on the north side of Eagle Street, opposite the County Hall, where the back end of the Athletic Club is now. Sarah, their second child, was born there.

About 1838 they moved to the large house on Barker Street, southwest corner of Linwood, which he had built, although Linwood Ave. had not then been cut through. That site is now occupied by a large apartment home.

There they continued to live until after his death on Jan. 20th 1865, all of the later children being born there. His land included what is now Linwood Ave. and extended south to Summer Street. All of that region was then quite open. The rear end of the house was at first frame, but later he rebuilt it of brick.

A modern view of the southwest corner of Barker and Linwood, where the Dickson home once stood.

In the period of 1835 to 1865, the thirty year span during which William Dickson lived in Buffalo, the city was growing by leaps and bounds.  Much of this expansion was due to the young city's role as a shipping center on Lake Erie.

Upon the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, Buffalo became the western end of the 524-mile waterway starting at New York City. At the time, Buffalo had a population of about 2,400 people. With the increased commerce of the canal, the population boomed and Buffalo was incorporated as a city in 1832.

In 1853, Buffalo annexed Black Rock, which had been Buffalo's fierce rival for the canal terminus. During the 19th century, thousands of pioneers going to the western United States debarked from canal boats to continue their journey out of Buffalo by lake or rail transport.  (Wikipedia)

The city of Buffalo in the mid-1800s.

Several American presidents were also associated with Buffalo during these years.  Abraham Lincoln gave a widely attended campaign speech in Buffalo in February 1861.  A crowd of nearly 10,000 people gathered to hear him speak at the American Hotel.  Former president Millard Fillmore later took Mr. Lincoln to a local church service.  Perhaps the speech was an inspiration to future president Grover Cleveland, who was living in Buffalo at the time and might well have heard Mr. Lincoln's oration.

 In these heady years in Buffalo, William Dickson's career was on an upward trajectory.  William Dickson Young provides many details about his grandfather's occupation.

In time he bought a share in vessels he commanded.  These included the Hunter, the Milwaukee, and the Globe, all sailing vessels, schooners or brigs.  Later he owned along a propeller (steamer), the Illinois.  The last one was again named the Hunter, a propeller, and although this would now be looked upon as a small boat, at that time she was rated A-1, with a fine cabin and up-to-date in every respect.  Like all of the earlier boats, she was both a freight or cargo carrier and had accommodations for 50-60 passengers, who were often carried, friends of family of the Captain, or pay passengers.  He both owned and captained her for several years.  An interesting little account of a trip from Chicago to Collingwood in 1860 is on page 16 in an old scrap book we have from Barker Street, pasted in a trip book of this same boat.

He was a fearless, aggressive and capable seaman.  He was always ambitious to be the first one out in the spring and last one in in the fall, and in those days, when there were few light houses, buoys and charts, it was dangerous work.  In fact he was often caught in the ice in the spring because he ventured out so early.

He was a fighter and would face all dangers.

In my next post about William Dickson, I'll share more details about his career and character.

Immigrant Ancestor: William Dickson (Part I)

William Dickson, my fourth great-grandfather

Over the past several months, I've been profiling my Dickson ancestors and the years they spent in Ontario, Canada and Douglas, Wyoming.  This next series of posts is devoted to the immigrant ancestor of this line, William Dickson, my fourth great-grandfather.  It was William who brought the Dickson family from Northern Ireland to Canada.

William is one of those ancestors who is long on legend and short on vital records.  The best two sources of information I have about him are the notes my grandmother took during her research, and a thorough biography written by his grandson, William Dickson Young, in 1933.  Missing are the ships' manifests, marriage records, birth certificates, and other pieces of data you'd hope to find when researching an ancestor.  This leaves the account written by William Dickson Young, who had quite a bit of anecdotal information about his grandfather and the extended Dickson family, as the most authoritative source on William Dickson's life.

