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Below is a family biography included in The History of Benton County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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Ezekiel John Alcorn Dickson, one of Benton County’s (Ark.) oldest and most highly esteemed citizens, was born in Rutherford County, Tenn., March 21, 1813, and is of Scotch-Irish descent. He is a son of Ezekiel Dickson, who was born in Lincoln County, N. C., in 1782, and in 1802 was married to Mary McKissick, and the following year moved to Tennessee, where he resided until the spring of 1836, when he located in Benton Count Ark., and in 1841 settled on the farm now owned by his son, Ezekiel J. A. Dickson. He died on the 14th of May, 1858. His wife was born in 1780, also in Lincoln County, N. C. She was a daughter of Daniel McKissick, a Revolutionary soldier, who was for many years clerk of Lincoln County, N. C. He died in1818 in Bedford County, Tenn. Mrs. Dickson died June 2, 1853, having borne nine children, two of whom are living: Ezekiel J. A. and Mary E., widow of William R. Ogden. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Gen. Joseph Dickson, who was a native of Pennsylvania, born about 1750. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and died in 1825 in Rutherford County. Tenn. Ezekiel J. A. Dickson was reared on a farm, and in 1835 left his native State and immigrated to Arkansas with his uncle, Joseph McKissick, and located on a farm about eight miles west of Bentonville. November 26, 1840. he was married to Sophia Jane Morrison, who was born in Bedford County, Tenn., in 1820 and a daughter of Andrew and Jane (Robinson) Morrison, and their union was blessed in the birth of seven children: Isabella Emily, widow of R. P. Lynn; James Milton, who died in 1862 at the age of eighteen years; Margaret Adaline, wife of Dr. E. P. Hansard; Caledonia Wilson, wife of T. J. Vaughn; Nannie Eliza, wife of John W. Williams; Mary Harris, wife of J. M. Wier, and Robert A., who died in 1880 at the age of twenty-five years. Mr. Dickson located on his present farm in 1847. He owns 770 acres at the present time, but at one time owned 990 acres. He is one of the oldest citizens of Benton County, Ark having been a resident of the same for fifty-three years, and in politics has always been a firm believer and supporter of Democratic principles. He was school commissioner of Benton County for eight years, and was justice of the peace for six years. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and he and wife have long been members of the Presbyterian Church.

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This family biography is one of 240 biographies included in The History of Benton County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Benton County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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