Russell County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Dickenson, Robert Walter 1857 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 23, 2008, 1:19 am

Author: Leonard Wilson  (1916)

ROBERT WALTER DICKENSON

IN England it is claimed for the Dickenson families that they have a double
origin-one line coming down from the Norman who followed William the Conqueror
to England, who for his service was rewarded with the Manor of Kenson, and who
became known as Walter de Kenson, which easily became transformed into Walter
Dickenson. This man was descended, through a younger son, from Rollo, the Norman
chief, who conquered that part of France which became known as Normandy. The
other origin is purely English. The old Christian name of Richard was familiarly
known as Dick and Diccon in the earlier centuries. When men began to take
surnames, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the son of Diccon easily became
Dicconson, and that ancient form is adhered to yet by a few families in England.
There have been a half dozen spellings of the name, but practically all but
three have been changed in America-the majority using the form of Dickinson, the
Virginia family chiefly adhering to the form of Dickenson; and a family in New
Jersey using the form of Dickerson-this New Jersey family, however, being
descended from Walter Dickenson.

    There are two main lines in America-one founded by Nathaniel in New England,
known as Nathaniel of Hadley, who came over in 1630, and whose descendants
nearly all use the form of Dickinson. The other main line was founded by Walter,
Henry and John Dickenson (brothers), sons of Charles Dickenson, a London
merchant who married Rachel Carter, and who was a son of Simon Dickenson, who
had married Catherine Dudley, who was a daughter of the fifth Lord Dudley. These
three sons of Charles came to Virginia in 1654 and became the founders of three
separate families. Walter married for his first wife Jane Yarrett, moved to
Talbot County, Maryland, and became the founder of the Maryland and Delaware
Dickinsons. The historian of this family claimed (in 1883) that Samuel T.
Dickinson, of Talbot County, Maryland, was the legitimate head of the entire
Dickinson race, being able to trace his ancestral line from the elder line of
thirteen generations to the man who first bore the name. Henry, the second, son
of Charles, married a Miss Jennings, settled in Virginia permanently, and became
the patriarch of the Virginia Dickensons. His descendants are now found, not
only in Virginia, but in other Southern States. This branch of the family has
always clung to the ancestral "e" in its orthography. The third son of Charles,
of London, was John, who moved from Virginia, and through his son, William,
became the ancestor of a large branch of the Pennsylvania Dickinsons. At a
family gathering held in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1883, a most amazing list of
descendants of these various Dickinson families was shown, and it was also
demonstrated that they had been conspicuously good citizens throughout their
entire American history and had contributed a large number of first-class men to
the public service. Of these-Daniel S. Dickinson, a great lawyer, who was in the
United States Senate in the middle part of the last century, should have had the
Democratic nomination for President when Franklin Pierce was nominated in 1852,
but for a point of honor. Two have been Governors of New Jersey- Mahlon and
Philemon Dickerson. These were brothers and both descended from the Maryland
family founded by Walter Dickenson. The elder of these was Governor of New
Jersey, United States Senator and Secretary of the Navy, later becoming United
States Judge. The younger was Governor of New Jersey, and upon the death of his
brother succeeded him as United States Judge. Jonathan Dickinson, of the
Massachusetts line, was the founder of Nassau Hall, which we now know as
Princeton University. John Dickinson, of the Revolutionary period, belonged to
the Maryland branch of the family identified with Delaware and Pennsylvania, was
one of the foremost men of the Revolutionary period, Congressman and Governor,
soldier, founder of Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, President of
its Board of Trustees for the last twenty-five years of his life; and was the
originator of the system by which every State in the Union secured equal
representation in the United States Senate. A large number of other useful men,
distinguished in their lifetime for public service, could be mentioned did our
space permit. One or two more cannot be left out. General Philemon Dickinson,
Revolutionary soldier, Continental Congressman, United States Senator, was a
younger brother of Governor Dickinson. In our own day, Don M. Dickinson, a
distinguished lawyer of Detroit, Michigan, was a Cabinet Minister under
President Cleveland.

    The Virginia Dickensons were represented by more than twenty-five soldiers
in the Revolutionary War. Of these, Colonel John Dickenson commanded a regiment
which had charge of the protection of the frontier from 1774 to 1778. Henry
Dickenson, great-grandfather of Robert Walter, was an ensign in the Washington
County Company. He was Russell County's representative in the first
Constitutional Convention in 17S8. Edmund Dickenson was a captain of the First
Virginia Regiment and was later promoted to be a major. The others were
apparently private soldiers.

    In 1770, Henry Dickenson, who was a great-grandson of the original Henry,
the immigrant, moved from Prince Edward County, Virginia, to what is now Russell
County. He was later followed by his father, who also bore the given name of
Henry. The younger Henry, with Charles Bickley, were the organizers of Russell
County, the county seat being located on the farm of Henry Dickenson, and known
as Dickensonville. He was the first clerk of Russell County. His colleague,
Charles Bickley, established the first post office in what is now Russell
County, which was then known as Bickley's Mills, the first grist mill in the
county being established at this point. He became the postmaster, in which
office he was succeeded by his son, John, and the two held the position for
eighty years.

