My Genealogy Hound

Rev. Joseph A. Dickson, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Pine Bluff, is one of the popular and highly respected ministers of this county. He was born in Dickson County, Tenn., September 9, 1835, his father, Joseph A. Dickson, being a son of Moulton Dickson, of North Alabama, who first saw the light in 1807. The Dicksons originally came from Scotland in an early day, and settled in the Carolinas; some of the ancestors served as soldiers under Cromwell. Joseph A., the father, was a practicing physician of prominence in Dickson County, Tenn., which was named for some member of the family. He died when his son was but an infant. His wife, Nancy Belle, of the same county as himself, was born in 1814. After the death of her husband she remained a widow for five years, and then married Rev. W. A. Williams, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, who still lives in Texas, she having died in 1848. By her first marriage there were two children: Georgia Anna (who died at the age of two years), and Joseph A. (our subject). By the second marriage there were six children, all living: Anna E., Mary L., Sarah J., Medieus U., Martha E., and Nancy B. Joseph A., the youngest child of the first marriage, was reared in Dickson County until fourteen years of age, when he went to Tipton County and attended school two years; he then attended Erskine College, of South Carolina, from which he graduated in 1854 with the degree of A. B. Subsequently studying law at the Cumberland University, Tennessee, he took one course of lectures, and afterward returned to Tipton County, where he married Miss Mary C. McCain, of Tennessee. Following this he taught school for two years, after which he entered the Theological Department of Erskine College, and in the spring of 1857 was licensed to preach in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He spent three years in Central Mississippi, and was then called to Monticello, Ark., where he took charge of the church the same day that Lincoln was elected president. After having served this church during the war, he remained until 1871, when he was called to Millersburg, Ky. In the fall of 1865, he changed his relationship from the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church to the First Presbyterian Church. September 1, 1881, Dr. Dickson located in Pine Bluff, assuming charge of the First Presbyterian Church, where he has since continued, obtaining a firm hold in the hearts of his parishioners as well as those of wider acquaintance. At the time of his coming the membership was seventy, which has increased to about 400 at the present date. During 1888-89 100 members were added. To Dr. Dickson and wife have been born four children: Emmett M. (a successful lawyer at Paris, Ky., who graduated from Sidney College, in Virginia), Charles B. (a student at the Central University, of Kentucky), and Mary Will (at home). Claude Ross died in 1867 at the age of six years. Mrs. Dickson is an ardent worker in the church, and one of the best of women. Dr. Dickson is a member of the American Legion of Honor. In 1885 the Central University of Kentucky conferred upon him the title of D. D.