Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/267

 DICKINS

DICKINSON

concern. He removed with liis parents to New- York and thence to Philadeipliia, Pa., where he was educated. He spent several years in Europe. He was a clerk in the U.S. treasury department, Washington, D.C., 1816-33, and was acting secretary of the treasury from June 21 to Aug. 8, 1831, during the interim between the resignation of Secretary Ingham and the ap- pointment of Lewis McLane to the portfolio. He was transferred to the state department as chief clerk and served in that office under Secre- taries McLane and Forsyth from Aug. 8, 1833, to Dec. 13, 1836, when he was elected secretary of the U.S. senate, serving till July 16, 1861. He died in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23, 1861.

DICKINS, John, clergyman, was born in Lon- don, England, Aug 24, 1747. He was educated at Eton and emigrated to America about 1770, settling in Virginia. In 1774 he joined the Methodist church, and two years later became an evangelist. He was licensed to preach in 1777, and was admitted to the North Carolina conference. He originated the idea of founding Cakesbury college at New Abingdon, Md., the first college in America under the auspices of the Methodist denomination. He preached in New York city, 1783-89, removing to Philadelphia in 1789. There he prepared a liymn-book. which he undertook to print himself. The expense of publication was afterward assumed by the con- ference. He was appointed book-steward, and this appointment was the beginning of the Methodist book concern. In the first two years of his residence in Philadelphia Mr. Dickins edited and published the Arminian llagazine, and he issued the Methodist Magazine in 1797-98. He was the first to suggest the name "Methodist Episcopal Church, " which was adopted in 1784. He was a close friend of Bishop Asbury in whose honor he named his son Asbury (1780-1861), who was secretary of the U.S. senate, 1836-61. Mr. Dickins died in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 27, 1798.

DICKINSON, Anna Elizabeth, lecturer, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 28, 1842; daughter of John Dickinson. Her father, who was a Quaker, died when she was very young and she was educated by the Society of Friends. She taught school, 1859-60, in Berks county, Pa., and in January of the latter year made her first pub- lic speech, delivering an address on " Woman's Rights and Wrongs " befoi-e a meeting of Pro- gressive Friends. In 1861 she obtained employ- ment in the U.S. mint in Philadelphia, but was discharged within a year for publicly attributing the defeat at Ball's Bluff to McClellan's treason. Having become well known as a public speaker she decided to make lecturing her profession, and during and after the war she lectured almost constantly, establishing a reputation for elo-

quence hitherto unequalled by a woman. In 1862 she canvassed for the Republican party in New England, and after the election accepted in- vitations from the Union league clubs of New York and Philadelphia to deliver addresses on war topics. In 1863 she made a political canvass of the Pennsylvania coal regions in behalf of the re-election of Governor Curtin, and in January , 1864, she gave a lecture in the capitol at Wash- ington for the benefit of the Freedmen's relief society. After the war she appeared on the lyceum platform, the topics of her more pop- ular lectures including : ' ' Reconstruction, ' ' " Woman's Work and Wages," " Whited Sepul- chres," "Joan of Arc," and "Demagogues and Workingmen." In 1875 she entered the dramatic profession and made her dSbut as an actress in "■ A Crown of Thorns " written by herself. She afterward appeared in Shakespearian roles and in 1878 wrote " Aurelian " for John E. McCul- lough, which was never performed. " An American Girl," written for Fanny Davenport in 1880, was played by that actress with great suc- cess. Miss Dickinson was more successful as a playwright than as an actress and in 1879 re- turned to the lyceum platform, lecturing on "Platform and Stage." In 1888 she was em- ployed by the National Republican committee in the presidential campaign. In 1891 she was con- fined in the State insane asylum at Danville, Pa., and in 1893 began suits against eight persons for aggregate damages of §125,000 for placing her in the asylum. She is the author of: Wliat Answer? (1868) ; A Paying Investment: A Plea for Education (1876) ; and A Ragged Register of People, Places and Opinions (1879).

DICKINSON, Baxter, clergyman, was born in Amherst, Mass., April 14, 1795. He was gradu- ated from Yale in 1817, and from Andover Theo- logical seminary in 1821. He was ordained a Pres- byterian minister, March 5, 1823 ; and was pastor at Longmeadow, Mass., 1823-29, and at the Third Presbyterian church, Newark, N.J., 1829-35. He then accepted the chair of Sacred rhetoric and pastoral theology at Lane theological seminary, resigning in 1839 to fill a similar chair at Auburn theological seminary, 1839^7. In 1847 he became the secretary and general agent of the American and foreign Christian union, and held the posi- tion until 1859, when he became a teacher in a yoimg ladies' seminary at Lake Forest, 111. In 1868 he retired from active work and removed to Brook- lyn, N. Y. Amherst gave him the degree of D.D. in 1883. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 7, 1875.

DICKINSON, Charles Monroe, diplomatist, was born in Lowville, N.Y., Nov. 15, 1842; son of Richard and Betsey (Rea) Dickinson; grandson of Joseph and Jane (Crocker) Dickinson and of Philip -and Rebecca Rea, and great-grandson of