Marin County Biographies

WILLIAM J. DICKSON

Transcribed by Betty Wilson

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
  This gentleman, whose portrait appears in this work, was 
born in Caledonia county, Vermont, January 25, 1829, and is the son of Robert 
and Janet Lenna Dickson, both natives of Scotland.  Young Dickson remained on 
his father�s farm till 1853, attending in the meantime the common schools of the 
State, and the high schools at Peacham and Newbury, and also teaching school 
during the Winter sessions.  In September, 1853, he sailed via the Isthmus for 
California, and arrived in San Francisco about the 27th of that month.  He went 
at once to Knight�s Ferry and engaged in the employ of Locke & Dent, in the 
erection of the dam and the first mill that was built there.  He remained in 
that place till 1856, when he came to Marin county, and in company with his 
brother, David S., began the business of dairying and stock raising on the San 
Geronimo ranch.  The county at that time was sparsely settled; traveling was 
done mostly on horseback; fences were almost unknown; bear were plentiful, often 
killing the stock in the night.  In 1859 he returned to his old home in Vermont, 
remaining there till December of that year, when he returned, bringing him his 
sister, now Mrs. W.R. Coburn, of Middleton, Lake county.  In 1869, when the San 
Geronimo ranch was divided and sold, he bought about five hundred acres, and has 
since resided upon the homestead.  He has long been prominently identified with 
the school interests of his neighborhood, and is one of the officers of the 
Presbyterian Church of San Rafael.  November 16, 1869, he was married to Miss 
Jennie R., daughter of William and Isabella Baxter Barr, born in Glasgow, 
Scotland.  The marriage occurred in Rochester, New York.  Their children 
are:�Frederick William, born September 27, 1870; and Edith Isabella, born August 
28, 1876.
 
History of Marin County, California; Including Its Geography, Geology, 
Topography and Climatology; by J. P. Munro-Fraser, Historian; Alley, Bowen & 
Co., Publishers, San Francisco, California, 1880