Update for Margaret (nee Caswell) Styles

Margaret Styles:  Thanks to a descendant of Margaret I now have her death date.

Found in the Williston Graphic, a newspaper in North Dakota, Thursday, May 30, 1901
 

From the same newspaper dated Thursday, January 3, 1901 came the following article:

Who Were The Arguers

Preparing this information about my Dickson family made me realize that perhaps the Caswell trait of arguing at the drop of a hat over insignificant points, more likely came from the Dickson side, not the Caswell's.  The Caswell's have been blamed for the “arguing gene” and hair trigger temper that has been passed down in the family. 

Although no one is alive to defend her, the comments that have been made about Mary Jane Caswell (nee Dickson) indicate she was the one with the temper, not Andrew.

Stories abound in the Caswell family about the arguments that regularly took place, often started from something so inconsequential it was hard to believe it should be argued about at all.  Siblings could be discussing an event 30 or 40 years before and then launch into a very heated argument about the weather on that particular day. 

Mary Jane Dickson Caswell (according a great granddaughter) was dictatorial and would lie in bed and make her daughters serve her breakfast in bed.  A daughter in law said that Mary Jane was an old “Tartar”.  I was told that my own great grandmother, Mary Jane Donnan, as well as her sisters, married as soon as they could to get away from the demands of their mother.

There was also the land claim in Biddulph where Mary Jane took a stick to her brother Thomas[i].  For this she was fined $5 by the courts.

And in Saskatchewan Mary Jane took a willow stick to an Indian that had taken a buggy whip.

“When the Rebellion first started two Indians came to our door and as was my custom, I went to get them some bread and butter, for as the old saying is “a full stomach makes a good child.” The younger of the two took the bread and put it in his coat and went off. The older one, a fellow about twenty, sat down in the house with his gun standing beside him. The gun had a piece of red flannel tied on the barrel. I gave him a piece of a loaf of bread and he threw it out on the snowbank. Pretty soon he came out with our buggy whip in his hand. Grandma Caswell said “I’ll not let him take that!” so out she went and told him to put it down and when he would not do it she went up to him and caught hold of the whip and hit him over the knuckles with a willow stick she picked up. He finally let go and went toward the river.”

     In my own Caswell family, the arguing of my grandmother and her sisters was legendary.  As young children, my sister and I often had to listen to the Donnan sisters visiting and the ensuing arguing - often about an obscure event many years previously.  Unfortunately, this arguing lead to the death of one of their sisters.  She was hit in the head with stick when she and her sister were arguing about who would get to use the iron.

      I have now shared all the information I have uncovered about this family.  As I said at the beginning of my Dickson posts, we are lucky to have pictures, stories and clues about someone born about 1766.  Unfortunately though, there are a number of unanswered questions, especially who James children were and how many lived near him in Biddulph.  I will continue to search for his obituary and hope some answers will be contained within it.

---

[i] University of Western Ontario in the Regional History Collection, Juror Returns, a reference to a petty prosecution: Thomas Dickson v. Mary Caswell, assault with a stick, May 18^th, 1861, before John McLaughlin, JP, fine of $5.

WHO WERE JAMES DICKSONS CHILDREN?

Rob Caswell’s notes:

“From James marriage to Ann Wallis in Ireland they had one daughter and two sons. The daughter married Andrew Caswell, descendants of Huguenots who migrated to Ireland.”

        Most of what I knew about James Dickson's children was the above – that he had 1 daughter, Mary Jane Caswell and 2 sons Robert & Thomas.  Were they the surviving children from James Dickson and wife Margaret Wallace’s marriage? With second wife Esther did he have another family?  Did Esther have a first marriage?  The information about the two sons & one daughter most likely came from daughter Mary Jane.  Was she referring to “full” brothers?  Except her brother James was much closer in age to her than Robert & Thomas and he isn't mentioned at all.

        An article in Potters American Monthly Magazine Notes & Queries about James Dickson said he was the father of fourteen children, of whom eight were living.  (Information taken from obituary which I have not been able to find.)  At age 112 it is not surprising that he outlived some of his children.

        I can account for 4 children.  

