| A message from the DFA Board Greetings to all members of the Dickinson Family Association. We hope that your summer has been enjoyable. This Fall newsletter gives us the opportunity to review some of the recent activities of the association and report some upcoming ones. |
REUNION 2017
June 23-24
Litchfield, CT and Goshen, CT
Several of our ancestors were early settlers of Litchfield and its surrounding towns. The 2017 reunion will focus on the development of the Milton Village section of Litchfield and will highlight the experience of a few illustrative individuals and their families, such as Anson Dickinson, one of the country’s most celebrated miniaturist painters of the 19th century. We will also explore various ancestors who achieved notable success outside of Connecticut:
Andrew Dickinson, who was a writer and merchant in NYC; Daniel Dickinson, who was a miniaturist painter inPhiladelphia (Anson’s brother) and several others; i.e. Atty. Daniel S. Dickinson of Goshen, CT, who was a US Senator for several terms, NY State Attorney General, and a political leader during the Civil War Era.
The current plans on Friday, June 23rd, are to offer tours of Litchfield’s Green (Revolutionary War Period importance) and the Litchfield Law School, where Atty. Daniel S. Dickinson attended in 1827. The Litchfield Historical Society Museum, located on Capt. John Marsh’s III / Col. Ebenezer Marsh homestead lot adjacent Litchfield’s Green, will offer a display table of several dozen Anson Dickinson paintings, family photos, buildings, and artifacts. Milton Village’s Trinity Church (1802) designed by Master Builder, Oliver Dickinson, will also be open for tours. There are developing plans on Friday afternoon to hold a limited walking tour of Milton Village, where several Dickinson families resided for over two centuries, and several of their 18th and 19th century homes are well restored. Friday’s dinner will be held at a restaurant in Litchfield, potentially at Litchfield Inn’s “Tavern Off the Green”.
The exact location and details of Saturday’s event are being developed. Our guest speaker will be Alexander Dubois, LHS’s Curator of Collections, who will discuss Anson Dickinson’s miniature paintings, followed by a Dickinson descendant(s). Tentative reservations have been made on Saturday, June 24th at St. Thomas of Villanova Church in Goshen, CT which is a modern, ADA accessible building with Air Conditioning. Further details for our 2017 reunion will be provided in our Winter Newsletter.
Ken Dickinson,
Vice President
| The Old Connecticut Path The Old Connecticut Path was used by Nathaniel Dickinson, family and friends to reach their new home in Wethersfield, CT. At the 2016 reunion Jason Newton, a descendant of Connecticut settlers and researcher of the Old Connecticut Path, gave an excellent presentation of Nathaniel’s travels to his new home. |
| Granddaughter of Nathaniel Dickinson kidnapped and marched to Canada while pregnantGreat Granddaughter was born in Canada and named Captivity before being rescued Hannah Jennings was the wife of Stephen Jennings, daughter of John Dickinson and granddaughter of Nathaniel Dickinson. She was kidnapped on Sept 19, 1677 during an Indian raid on Hatfield, Massachusetts. Hannah was marched to Canada with Martha Waite and others captives. Both were pregnant. While in Canada Hannah gave birth to Captivity Jennings on March 14, 1678. Martha gave birth to her daughter Canada Waite. Their husbands, Stephen Jennings and Benjamin Waite, left for Canada in October of 1677 and rescued the kidnapped colonists who returned safely to Hatfield in May, 1678. That is the story behind Captivity Jennings. She was the great granddaughter of Nathaniel Dickinson who was one of the founders of Hadley, Massachusetts. References: Descendants of Nathaniel Dickinson, 3rd ed, pages 15 & 16; Judd, Sylvester, History of Hadley, pages 175 – 179. |
A MESSAGE FROM OUR GENEALOGIST
Rebecca Passa, our Dickinson Genealogist, requests your inputs on Nathaniel Dickinson’s descendants. You may send your births, marriages and death announcements to Becky at rlpassa99@gmail.com .
| E-MAIL CHANGES REQUESTED We know e-mail addresses change frequently and it is easy to forget to update them. So if you plan to change your e-mail address we would greatly appreciate your sending the new one to our membership clerk, Beth Landolina, at bethL0719@sbcglobal.netIf this newsletter was sent to an e-mail address that will soon be obsolete, please let us know. |
| CORRECT ENGLISH ORIGINS OF NATHANIEL DICKINSON AVAILABLE * “The Correct English Origins of Nathaniel Dickinson and William Gull, Settlers of Wethersfield and Hadley” The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 152, April 1998. Copies of the article can be ordered from the publication: New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116 |
| Be Thinking The Dickinson Family Association is doing well, but change is always imminent. We ask that you think about volunteering to help out. Two offices that are facing vacancies soon are Treasurer and Scholarship Chair. We will elaborate on these and other opportunities to help in the January newsletter, but please be thinking positively about joining our operating team. |