    The subject of this sketch, Robert Walter Dickenson, now a conspicuous
citizen of southwest Virginia, with a State-wide reputation, was born at
Castlewood (at which place he yet lives) on June 7, 1857, son of James H. and
Nancy G. (Bickley) Dickenson, and is a great-grandson of both the Henry
Dickenson and the Charles Bickley who organized Russell County-Charles Bickley
having been his great-grandfather in the maternal line. These two, Henry
Dickenson and Charles Bickley, the great-grandfathers of Mr. Dickenson, were
pioneers indeed. They were the first white men who settled in Russell County,
which was then the extreme frontier. They served in the Revolutionary War, and
were a part of that little army of mounted men who rallied under the five
colonels and inflicted the crushing defeat on the British at Kings Mountain. The
son of Henry Dickenson, the pioneer, and the grandfather of our subject, was a
farmer, served as sheriff of the County, and represented his district in the
Virginia Legislature twice. Mr. Dickenson's father, James H. Dickenson, was a
successful merchant and farmer. The prominence of this family, as one of the
pioneer families of southwest Virginia, led to the naming of one of the extreme
western counties after the family when it was formed, some twenty-five years
back. William T. Dickenson, an uncle, was at that time Russell County's
representative in the Legislature and was patron of the bill creating Dickenson
County.

    Robert Walter Dickenson was educated in the common schools of Russell
County, followed by a course at Emory and Henry College. Completing his studies,
he engaged in the mercantile business with his father, and this has been his
chief pursuit through life. At the present time he is the owner of two
mercantile establishments, one a wholesale business in St. Paul, and the other a
retail business in Castlewood. Like all of his family he has tenaciously adhered
to the land, and has not forsaken that for any other pursuit, however large his
interest might be. On his splendid estate of two thousand acres, he is an
extensive farmer and grazier. His success has been unusually pronounced,
considering that he was in a remote mountainous section of the State which has
only had transportation facilities for a comparatively few years, but which in
these few years has developed greatly and enjoys an unusual measure of prosperity.

    Mr. Dickenson is President of the St. Paul National Bank, Director of the
Russell Creek Coal Company and of the St. Paul Land Company. He has one unusual
distinction. He belongs to no club, no society, no organization of any kind and
no church. It might be said that he belongs to the Republican Party, as he is a
leading member of that organization in Virginia. He has long been a leader in
his Party. He served as a member of the State Senate in 1905, and prior to that,
in 1901, had been the Republican nominee for Lieutenant-Governor. He was chosen
a delegate to the National Republican Convention at St. Louis in 1S96 which
nominated William McKinley for President. He is at present a member of the
Republican State Committee of the Ninth District of Virginia. In 1913, Mr.
Dickenson, by appointment of the President, was a member of the American
Commission which toured Europe for the purpose of studying the system prevalent
over there, and seeing to what extent ideas could be gathered for the benefit of
our own country. While on this tour he met and was entertained in London by Hon.
H. W. Dickenson, a member of the English Parliament. In the city of Dublin he
met Judge Dickenson of the King's Bench of Ireland.

    On January 29, 1884, Mr. Dickenson was married at Jonesboro, Tennessee, to
Rosa D. Earnest, born in Cleveland, Tennessee, on May 20, 1860, daughter of
Felix W. and Eva (Burts) Earnest. Mr. and Mrs. Dickenson have a fine family of
six daughters; of these, Eva was married in 1909 to S. R. Jennings,
Vice-President and General Manager of the Carter Coal Company. They reside at
Johnson City, Tennessee, and have two daughters, Rosalie and Evelyn. Eugenia was
married in 1908 to A. S. Higginbothan, an attorney and large landowner of
Tazewell, Virginia, where they live. They have a daughter, Hortense, and a son,
Albert Sidney, Jr. The other four daughters, Misses Anna, Kathleen, Felicia and
Julia, are at home. Miss Anna is a graduate of Sullins College; Miss Kathleen,
of Curry school at Boston, Massachusetts; Miss Felicia of Martha Washington
College, and Miss Julia, who is a student in public school. He also has two
foster sons, Felix Walter and Theodore, sons of his brother James M. Dickenson.

    The Dickenson family, whatever spelling the different branches of it may
use, have everywhere had certain qualities in common. This is true, whether in
Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania, or Maryland, or Virginia-these qualities have
been strong convictions, great tenacity of purpose, and keeping in close touch
with the land, in so far as a large majority of them have been concerned.

    Robert Walter Dickenson has a full share of these family qualities, and he
has a very unusual measure of business ability, which is joined to another
distinctive trait of his family, and that is a natural aptitude for politics,
which has resulted, in his case, in his becoming a political as well as a
business leader. He is a man of strong business integrity, clean personal
character, and enjoys the confidence of the community in which his life has been
spent.

    "Walrose," the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dickenson, is one of the most beautiful
in Russell County. This appellation is a blending of their given names, Walter
and Rose.

    The Dickenson Coat of Arms, as used by the three immigrant brothers, Walter,
Henry and John Dickenson, is thus described:

    "Vert, a cross between four hinds' heads erased or.

    "Crest: a Stag's head erased or.

    "Motto: Essex Quam videri."

    This Coat of Arms was granted to John Dickenson of Leeds in 1625.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MAKERS OF AMERICA
BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION

THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE

VOLUME II

By
LEONARD WILSON,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS
Illustrated with many full page engravings
B. F. JOHNSON, INC.
CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A.
1916

Copyright, 1916
by
B. F. Johnson, Inc.

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