        We know Mary Jane Caswell was the daughter of James Dickson and Margaret Ann Wallace.  Never mentioned in the few notes about Mary Jane's brothers was James Campbell Dickson.  He does not appear to be part of the land dispute, thus there may not have been a reason for Rob Caswell to remember him when writing his memoirs.  James Campbell Dickson was born before 1825, so that would make him a full brother.  It is Robert and Thomas that I am unsure of. 

        Why was James middle name "Campbell"?  I assume one of the grandmothers was a Campbell, frustrating little clues with no answers.

        If census records are somewhat accurate, Thomas was born about 1830 and Robert about 1833.  According to the gravestone in Palmerston Margaret Ann Wallace died in 1830 at the age of 55.  It would be a minor miracle if she bore Thomas; a major one if she bore Robert, but quick work if Esther is the mother of Robert and Thomas.  Esther would have been 38 when Thomas was born and 41 when Robert was born.

        From the census records we know that there was a range of birth years for James & Esther, so it is possible that Robert & Thomas are younger (or older) than stated in the census. Perhaps as half-brothers and this would explain some of the animosity over the Ferris property.

JAMES CAMPBELL DICKSON

(through DNA I have matched with a number of James C's descendants)

     James Campbell Dickson was born in Ireland about 1821 and married Anna Phair, daughter of William Phair. They moved from Biddulph to McKillop about 1860 and then to Wisconsin in 1865.  Margaret, Thomas, William, Charlotte, James and Elizabeth were all born in Biddulph.  Samuel, Richard and Maria were born in McKillop.  Jane was born in Wisconsin.

     James died 3 November 1885 in Advance, Shawano, Wisconsin and his wife Anna died 20 February 1900 in the same area.

James Campbell Dickson’s gravestone – Dickson FamilyCemetery, Advance, Shawano, Wisconsin

James and Anna had the following children:

MARGARET JANE DICKSON was born in 1845 in Biddulph, Huron, Ontario, Canada. She died on 27 Mar 1885 in Green Valley, Shawano, Wisconsin. She married Elmore Lee on 10 Jun 1879 in Hartland, Shawano, Wisconsin. He was born on 10 Aug 1826 in New York. He died on 25 Mar 1902 in Outagamie, Wisconsin. 

THOMAS HENRY DICKSON was born on 07 Oct 1848 in Biddulph, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. He died on 26 Apr 1932. He married MARY ?. She was born on 25 Apr 1860. She died on 19 Aug 1909.

WILLIAM ROBERT DICKSON was born in 1854 in Biddulph, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. He died in Jan 1880 in Green Valley, Shawano, Wisconsin.

CHARLOTTE DICKSON was born in 1855 in Biddulph, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. She died in 1865 in McKillop, Huron, Ontario, Canada.

JAMES CHARLES DICKSON was born on 08 May 1858 in Biddulph, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. He died on 31 Jul 1930 in Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin. He married Anna McKenna on 26 Dec 1879 in Green Valley, Shawano, Wisconsin. She was born in 1862 in Ontario, Canada. She died in 1923 in Wisconsin. 

ELIZABETH ANN DICKSON was born in Jul 1859 in Biddulph, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. She died on 02 Oct 1919. She married JAMES MADISON CLARK. He was born in 1849. He died in 1930. 

SAMUEL ROBERT DICKSON was born on 11 Jun 1861 in McKillop, Huron, Ontario, Canada. He died on 04 Nov 1942. He married LORETTA MCNEISH. She was born on 15 Apr 1864. She died on 29 Jul 1953. 

RICHARD E. DICKSON was born in 1863 in McKillop, Huron, Ontario, Canada.

MARIA DICKSON was born in 1865 in McKillop, Huron, Ontario, Canada. She died on 28 Jul 1886. She married THOMAS O. MCNIESH. He was born about 1853. 

JANE DICKSON was born in May 1870 in Wisconsin. She died about 1878.

1851 census Biddulph, Ontario – James and Ann Dickson living with or beside James Dickson Sr. 

