My Genealogy Hound

Joseph Dixon, farmer, stock dealer and lumberman, was born in England, October 26, 1842, and is a son of John and Eliza Dixon, of English birth, who came to America in 1842, and located in New York City, where they both died in 1849. John Dixon was a butcher by occupation, and he and wife were parents of two children. Joseph Dixon was left an orphan when seven years of age, and until fourteen years old, worked for his board and clothes. He received such education as he could afford. He learned the trade of a machinist, and for some time fired an engine on the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad. Coming to Chicago in 1858, he was soon made an engineer, and for nine years followed that occupation. He then went to Freeport, and later to Pecatonica, Ill., in both of which places he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He came in 1882 to Jonesboro, and engaged in saw-milling, which he has since followed. In 1883 he built a large three-story hotel, of which he was proprietor until the disastrous fire of 1889, when it was entirely lost, with all his household effects—total loss, $5,000, without insurance. Mr. Dixon is a large land owner, owning a great deal of property in Jonesboro, and about 340 acres of farm land, with 200 acres under cultivation. Miss Jane A. Clark became his wife in 1866, and they have one child, Carrie, wife of J. M. Bennett, of Pine Bluff, Ark. Mr. Dixon began life a poor boy, but by industry, economy and thrift, he has conquered adversity, and has made himself one of the leading and influential citizens of the community in which he lives. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, and is a Knight Templar.