Background
Dickinson, the eldest son of Honorary Samuel F. Dickinson and Lueretia (Gunn) Dickinson, was born in Amherst, Massachusetts where he attended public schools and the Amherst Academy.
United States representative politician poet
Dickinson, the eldest son of Honorary Samuel F. Dickinson and Lueretia (Gunn) Dickinson, was born in Amherst, Massachusetts where he attended public schools and the Amherst Academy.
He graduated from Yale College in 1823 and studied at Northampton Law School in Northampton, Massachusetts.
He is also known as the father of the poet Emily Dickinson. Their family home in Amherst, the Dickinson Homestead, is now a museum dedicated to her. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Amherst in 1826.
Dickinson served as treasurer of Amherst College from 1835 until 1873.
He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Amherst in 1863. Elected for the main purpose of securing to the town the advantages of the Massachusetts Central Railroad.
And after a careful speech in the House, on the morning of June 16, 1874, in the interests of this railroad in connection with the Hoosac Tunnel, he was attacked with apoplexy, and died at his hotel before evening. He and is buried in Amherst"s West Cemetery.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Yale Obituary Record.
He was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 1838–1839, served in the Massachusetts Senate in 1842–1843, and was a member of the Massachusetts Governor"s Council 1846–1847. He then was elected as a Whig to the United States Congress 1853-1855, declined to be a candidate for the Republican nomination of Lieutenant Governor in 1861, and was again elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1873.