James	Ireland	Not given	farmer
Ann	Ireland	25
Margaret Ann	Canada	7
Thomas Henry	Canada	3
William Robert	Canada	1
James	Ireland	79	farmer
Esther	Ireland	50

THOMAS

He was born about 1830 in Ireland.  He married Mary McLachlan 21 Jan 1875 Middlesex, Ontario.  No idea what happened to them once they left the Biddulph area except for the comment in Mary Ann Hilliards book, "A Pioneer Girl"

1861 census Biddulph, Ontario - Thomas and wife Mary are living near his niece Margaret Styles, her husband and children

Robert Stiles	Upper Canada	24
Margaret Stiles	Ireland	22
Andrew Stiles	Upper Canada	3
Martha Stiles	Upper Canada	1
Thomas Dickson	Ireland	31
Mary Dickson	Ireland	33

•  University of Western Ontario in the Regional History Collection, Juror Returns, a reference to a petty prosecution: Thomas Dickson v. Mary Caswell, assault with a stick, May 18^th, 1861, before John McLaughlin, JP, fine of $5.

• From a Pioneer Girl, p 106 written shortly after Christmas 1887:

  “A letter came this mail to inform the Caswells that their mother’s brother, Thomas Dickson had died in Denver, Colorado leaving an estate without a will.  When we receive our share we girls are to go to the convent at Prince Albert.  We are getting ready now.”

     John and I have both gone through the Denver records without success.  We looked at wills, burial records of the various cemeteries in Denver and city directories.  We did find a Thomas H. Dickson but not enough information to confirm he is ours.

From the Denver City Directories 1881 – 1887

1881 -----

1882 Dickson, Thomas H., bookkeeper r 207 Olive

1883 Dickson, Thomas H., clk. D & RG Railway, r 207 Olive

1884 -------

1885 -------

1886 Dickson, Thomas, clerk r Ruby, cor 5^th & Highland (Ruby, George A., grocer, 888 Latimer)

     It appears that the above Thomas Dickson was a bookkeeper in 1882, became a clerk for the railway in 1883, may have been away from Denver, ill, out of town or unemployed in 1884 – 85.  

     While Mary and JD’s other daughters let their imagination soar in the hope of getting schooling at the convent in Prince Albert, they were doomed to disappointment.  If the above was their uncle, Thomas H. Dickson, was hardly a man of means.  If there was an estate, the lawyers got it!

ROBERT

     He was born in 1833 in England or Ireland?. One Canadian census says England.  He married Jane McIntyre in Ontario in 1854. She was born on 19 Jun 1836 in French Fort, PEI. 

Robert Dixon of Biddulph, and Jane McIntyre of Blanchard 23 November 1854, by banns Rev. Gilbert. Wesleyan Methodist.  Wit.Thomas Slack and Susanna Kerr 

(from “Perth County Baptism, Marriage and Burial Register – 1852 – 1859.” Compiled by Dan Walker and Fawne Stratford –Devai)

Robert Dickson and Jane McIntyre had the following children:

ELIZABETH JANE DICKSON was born on 07 Nov 1855 in Blanshard, Perth, Ontario, Canada.

MARY ANN DICKSON was born on 17 Mar 1860 in St Marys, Perth, Ontario, Canada. She died on 19 Feb 1950 in Big Rapids, Mecosta, Michigan, USA (Age: 89). She married HENRY ROGERS. He was born about 1855 in Ontario, Canada and died in Michigan. 

Henry Rogers and Mary Ann Dickson adopted FAY ERWIN ROGERS who was born on 11 Mar 1886 in Big Rapids, Mecosta County, Michigan. He died on 29 May 1971 in Wisconsin. He married Anna Gerken on 22 Dec 1908 in Big Rapids, Mecosta, Michigan. 

1861 census Biddulph, Ontario – James Dickson Sr was living with or near Robert Dickson, his son.  According to this census Robert was born in England – possibly James was stationed there for part of his service or it was a transcription error.

Robert	England	28
Jane	Lower Canada	25
M. Ann	Upper Canada	2
James	Ireland	91
Esther	Ireland	55
Andrew Caswell	Ireland	56
Mary Caswell	Ireland	46

     I will continue to search for James Dickson's obit as well as search marriage records to see if I can locate more of his children.