Griffith Dickinson
Atlas Map of Peoria County, Illinois; 1873.
GRIFFITH DICKINSON was born in the territory of Indiana, on the 27th day of November 1811, in what is now Switzerland County. His father, John Dickinson, was a native of Maryland, and emigrated to Indiana when a small boy. He married Mary White. The subject of this memoir is the oldest child. His early life was spent in the wilderness of that frontier territory, where he enjoyed but limited advantages of education. He was brought up on a farm till the age of twenty-four years when he came to Peoria with his wife and two children, having married in his native place Miss Achsah Bennett, a native of Western New York. Mr. Dickinson came to Peoria in a four-horse wagon, arriving here on the 24th of April 1835. He rented land for a few years near Mossville and afterwards purchased the same, remaining on it about one year, when he sold out in consequence of the unhealthiness of the place, and bought six miles west, in the town of Radnor, where he remained till 1866 when he came and bought the place where William Giles now resides. In February 1873, he sold that place, and the same day purchased the place where he now resides, on the Knoxville road, two miles from the courthouse square. He has thirteen acres in this place, which makes a pleasant and valuable homestead.
Mr. Griffith Dickinson's principal business while living in the country was farming and handling stock. By economy, industry, and perseverance, he amassed a considerable fortune. He owns about a thousand acres of land of excellent quality on some of which he is pasturing and feeding large numbers of cattle. He has made money by speculating in lands and stocks, and has considerable in railroad shares and United States bonds.
In politics, Mr. Dickinson was originally a Whig, but became a republican when the latter party was organized. He takes no active part in politics, except to make it a point to vote at each election, deeming that a duty of all good citizens. Mr. Dickinson is one of our most successful businessmen. His talents and energies as a financier, and his industry and good management in his business relations, have placed him in possession of a comfortable fortune, and he has a reputation for honor and integrity among his fellow citizens. His education has been mostly acquired in the school of experience, and he has a good knowledge of human nature, and is independent in his views and opinions. He has the esteem and confidence of a large circle of acquaintances.
His first wife died September 12, 1858. On the 24th of November 1859, he was married to Miss Margaret Johnson of Peoria County, by whom he has three children. He has been married three times, and has had, in all, ten children.