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Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Tipton County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1886.  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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James F. Dickson, one of the substantial citizens of Covington, is a son of Michael M. and Mary (Fentress) Dickson, and was born in Tipton County, in 1841, and is one of eight children, two sons and three daughters living. The father was of Irish ancestry, born in Dickson County, Tenn., in 1811. The grandfather, Molton Dickson, was a native of Scotland, and located in Montgomery County, Tenn., where he raised a family, and spent the rest of his life. Michael Dickson received a good English and business education, and was a book-keeper for some time. He married in Dickson County, in 1835, and soon after moved to Tipton County, and engaged in farming, also in a saw-mill, and in merchandising. He was a man of fine business capacity, and had considerable means. For a number of years he was trustee of Tipton County, and held other official positions; he died in 1855. The mother was born in Montgomery County, in 1816, and died in 1878. They were members of the Old School Presbyterian Church. All the Dicksons of West Tennessee are supposed to be descended from Christopher Strong, who was the grandfather of Michael M., on the mother’s side, one of the pioneers of Dickson County, and one of the most extensive land owners in the West. Our subject was chiefly educated at Portersville, one of the best schools in the county, and when eighteen, enlisted in the Confederate Army, in Company G, Fifty-first Tennessee Infantry, and was first orderly sergeant, then lieutenant, and was in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, around Atlanta, and Jonesboro, N. C., and at Franklin, where he was captured and soon after taken to Fort Delaware, and held as a prisoner until July, 1865, when he returned home after an absence of four years’ honorable service, and resumed farming, which has always been his occupation —except three years at Dickson’s Landing, when he was merchandising. November 23, 1865, he married Rachel J., daughter of Bunyan and Nancy M. (Wright) Payne, and of eight children born to them, only three are living: Vernon B., Pentress and Minneola. Mr. Dickson spent the first year of his married life with his mother, then moved to the Miss. River, and remained until 1876, when he moved to his father-in-law’s farm and took charge of his extensive business, and in 1881 moved to Covington, where he is pleasantly located. Mr. Dickson is one of the most enterprising farmers and important business men of Tipton County. He owns 1,600 acres of good land. In 1870 he was elected magistrate and held the office six years. He is a Democrat and a Mason, and with his wife belongs to the Old School Presbyterian Church. Mr. Dickson was born in Tipton County, in 1844. Her father was a native of South Carolina and came to Tipton County in 1832, and became one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of the county; he died in 1878.

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This family biography is one of 91 biographies included in the book,  The History of Tipton County, Tennessee published in 1886 by Goodspeed.  The History of Tipton County was included within The History of Lauderdale, Tipton, Haywood, and Crockett Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Lauderdale, Tipton, Haywood, and Crockett Counties, Tennessee

View additional Tipton County, Tennessee family biographies here: Tipton County, Tennessee

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