Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/195

Rh DICKSON, Andrew Flinn, clergyman, b. in Charleston, S. C, 9 Nov., 1825 ; d. in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 1879. He was graduated at Yale in 1845, studied theology at Lane and Yale seminaries, and was ordained as a Presbyterian in 1853. His first church was at John's Island, S. C, where nine- tenths of his congregation were negroes. He then held pastorates at Orangeburg, S. C., New Orleans, La., Wilmington, N. C, and Chester, S. C, was district secretary of the American Sunday-school union in 1855-'7, chaplain in the Confederate army in 1861-'5, and had charge of the Southern general assembly's colored theological institute at Tuscaloosa, Ala., from 1876 till his death. He published " Plantation Sermons" (1856-60) ; " The Temptation in the Desert " (1873) ; and " The Light, is it Waning f" which gained a prize offered by Richard Fletclier (1878).

DICKSON, Cyrus, clergyman, b. in Erie count v. Pa., 30 Dec, 1810; d. in Baltimore, 11 Sept., 1881. He was graduateil at Jefferson college in 1837, licensed to preach by Erie presbytery in 1838, and held pastorates in Franklin, Pa., Wheeling, Va., and Baltimore, Md. Washington college gave him the degree of D. D. in 1858. After the union of the old- and new-school branches of the Presbyterian church, in 1870, Dr. Dickson was chosen permanent clerk of the general assembly, and soon afterward secretary of the board of home missions, also representing the board at the Pan- Presbyterian council in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1877. His death was the result of overwork. A memoir of him was published bv Rev. Samuel J. M. Eaton, D. D. (New York, 1883).

DICKSON, James A., actor, b. in London, England, in 1774; d. in Boston, Mass., 1 April, 1853. He made his first appearance on the stage in Boston, Mass., in 1794, as Saville in " The Belle's Stratagem," and first appeared on the New York stage, at the John street theatre, 18 Aug., 1797, as John in '• The Spoiled Child." Afterward he be- came eminent as an actor of comic old men. He was manager of the Boston theatre in 1806, and continued so, with various partners, for many years. He married Miss Harrison, sister of the celebrated Mrs. Pownall, and retired from the stage in the character of Kit Cosey in " Town and Country," 14 April, 1817.

DICKSON, James Anderson Ross, Canadian clergyman, b. in Tranent, Scotland, 23 Oct., 1839. He came to Canada in 1857, was educated at the Congregational college, Toronto, and at McGill college, Montreal, being graduated in 1865. Im- mediately afterward he was called to the Con- gregational church in London, Ontario, where he remained for six years, during three of which he edited the " Gospel Message." In 1871 he was called to the Northern Congregational church, Toronto, where he remained until 1879, when he became a Presbyterian. While in Toronto he was given the highest office in the gift of the Congre- gational church, being elected chairman of the Congregational union of Ontario and Quebec in 1877. In 1879 he was called to the pastorate of a Presbyterian church in Gait. He has been a pro- lific writer for religious journals, and many of his sermons and essays have been published.

DICKSON, John, statesman, b. in Keene, N. H., in 1783 ; d. in West Bloomfieid, N. Y., 22 Feb., 1852. He was graduated at Middlebury in 1808, and while reading law at Milton, N. Y., in 1808-12, taught languages and mathematics. He was ad- mitted to the bar and practised law in West Bloomfieid, N. Y., from 1813 till 1825, in Rochester, N. Y., from 1825 till 1828, and subsequently in West Bloomfieid. He was a member of the New York assembly in 1829-30, and of congress from 1831 till 1835. In February, 1835, he is said to have made '• the first important anti-slavery speech ever made in congress." He was known as " Hon- est John Dickson," and was the author of a work entitled " Remarks on the Presentation of Several Petitions for the Abolition of Slavery and the Slave-trade in the District of Columbia '"' (1835).

DICKSON, John Robinson, physician, b. in Dungannon, county Tyrone, Ireland, 15 Nov., 1819; d. on Wolfe island, St. Lawrence river, Canada, 33 Nov., 1883. He was educated in Bel- fast and Glasgow, studied medicine in his native town, and came to Canada with his family in 1838. He was graduated at the medical department of the University of New York in 1843, returned to Canada, settled in Kingston, and became promi- nent as a surgeon. From 1846 till 1854 he was visiting physician to the Kingston general hospi- tal, then for two years visiting surgeon, becoming, in 1856, clinical lecturer, which place he resigned in 1860 to be reappointed clinical lecturer on surgery in 1861. In 1854 he was active in found- ing the medical department of the University of Queen's college, where he was chosen dean of the medical faculty and professor of surgery, and during his visit to Great Britain, in 1860, he ob- tained a recognition of the medical degree of Queen's university. In 1863 he was appointed surgeon to the provincial penitentiary in Kings- ton, and in 1869 became medical superintendent of Rockwood lunatic asylum. While holding these offices he prepared regularly " Prison Re- ports " and " Asylum Reports," and, in accordance with his suggestions, the condition of those con- fined there was materially improved. Chief among the reforms was the introduction of a sys- tem of voluntary labor among the insane, and the abolition of the use of alcohol and beer. In 1866 the medical department of Queen's college became the Royal college of physicians and surgeons in connection with Queen's university, for which he obtained the necessary charter, and of which he was appointed president and professor of surgery, offices which he held through his lifetime. Dr. Dickson was a member of numerous societies, and held the degrees of M. R. C. P., London, M. R. C. S., England ; also F. C. P. S., Kingston, and F. R. C. S., Edinburgh. He published numerous scientific papers and public addresses in English and Cana- dian medical journals.

DICKSON, Samuel Henry, physician, b. in Charleston, S. C, 20 Sept., 1798 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 31 March, 1872. His father, who was of Scottish descent, emigrated from Ireland before the Revolution, and fought in that contest under Gen. Lincoln. Samuel was graduated at Yale in 1814, and, after studying medicine in Charleston and at the University of Pennsylvania, received his diploma from the latter in 1819. He soon had a large practice in Charleston, and in 1833 delivered a course of lectures on physiology and pathology in that city before about thirty medical students. He was active in securing the establishment of a medical college in Charleston, and on its organization, in 1824, became professor of the institutes and practice of medicine. He resigned his chair in 1832, but in the following year, on the reorganization of the institution as the medical college of South Carolina, was re-elected. He was professor of the practice of medicine in the University of New York in 1847-'50, but in the latter year resumed his chair in Charleston. From 1858 until his death he held the same chair in Jefferson medical college, Phila-