John DICKSON, one of the leading farmers of Ringgold county, and a pioneer settler of Union Township, where he still resides, on section 34, was born in Crawford County, Ohio, November 19, 1827, a son of George and Agnes DICKSON, who are both deceased.

Our subject was brought up on the home farm, remaining with his parents till twenty-eight years of age. He came to Iowa in September, 1856, and the following month purchased 160 acres of land on section 34, Union Township, Ringgold County. The following spring he began improving his land, breaking up and fencing forty acres, and in 1858 he built a one-story house, 14 x 26 feet in size, which was the second frame house in the township. He rented his house to a family with whom he lived till his marriage, and rented part of his farm.

He was united in marriage August 24, 1871, to Miss Frances CHEW, a native of Indiana, born in 1851, a daughter of Richard CHEW, an early settler of Clarke County, Iowa, who settled in Doyle Township, that county, in 1854. To Mr. and Mrs. DICKSON have been born three children - Jennie, Opal and George.

In politics Mr. DICKSON votes the Democratic ticket. He is widely known throughout Ringgold County, and ranks among its best agriculturists. Quiet in manner, unassuming, industrious and strictly honorable in all his dealings, he has gained the confidence of all with whom he has business of social intercourse. In 1880 the father of Mr. DICKSON visited him in Ringgold County and died at the residence of his daughter, Margaret WALTERS, near Mount Ayr, August 28 of that year, in his eightieth year. The mother's death occured some two years before that of her husband.

NOTE: John DICKSON died at the age of 82 on March 26, 1910. Frances S. (CHEW) DICKSON was born December 25, 1851, and died February 17, 1934. They were interred at Oliver Cemetery near Ellston, Ringgold County, Iowa.

Opal S. DICKSON, daughter of John and Frances, was born in 1881, and died in 1944. George A. DICKSON, son of John and Frances, was born in 1886, and died in 1941. George's wife Charlotte was born in 1887, and died in 1980. Wayne E. DICKSON, son of George and Charlotte, was born in 1905, and died in 1956. Interments were made at Oliver Cemetery near Ellston, Ringgold County, Iowa.

Richard Albertson CHEW, son of John A. and Nancy M. (WOOLFORD) CHEW and father of Frances S. (CHEW) DICKSON, was born in 1817, and died April 26, 1890. Jane LaFavour McCUTCHAN, wife of Richard, was born in 1819, the daughter of Samuel F. and Susannah (MOWRY) McCUTCHAN, Sr., and died April 11, 1896. Richard and Jane were interred at Gregg Cemetery, Doyle Township of Clarke County, Iowa.

John's father George DICKSON was the son of Andrew DICKSON who immigrated to America. George was a soldier during the Revolutionary War and was interred in DICKSON Cemetery, Crawford County, Ohio.

John's sister was Margaret DICKSON, wife of Christian WALTERS of Ringgold County, Iowa.

SOURCES:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 262-63 1887.

WPA Graves Survey

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2009

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