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Below is a family biography included in The History of Dyer County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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John F. Dickey, farmer and prominent citizen of the Eighth District, was the son of George W. and Margaret H. (Fullerton) Dickey, and was born in Gibson County in 1838, being one of ten children, six of them now living. The father was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, born in 1807 in South Carolina. His parents immigrated to Alabama when George was a child, and a few years afterward to Gibson County, where they died. While a resident of Gibson County he was married to Miss Margaret H. Fullerton, and in 1849 moved to Dyer County and located in the Ninth District. Mrs. Dickey was born in Middle Tennessee in 1809, and died in 1869, and in 1871 he married Mrs. Melvina Dickens. Mr. Dickey is a quiet, industrious man, and much respected in his community. Our subject, John F. Dickey, remained at home, taking charge of the farm, until he was thirty years of age. In the fall of 1864 he enlisted, under Capt. Grier, in Gen. Forrest’s command, but after a year was sent home on account of ill health. December, 1869, he married Miss Margaret K, daughter of Richard G. and Sarah A. Archibald. They had but one child, and it died. He is now farming, owns 200 acres of land six miles southeast of Newbern, and fifty acres more in same district. In 1871 he was elected to the magistrate’s office and held it four years. In politics he is strictly conservative, and with his wife be longs to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Dickey was born in North Carolina in 1839, and her parents were natives of that State, moving to Dyer County in 1851.

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This family biography is one of 128 biographies included in The History of Dyer County, Tennessee published in 1887 by Goodspeed.  The History of Dyer County was included within The History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley & Lake Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley, and Lake Counties of Tennessee

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