My Genealogy Hound

L. V. Dix has become noted in the county in which he resides for being one of its prosperous farmers. His birth occurred in Oneida County, N. Y., in 1843, being the youngest of three children born to Charles and Mary (Alden) Dix. The father was born in Connecticut, but in infancy was taken by his father, who also bore the name of Charles, to York State, where the latter was extensively engaged in farming, manufacturing rope, and boots and shoes, and also conducted a tannery. He settled in the town of Vernon when there was a population of 3,000 Indians in the surrounding country, and here spent the remainder of his days. Charles Dix, the father of our immediate subject, remained in Oneida County until thirty years of age, and assisted his father in his various enterprises. He then moved to an adjoining town, where he was engaged in general farming, and died in 1862. His wife’s parents were Canadians, who settled in Oswego County, where they were engaged in farming until quite an advanced age, when they immigrated to Iowa, and there died. L. V. Dix attended the public schools of his native county until sixteen years of age, after which he was engaged in farming for two years, and August 5, 1861, enlisted at Rochester in Company I, Sixth United States Cavalry, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and participated in all the principal engagements of the army: Fredericksburg, Antietam, the Peninsula campaign and Gettysburg, in which engagement they went in with 350 men and came out with twenty-six men, including one officer. He then did scout and messenger duty at Gen. Sheridan’s headquarters until the expiration of his term, and received his discharge at “camp in the field,” in front of Petersburg, August 4, 1864. After his return home he spent a year traveling through Indiana, Michigan and Missouri looking for a suitable place in which to settle, and in March, 1866, purchased 160 acres of good land about three miles west of Jefferson City, on which he immediately began to make improvements. He erected a comfortable dwelling-house, and from time to time added to his original purchase until he now owns in that tract 340 acres. Besides this he purchased, in November, 1885, a farm known as the Maples, one mile west of Jefferson City, a beautifully located estate, on which is a fine residence surrounded by everything to make a home pleasant and attractive. Both his farms are abundantly stocked with fruit of all kinds, and Mr. Dix makes a specialty of small fruit, which he raises for market. He gives much attention to stock-raising, and has kept a fine flock of Cotswold sheep, which took the first premium wherever exhibited. He has also sold many for breeding purposes. During 1880 and 1881 he was engaged in the lumber and tie business. He is not an active politician, but votes for whom he considers the best man. In September, 1868, he was married to Miss Mary Conn, a native of Ohio, by whom he is father of the following family: Helen M., Jessie M., Dora, who died March 19, 1889; Charles A. and M. Blanche. Mr. Dix can trace his ancestry back on both sides to Colonial days, his mother having been a direct descendent of John Alden, the Mayflower pilgrim, who has been immortalized in Longfellow’s poem, “The Courtship of Miles Standish.” The Dix family is also well known in our National history, especially in the State of New York. Mary (Conn) Dix, daughter of George and Catherine (Angus) Conn, is of Scotch descent on both sides. Her maternal grandfather, Jacob Angus, came to America in Colonial times, and participated in the Revolution as an American patriot. Her paternal grandfather, whose surname of Cairns was afterward changed to that of Conn, also journeyed from Scotland to find a home in this free land.