Dickinson Family Papers, 1778-1845.

Access and use

Location of collection:
Colonial Williamsburg
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
P.O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, VA 23187
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Douglas Mayo
Phone: (757) 565-8521
Phone: (757) 565-8520
Fax: (757) 565-8528

Summary

Creator:
Dickinson Family.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The Dickinson collection contains a total of 28 pieces, including one letter from Edmund B. Dickinson (?-1778) and several letters from his collateral descendants that document their attempts to obtain land grants and pensions for Dickinson's military service during the Revolutionary War. The letter from Dickinson was written to his sister Lucy while at Valley Forge, and he makes reference to the newly established alliance with France. The collection contains a letter from Senator Henry Tazewell, a noted Virginia politician. Transcriptions are available for many of the documents in the collection. Colonial Williamsburg also has a portrait of Edmund Dickinson, which was probably painted in the 1770s. The portrait is housed in the Department of Collections.

Biographical / historical:

Edmund Dickinson was a cabinetmaker in Williamsburg, Virginia.1 He was born in Norfolk and, although it is unclear when he moved to Williamsburg, he was listed as an employee of Anthony Hay in 1764. Hay operated a shop on Nicholson Street [Block 28, Building 72] that passed into the hands of Dickinson in 1771.2 Dickinson made furniture for prominent Virginians such as Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, and he advertised in The Virginia Gazette on several occasions. He was elected captain of recruits from the District of York on February 4, 1776. He served in the 1st Virginia Regiment, reaching the rank of major in October 1777. He camped with the army at Valley Forge and died at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778.3 George Washington specifically mentioned Dickinson's death in his personal correspondence. In a letter to Governor Patrick Henry on July 4, 1778, General Washington stated that the loss of Major Dickinson "ought much to be regretted by his friends and Countrymen as he possessed every qualification to render him eminent in the Military line."4 Although Dickinson was a bachelor at the time of his death, he was survived by his five sisters: Agnes Dickinson, Lucy Dickinson, Judith Farrer, Elizabeth Warren, and Mary.

Lucy married Robert Gibbons after her brother had died. Louisa Gibbons, the daughter of Lucy and Robert, married William Smart. William Robert Smart (b. 1827) was their son. It appears that Lucy and Robert Gibbons were responsible for initiating the claim to Dickinson's military pension and land grants. In 1798, Senator Tazewell regretfully informed the Gibbons family that only the direct descendants of soldiers (wives and children) were entitled to military benefits from service during the Revolutionary War. William Smart continued the claim in 1832. The governor of Virginia eventually awarded Dickinson's heirs land, in addition to the land bounty that had been granted in the early 1780s.

Acquisition information:
Miss Althea Smart, the granddaughter of William R. Smart, donated the Dickinson Collection to the Mary Ball Washington Museum, Lancaster, Virginia in 1991, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation subsequently acquired it in 2000.
Arrangement:

Chronologically arranged.

Physical description:
28 items.