Dwight was born in Catskill, New York on April 8, 1827. His father was Benjamin W. Dwight, a doctor (son of Timothy Dwight IV, President of Yale College and a member of the noted Dwight family of New England) and later treasurer of Hamilton College. His mother was Sophia (Strong) Dwight.
They raised six children: Benjamin, Theodore, Sophia, Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward. They traveled via the Great Lakes to Racine, then got a ride on a lumber wagon to a place called "Walnut, Wisconsin" (some sources say Spring Prairie). This "Walnut" may or may not be identified with Walnut Springs, Wisconsin, a short-lived post office which operated for a couple of decades in the Town of Adams in Green County on the road between Madison and Wiota.
He worked in Walnut by the month, saving up enough that he could buy 160 acres (one-quarter of a square mile) at $8 per acre.
He made some improvements on the land, then sold it and bought a 40-acre tract nearby, sold that and bought more land. In 1855 he went to Iowa by ox team
He became one of the pioneers of Winneshiek County, Iowa, buying 360 acres from the United States. government land office, 160 of which had already been improved. He stayed in Iowa only one year, then returned to "Walnut", where he stayed for a further year before he came to Dane County, Wisconsin in or near Oregon, Wisconsin, and bought another tract of land, which he would farm for many years.
There was a log house on the land, where the family camped for a few years.
He planted fruit and shade trees, and erected some frame buildings. He died in Oregon, Wisconsin on March 6, 1904.
