Grundy-Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Dixon, Thomas February 19, 1826 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com February 20, 2006, 3:22 am

Author: Gen/Bio Record of Will Co IL 1900

Thomas Dixon. Prominent among the successful farmers of Florence Township may 
be mentioned Mr. Dixon, who, after years of active and arduous labor, has 
retired from farming cares and is passing his declining days quietly at his 
home in the suburbs of Symerton. For years he has occupied a position of 
influence in the affairs of his community. Although he has refused all public 
offices except one, he has nevertheless been foremost in movements for the 
public good and has won the esteem of his associates. For eighteen years he 
served as road commissioner, and during that time became recognized as a 
steadfast champion of good roads.

Of English birth and parentage, Mr. Dixon was born in Nottinghamshire, 
February 19, 1826, a son of John and Hannah (Dickerson) Dixon, who lived and 
died in England, the former being almost ninety at the time of his death. In 
the family there were seven children, viz.: Sarah, who is in England; Thomas; 
John, of Wilmington, this county; William, deceased; Ann, who is the wife of 
William Connors; George, of Symerton; and Hannah, who remains in England. When 
a boy our subject had no chance to attend school, for, the family being poor, 
he was obliged to support himself from an early age. He worked as a day 
laborer until twenty-eight years of age, when, in 1858, be came to America, 
accompanied by his sister Anna, sailing from Liverpool May 2 on the 
sailer “Excelsior,” and landing in New York June 14. From New York he 
proceeded direct to Chicago and thence to Lockport, where he met some English 
acquaintances. For five years he worked on the old John Lane farm in Homer 
Township, where the first steel plow was made. Next he rented a farm in Felix 
Township, Grundy County, and this lie operated for four years. Returning to 
Will County in 1869, he bought one hundred and eighty-five acres in Florence 
Township, and at once began the task of clearing, improving and cultivating a 
farm. He became especially interested in stock-raising, and made a specialty 
of Durham cattle and Clydesdale horses, dealing exclusively in fine stock. In 
1891 he rented the farm to a son and built a new house on his land near the 
village. His life is an example of what may be accomplished when the spirit of 
determination is exercised in connection with the everyday affairs of 
existence. His farming operations have resulted satisfactorIly, and he is now 
in a position to enjoy the comforts of life in his declining years. While he 
is not active in politics, he is a pronounced Democrat, strongly in sympathy 
with his party. His wife is a member of the German Evangelical Church, in 
which he has been treasurer of the Sunday school.

Miss Mary Ann Taylor, who became Mr. Dixon’s wife in 1852, was born in the 
same shire as himself and was a friend of his in their childhood days. They 
are the parents of eight children, seven now living, as follows: Harriet, wife 
of William Blood; Joseph, who makes his home in Joliet; Fannie, wife of 
Timothy Badgley, of Chicago; Sarah, Mrs. John Singleton; Thomas, who 
superintends the old homestead; John, living in Iowa; and Rosie, who is the 
wife of Frederick Behrn, of Joliet.

Source: "Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County, Illinois", 1900, 
Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, Pages 535-536


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