Pliny Dickinson Family from Walpole As It Was and As It Is (1880)

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Surname: DICKINSON
Source: Walpole As It Was and As It Is by George Aldrich, 
        The Claremont Manufacturing Co., Claremont, N.H., 1880, pages 237-238

DICKINSON, PLINY. Of Pliny Dickinson some account has already been given under the head of 
Church history, in this work, and it is regretted that a full detail of his family cannot be 
given, for want of data, which have been sought for but not obtained. Mr. Dickinson was born in
Granby, Mass., in 1777, and was settled over the old church and society in Walpole, in 1805, as 
colleague, at first, of Thomas Fessenden. He commenced boarding with Col. Caleb Bellows, when 
his future wife, Mary Brown, daughter of Col. Caleb and Mary (Hartwell) Bellows, was but five 
years old, she being born Jan. 7, 1800. He was married about 1819; but where, and by whom is not
known by the author. His ch. were:
I. George, m. Lucy Evans now dead; his residence is Minneapolis, Min.
II. William, is a physician, residence, St. Louis, Mo.
III. Eli Horton, d. June 26,1844, aged 20 years, a young man of much promise.
IV. Edward C., bap. Dec. 1827.
V. Samuel P. bap. 1829.
VI. Mary, d. aged 4 years.
VII. Joseph.
VIII. Phebe C., d. June 6, 1839, aged 4 years.
Mr. Dickinson d. Aug. 27, 1834. His widow subsequently m, James Crawford, of Putney, Vt., Apr. 
27, 1838, and had 2 ch., when he died and she married the third time a Mr. Smith, and is now 
living, a widow, in Maquoketa, Iowa. Mr. Dickinson held his pastorate twenty-six years. He was a
man of more than ordinary ability, proud in his demeanor, punctilious in his habits, persistent
in his views, and had a morbid foreboding of future wants, which may be inferred from his letter
of acceptance and the accumulation of a handsome property, on a salary of $500 per annum. He, it
is said, was very able in prayer and wrote fine, scholarly sermons, which strongly partook of the
old school model, being doctrinal rather than practical. His pastorate glided smoothly along, 
not many events occurring out of the usual routine to disturb him. But on one Sunday a little 
event turned up which greatly annoyed him., and happened on communion day, when two course 
Amazonian girls attended his church, a place where they had gone for the first time in their 
lives. When the ordinance of the supper was about to be administered, in their ignorance, they 
took seats with the communicants, and partook of the sacrament with them. Their uncouth demeanor
aroused the curiosity of the congregation, and, on inquiry they were found to be the daughters 
one Thomas Darby, a Welch weaver, who lived just over Walpole line, in the woods, in 
Westmoreland. Mr. Dickinson feeling that the Lord’s table had been defiled did not rest easy 
till he went to their home, early in the following week to rebuke them for sacrilegious conduct,
and, on arriving there, found no one at home but the old Welchman, their father, his log cabin, 
busy plying his shuttle. Mr. Dickinson, in his bland manner, related to uncle Tom, the way his 
daughters had conducted themselves, intensifying the enormity of such sacrilegious conduct. The 
old man listened with due reverence and attention till the parson got through, when he replied;
"Weel, weel, I’m soory, I’m burned soory, for I’ve allus teld my gals to keep out of bad 
company." It is said the parson did not prolong his visit.