I'm going to quote heavily from William Dickson Young's account of his grandfather.  I'd also like to say thank you to cousin Gerry, who reached out to me online and provided this document and a treasure trove of Dickson photos.  Without that generous gesture, I'd know very little about this part of the family.

The location of Pomeroy and Dungannon in what is now Northern Ireland

"He [William Dickson] was born in 1800 and always said he was born in Dungannon, which is a town in County Tyrone, a few miles from Pomeroy [the Dickson family's home], so it is to be supposed that his mother was there at the time, perhaps on a visit.

He was a strong, vigorous, forceful boy and man, with gray eyes, fearless and open in expressing his opinions, and that led to trouble in those days, especially in Ireland, for he was a Protestant, and for three hundred years and more there has been bitter enmity between the Protestants and Catholics in Ulster, as there is today, and much blood has been spilled there over this difference in religious outlook.

As he grew older he apparently made enemies among the Catholics.  Whether his family wished to get him away to save his life, or whether he simply had wanderlust I do not know.  (I judge it was the latter, for he was the heir, and all property in Protestant Ireland, as in England, was entailed to the eldest son, but my mother thinks it was the desire of the family for his safety.)  In any event, at the age of 16, he left home and went to sea.  The old green oak chest in our home was his sea chest, in which he kept his possessions.

How long he was at sea I do not know, but in 1829, thirteen years later, on a voyage to America, he met Mary Browning, a passenger on his ship, some ten years younger than he.  She did some mending for him and he fell in love with her.

She, with her parents, went to Port Stanley, Ont., on Lake Erie, and he followed her, although I do not know exactly how soon thereafter.  It was not long, however, and he secured a position on a boat which either sailed from that little port or touched there."

Mary Ann Browning, my fourth great-grandmother

Some time passed before William joined Mary Ann in Canada.  As William Dickson Young points out, William was quite popular with the young women of Buffalo when he remained a single man.

When he first came to Buffalo, perhaps on his way west, for he was soon on large vessels, there is a story that he operated some sort of a small ferry, perhaps a skiff, from Black Rock to Fort Erie.  A very old lady, Miss Wintermuth, whom I used to know, who lived in Fort Erie, an aunt of Mary Lewis', used to say that he was  a great favorite with the girls of Fort Erie, and that they would go over with no one else, in fact they spent their money in ferry tolls.  My mother also speaks of his swimming the river at Black Rock. 

William did eventually make his way to Port Stanley to try to persuade Mary Ann Browning to marry him.  William Dickson Young also wrote a separate, shorter document outlining the history of the Browning family.  He writes a paragraph there about the courtship of William Dickson and Mary Ann Browning.

She refused for a considerable time to accept him but finally did so, and they were married at St. Thomas, Ont., December 20th 1831, he being 31 and she 21, the record of which is shown in the old Dickson family bible, which I have.  They lived at Port Stanley until their first child... was born.

I hope someone that one of William Dickson Young's descendants still has that old Dickson bible!  

William Dickson and Mary Ann Browning had eight children together:

1. Esther Dickson, b. 1824 d. 1872 in Buffalo, New York.  She did not marry.
2. Sarah Ann Dickson, b. 1826, d. 1915 in Buffalo, New York.  She did not marry.
3. George William Dickson, b. 1838, d. 1916 in Santa Monica, California.  He married Mary Elizabeth Bellangee.
4. John Henry Dickson, b. 184, d. 1865 in Buffalo, New York.  He married Sarah Mitchell.
5. Robert James Dickson, b. 1843, d. 1878 in Buffalo, New York.  He did not marry.
6. Elizabeth Jane Dickson, b. 1847, d. 1935 in Buffalo, New York.  She married Albert Barnes Young.
7 and 8. Louis and Louise Dickson, twins, b. 1850, d. 1851 in Buffalo, New York.

In the next post in the series, I'll write about William Dickson's career as a ship's captain and share some anecdotes about his character.