monotony until they reached their
journey's end, and found themselves the eighth family
to settle in Randolph Township.
The history of the early settlement
of Ohio abounds with thrilling incidents, and Mr.
Dickinson had his full share of privation, difficulty
and danger. They had to journey a long distance to
mill, following bridle-paths, and frequently being
disappointed in getting their grist. When the miller
was away and could not be reached, the mother put the
corn in a mortar or hulled it, and the family waited
patiently, although sometimes very hungry, until it
was baked on a board or in the old iron kettle. Oliver
Dickinson lived on lot 66 until his death, which
occurred in 1842. He left a competency for his
children. During the War of 1812 a draft was ordered
in Randolph Township, and of the six or seven men thus
selected for military duty four (sic) were the sons of
Oliver Dickinson. Oliver C. and Alpheus were sent to
Lower Sandusky, now Fremont; Walter was already
serving as teamster in the army, and was excused;
Jesse, the father of our subject, went to Ravenna to
be mustered into the service, but was sent home and
told to hold himself in readiness at a moment's call.
He was, however, never called upon. At the end of
seventy days the father hired a substitute for his
youngest son, then nineteen years old, and he came
home.
Lovejoy, the wife of Oliver
Dickinson, died many years before her husband, in
1818. Oliver C., his son, died in 1854; Walter in
1855, and Comfort, the remaining daughter, who came
with the family from Massachusetts, in 1877, in
Kansas, when very old; Jesse, the father of our
subject, removed to Illinois about 1856, and is now
deceased. In 1821 he united with the Congregational
Church, remaining from that time on a regular
communicant, and finally becoming its oldest living
member in Wellsfield, Ill.
In the Congregational burying-ground
at Randolph Centre, Ohio, are lying side by side the
six deceased wives of Alpheus Dickinson, an uncle of
our subject, and in connection with these is a most
remarkable tale. The first wife on her deathbed
recommended to her husband Mary Percy Roberts, who,
like herself, was a native of Middletown, Conn. After
a proper time had elapsed Mr. Dickinson started for
New England, making the long journey on horseback, and
bringing back with him his second wife. This lady soon
died, and before dying she recommended her husband to
marry Mary Johnson, who, like the two preceding, was a
resident of Middletown. Once more does Mr. Dickinson
repeat the long and tedious journey to Connecticut on
horseback, and returns bringing his third wife. He is
for the third time left a widower, in 1832. He
subsequently married Maria Curtis, of Charlestown,
Ohio, who died in 1864. His fifth wife was Martha
Sears, of the same town, who lived less than two years
after her marriage. The name of his sixth wife is not
given in the narrative, beyond the fact that she
existed. The five wives were all comparatively young
at the time of their death. The second was a cousin to
the first, and the third a cousin to the second; the
fifth was a niece of the first. Alpheus Dickinson,
notwithstanding the great afflictions he had been
called upon to endure, used frequently to remark: "I
have never yet been placed in circumstances so
distressing and hopeless but that I could think of
someone whose situation was worse than mine." He was
of a cheerful disposition, and of a remarkably social
turn, with strong religious tendencies, living to a
good old age, and spending his last years in Randolph
Township.
On an adjoining page will be found a
fine portrait of Mr. H. S. Dickinson, the
representative in Nebraska of this ancient family.
AMES
MILTON, a practical and progressive agriculturist of
West Branch Precinct, is the owner of a fertile and
well-conducted farm of 160 acres, lying on sections 13
and 24. He is a native of Ohio, born in Otsego,
Muskingum County, April 21, 1835. He is of Dutch
ancestry, his paternal grandfather having been the
first of his paternal ancestors born in the United
States. He took an active part in the Revolutionary
War, and afterward settled in New York State. Daniel
Milton, father of our subject, was born in Albany. N.
Y., and in early life learned the trade of blacksmith.
He enlisted in the War of 1812, and was detailed to
work in the shops. At the close of the war he
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