VOLUME VIII, NUMBER 1
A message from the President about the 141st Reunion
Hello Cousins,
Plans for the 2011 Reunion are developing nicely. The Reunion will be held at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA on Saturday, June 25th with a dinner on Friday, June 24th. Our main speaker will be Jane Wald of the Emily Dickinson Museum speaking on recent changes at the museum. There is an open house at the museum for the Dickinson Family Association from 9-11 A.M. Also after the meeting members are welcome to take guided or unguided tours of the museum and grounds.
Children’s activities provided by the museum are also planned. For those who wish to join us for thedinner the night before the Reunion it will be in downtown Amherst at the Bistro 63. I hope this whets your appetite!
Due to the popular demand for the 3rd edition of the “Descendants of Nathaniel Dickinson” the book has been reprinted and is available online at www.dickinsonfamilyassociation.org . The book will also be available at the Reunion on June 25th.
Andrew Dickinson, president
| Dickason/in/er/enson/Dixon DNA StudyA worldwide Dickason/in/er/enson/Dixon DNA study is looking for 1-2 men with the surname of Dickinson who can trace their line back to Nathaniel to participate in the study in corroborate the current results. The cost is $149.00 for each test kit, and the results will be made available to the entire study group and the DFA. Many individuals have chosen to identify themselves to the study, but you do not have to identify anything but your lineage for the study.Three interesting results so far:1) There appear to be four distinct lineages with the surname, plus many individuals with no matches to anyone else.2) Nathaniel’s line is not related to the Dickinsons of Long Island some of whom later moved to New Jersey.3) We are related to a family of Dickasons in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina who trace their lineage back to Necton, Norfolk, England. Their first known ancestor is Jorge (d. 1728), who’s first child was born in 1683. Information on the family and the family trees for this line can be seen at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.dickason/Trees.htm Any family with a male with the surname Dickinson who is not sure of their lineage is also invited to participate. Contact Karen Sims at 860-442-3925 or karensims@gmail.com for more information. |
| 2011 SCHOLARSHIP FORMS AVAILABLE Application forms are now available for the 2011 DFA scholarship. Applicants must be descendants of Nathaniel Dickinson and must be accepted to a four-year college or university. The deadline for submission is April 30, 2011. Full information on requirements and an application form may be found on our website. For additional information you may contact our scholarship chair, Jean Blackmer, 61 Sever St., Worcester MA 01609, Jean.Blackmer@becker.edu. |
| ANNUAL JANUARY SURVEY Enclosed with this newsletter is a response card on which you can indicate your tentative intention to attend this year’s reunion. It also gives you an opportunity to offer your help to the association. Some of the volunteer work requires that you be able to attend board meetings (usually 3 per year) which currently are held in W. Springfield and Sturbridge, MA. Distance exempts many of you from this, but we do have a large number of members who live close enough. We really hope you will give favorable consideration to helping us out. The association can’t exist without these volunteers. Also this is the time we ask you to consider a monetary gift to the association. As you know, we rely on contributions from members for our operating expenses and also to support and build up our scholarship fund. Please return the response card in the envelope provided, together with your check, if you are able, made out to The Dickinson Family Association. |
| DICKINSON FAMILY COOKBOOK Our cookbook, Family Fare, is still available. You may now order it from Andrew Dickinson using our online book order form, or as before from our cookbook editor, Sara Pinkham Jones. Sara’s address is 278 Reitman Court, Rochester Hills, MI 48307. The cost is $14 which includes postage, and the check should be made out to The Dickinson Family Association. |
| NEWSLETTER ALERT The DFA newsletter typically goes out in January, April, June and November of each year. The June and November newsletters go out by e-mail to those who are able and willing to receive it this way, and it does save the association time and money. If you received your last newsletter (Nov. 2008) by postal mail, that means either you have indicated you don’t wish to receive the newsletters electronically, or we do not have a valid e-mail address for you. We know e-mail addresses change frequently and it is easy to forget to update them. So if you change your e-mail address we would greatly appreciate your sending the new one to our membership clerk, Beth Landolina, at bethl0719@comcast.net. |