My Genealogy Hound

ALFRED T. DICKINSON, a prominent citizen and substantial merchant of Messengerville, town of Virgil, this county, is a son of William and Eliza (Davis) Dickinson, and was born in the town of Virgil, October 24, 1834.

Christopher Dickinson, his grandfather, was a native of Sullivan County, but came to Cortland County, and settled in the town of Virgil at Snyder Hill, where he was engaged in the work of farming and shoemaking. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat.

William Dickinson, the father, was also a native of Sullivan County, having been born in that county in 1804. He removed with his father to the town of Virgil, where the remainder of his life was passed; he died in 1880 at the age of seventy-six years. Like his father, he was a shoemaker and farmer, and was quite prosperous in his business. He was a Democrat. He married Eliza Davis and raised a large family: John O. lives in Oswego County, the father of two sons, Floyd and Thomas; Alfred T.; Orson Dewitt died at the age of six years; Harriet L., wife of Hiram Sherman of Summer Hill, Cayuga County; James H. of Binghamton, a mechanic; Eugene, stock clerk in the Warner Corset Factory of Bridgeport, Conn.; Sarah, wife of T. N. Leech of Cortland.

Alfred T. Dickinson has been twice married, his first wife being Ada Palmer; after her death, he was united with Sarah E. Seager of Virgil, and to them was born one son, William S., born December 25, 1868, now in business with his father. Mr. Dickinson received a common school education, and grew to manhood upon his father’s farm. He then worked on a farm by the month for one year, when he purchased a tract of timber and for about three years supplied the Syracuse and Binghamton R. R. with lumber, taken from it; and another summer furnished the same road with ties. In 1862 he embarked in the mercantile business, conducting it with great success for a period of eighteen years, when he went to Cortland to take charge of the Cortland Foundry, of which he was president for eight years; a part of that time he operated one of the largest general stores of Cortland. He then came to Messengerville, where he opened once more a general merchandise store; the room is 103 feet in length and the building is two stories in height, giving him large, commodious quarters in which to conduct his business. He handles a complete line of dry goods, groceries, hardware, boots, shoes and feed, and has the extensive patronage so well deserved by this enterprising establishment. He is known as a man of frank, kindly disposition, honorable and upright in all his dealings, and no man is more highly respected in the communities in which he has lived. In addition to his large store, he owns the old farm in Virgil, upon which he was born, besides other valuable real estate in the city of Scranton, Pa. Politically he has been affiliated with the Democratic party, but with the exception of the office of inspector, to which he was elected, he has never accepted an office, although frequently importuned to do so; he preferred rather the enjoyments of domestic life and the quiet routine of business to the excitement and uncertainty of a political career. He is a member of Thermopylae Lodge, No. 438, F. & A. M. at Marathon.