William Cooley's biography, Eaton township, Eaton County, Michigan

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SUBJECT: Luren D. DICKINSON
SUBMITTER: Jan Lubitz Sedore
EMAIL: am0773@a1access.net
DATE: May 30, 1999
SURNAMES: DICKINSON, LEAVENS, MIKESELL, COOLEY, NISLEY, HURD, PRESCOTT,
SPOTTS, SNOW, WICKARD, MOYER, MUR RAY
PAST AND PRESENT OF EATON COUNTY
EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN
Page 280-283
LUREN D. DICKINSON

Luren D. Dickinson is one of the leading farmers of Eaton township and
is a prominent and influential business man and honored citizen of the
county, which he has represented in the state legislature with marked ability,
while he has long been a prominent factor in public affairs in this section
of the state. Mr. Dickinson was born in Niagara County, New York, April
15, 1859, and is a son of Daniel and Hannah E. (Leavens) Dickinson, the
former of whom was born December 1, 1828, his death occurring, in Eaton
township, March 4, 1903, while the latter was born, in Orleans county,
New York, April 17, 1830, now making her home with the subject of this
review. The parents were married in 1853, in the state of New York, where
the father was engaged in farming and fruit-growing until 1854, when he
came with his wife to Eaton County, Michigan, where he was employed at
farm work for about three years, at the expiration of which he returned
to the state of New York, where he continued to reside until 1860. He then
came to Eaton County, Michigan, passing the first two years in Chester
Township and the next two in Benton Township. In 1864 he purchased thirty
acres of wild land in section 21, Eaton Township, improving the property
and erecting the present frame residence. His sister had land adjoining
and he eventually purchased the same, while he purchased and sold other
land in the county, having been successful in his operations and having
reclaimed a considerable amount from the native timber. He was a man of
strong individuality and unwavering integrity, commanding the esteem of
his fellow men. He served many years as a school officer and one term as
justice of the peace. He was a Republican in politics and was a consistent
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as is also his widow. They became
the parents of four children, one of whom died in infancy; Marvin is a
prosperous farmer of Brookfield township; Luren D., the subject of this
sketch, was next in order of birth; and Deone is the wife of Frank Mikesell,
of Charlotte. Luren D. Dickinson was reared to the sturdy discipline of
the home farm, and was intimately associated with his father in his farming
and real estate operations until the death of the latter. After leaving
the district school he continued his studies in the high school in the
city of Charlotte. He began teaching at the age of eighteen years and followed
the pedagogic profession, with marked success, for nineteen terms, while
in the connection he made a noteworthy record, as follows: In two years
and three months he taught two winter terms of school, worked two summer
seasons on the farm and advanced four grades in the high school. At the
age of twenty years he became associated with his father in the buying
and selling of farmlands in the county, and they made numerous transactions
of a profitable sort, in the meanwhile making improvements on a number
of the properties handled. He is now the owner of a valuable landed estate
of two hundred and five acres, in Eaton and Brookfield Township, and he
has manifested much energy and discernment in improving his property, his
homestead being a particularly attractive rural domain. Mr. Dickinson is
an influential factor in the local councils of the Republican Party, in
whose cause he has been an enthusiastic and effective worker. He served
one term as township superintendent of schools; was township clerk one
term, to fill a vacancy; and was supervisor three terms. In 1897 he was
elected to represent the second district of Eaton County in the state legislature,
and in the house he was assigned to the committees on agriculture, liquor
traffic and industrial school for girls. In 1904 he was again elected to
the legislature, and in the assembly was given a place on the house committees
on elections, Upper Peninsula asylum for the insane, federal relations,
and state library. He introduced what was known as the Dickinson bill and
later as the Dickinson-Double-Ivory bill, having to do with reforms in
primary elections. He has been a member of the Republican central committee
of Eaton County, for the past twenty years, was chairman of the legislative
committee four years and was chairman of the congressional convention,
in the city of Battle Creek, in 1904, when Hon. Washington Gardner was
nominated for congress. In 1895 he tied the field for the legislative nomination,
but was defeated, and in 1901 he tied the winning candidate at the convention
for nomination for state senator, while his name is being prominently brought
forward in connection with the senatorial nomination in 1906. He has probably
been a delegate to a greater number of political conventions than has any
other man of his age in Eaton County. Mr. Dickinson is secretary of the
Charlotte Creamery Company and is a stockholder of the First National Bank
of that city. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and both he
and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. October
16, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dickinson to Miss Zoa Della
Cooley, who was born in Eaton Township, this county, July 11, 1865, being
a daughter of William T. and Katherine (Nisley) Cooley, the former of whom
was born in Maryland, November 1, 1829, being now a resident on his fine
homestead farm, in Eaton township; his wife, who was born June 27, 1826,
in the state of Ohio, died in Eaton township, January 18, 1892. Mr. Cooley
is one of the honored pioneers of Eaton County, where he took up his residence
in 1852, reclaiming a good farm and becoming one of the prosperous agriculturists
of the county. Following is a brief record concerning the eight children
of William T. and Katherine Cooley: Martha born August 21, 1847, became
the wife of John Hurd, and died September 23, 1876, leaving one child;
Jane, born April 5, 1851, is the wife of William H. Prescott of Harbor
City, and they have three children; Sarah, born January 30, 1854, is the
wife of George Spotts, of Brookfield township, and they have three children;
Myrtie, born April 6, 1856, first married Isaac Snow, who died, leaving
one child, and she later married Josiah Wickerd, likewise deceased, and
she is now the wife of Henry A. Moyer of Charlotte; William, who was born
November 21, 1859, and who is a farmer of Eaton township, married Effie
Murray and they have one child; and Zora D., the youngest of the children,
is the wife of the subject of this review. Mr. and Mrs Dickinson have an
adopted child, Ethel, who was born March 2, 1890, being the daughter of
Mr. Dickinson's brother, Marvin.