VOLUME XI, NUMBER 2

A message from the President 
Greeting Cousins, We are pleased to announce that this years’ Reunion will feature speaker Bob Magovern, DFA Historian and Past President.  He will give a presentation on the complex and fascinating history of the French and Indian Wars of the Connecticut River Valley in the early 18th Century.  This conflict was critical to the survival and development of the Dickinsons.  Our common ancestor, Nathanial Dickinson, lost sons in the long-running struggle.  In just the last year or so, a Cousin sent us information which led to the re-discovery of a French-Indian War monument in Northfield, Ma.  This Cousin had an original program of an 1872 dedication ceremony for Nathanial Dickinson (1698-1748) who was killed and scalped along with his friend on July 23, 1748.  In 1872 they gathered to remember and look back and this June we will gather also to remember and look back.Our Reunion will be on Saturday, June 21, 2014, at the First Baptist Church in Agawam, MA. Our Association Dinner will be held the evening before on Friday, June 20, 2014, at the Storrowtown Tavern in West Springfield, MA.  We hope that you can attend this year and participate in the fellowship and important work carried on by your Association.  In an ever-changing world- the pride of being a Dickinson is something that endures.  Also, we have an Australian Cousin who hopes to attend the Reunion this year and give us a report on the doings of the Dickinsons in Australia. 

144th ANNUAL REUNION SCHEDULE FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2014 at the Storrowtown Tavern, West Springfield, MA          
5 PM             Open Board Meeting          
6 PM             Social Hour          
7 PM             Dinner 

SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2014 at the First Baptist Church, 760 Main St., Agawam, MA          
9:30-11;00 Gathering of Cousins            Historical Displays, Book and t-shirt sales            
11:00 Welcome, Counting of the Cousins, gifts and The Australian Report            
12:00 Group Photo and Lunch            
1:15 Annual Meeting and Reports of Board Members          
2:00 Main Speaker Bob MaGovern            
3:30 Goodbyes and singing of God Bless America 

Please return your reservation card as soon as possible. 

Andrew Dickinson, President 
2014 SCHOLARSHIP – LAST CALL Application forms are now available for the 2014 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, 2014.  Full information on requirements and an application form may be found on our website.  For additional information you may contact our scholarship chair, Jean Whitten, 9 Shepherd Rd, Manchester, NH 03104, jeanmblackmer@gmail.com. 
A MESSAGE FROM OUR GENEALOGIST Please send your births, marriages and death announcements to Dickinson Genealogist Adrienne Weibleat alw48@aol.com. Please welcome Rebecca Passa as our new Genealogist.  Adrienne is planning on retiring from the position when she moves to Delaware.  Many, many thanks to Adrienne for her contributions as the Dickinson Genealogist! 
MISSING COUSINS Daniel S. Dickinson, Jr., Binghampton, NY 13901-1538; Michael Dickinson, Bradenton, FL 34205-2942; George Hawksley, Bridgeport, CT; Debbi Jackson, Dunnellon, FL 34431-5539; Andrew and Kristin Dickinson, Evergreen CO 80439-7658; Elwin E. Mauer, Evergreen CO 80439-7658; George S. Dickinson, Fairfield CT 06430-6936; Barbara Dickinson Hilton, Lumberton, NC 28358; Kathy Sanders, Old Saybrook, CT 06475; Frank A. Mallalieu, Oro Valley, AZ 85737; Philip C. Dickinson, Roseville, MI 48066-2127; Barbara Dickinson, Roseville, MI 48066-2127; Elsie S. Hayden, Westfield, MA;Marion Hubbard Cook, Webster, NY; Lynne Cresutello; Antony Roy Dickinson; Betty Dickinson; Brad Dickinson; Thomas S. Dickinson; Mary Jane Dickinson Graham; Lora L. Pallatto; Autumn Rader; Paul W. Toelken  If anyone has information regarding mailing or email addresses for any of the above cousins please email me at BethL0719@sbcglobal.net.  Thanks! 
ADDRESS & E-MAIL ADDRESS CHANGES REQUESTED Please send your address and e-mail address changes to our membership clerk, Beth Landolina, at BethL0719@sbcglobal.net.
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VOLUME XI, NUMBER 1

2014 SCHOLARSHIP FORMS AVAILABLE      Application forms are now available for the 2014 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, 2014.  Full information on requirements and an application form may be found on our website.  For additional information you may contact our scholarship chair, Jean Whitten, 9 Shepherd Road, Manchester, NH 03104jeanmblackmer@gmail.com. If you don’t have access to the internet, contact Jean and she will send you the form.      

As always, we rely on contributions from DFA members to sustain and increase the scholarship fund.  If you are able, we would appreciate your help.  Indicate “scholarship fund” on the January Survey form if you wish to make a donation. 
1883 – 2014 June 20 / 21, 2014 is the date to save for the 132nd anniversary of the reunion of 1883.  The 1883 meeting took place on the campus of Amherst College in Amherst, MA.  
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. 
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 (Oct. 2013) 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@sbcglobal.net

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VOLUME X, NUMBER 4

A message from the President  
Greetings Cousins, Another Summer has come and gone as the leaves start to fall here in New England. In late October the Board of Directors of your Association meet to iron out some business and plan next year’s Reunion. This years Reunion of 2013 was truly special. Our Cousin and featured speaker, Clifford Stott, gave a thoughtful and substantive presentation on our early English origins. His research in New York City, Utah and the United Kingdom has redirected our focus from Ely, England to Billingborough/Lincolnshire. We now have an ancestor, Walter/Waters, from the early 1500’s to call our own. Longtime DFA genealogist and 3rd edition author, Margaret “Bucky” Buckridge Bock was on hand to make sure we got it right. This coming year’s Reunion of 2014 will also feature a Cousin of ours…someone many of you know…who will give a talk on a fascinating historical subject which we have waited years to present- but we’ll keep their identity secret for now to make sure you all read the next newsletter. Andrew Dickinson, president 
 NEWSLETTER ALERT ADD YOUR PICTURES TO OUR WEBSITE DFA members who have pictures or other items that would be appropriate for our website are invited to send them digitally to our webmaster, Alan Dickinson, at anbdickinson@charter.net.  He will do his best to post them on our “Scrapbook” page.  
  2014 DFA SCHOLARSHIP ALERT One of the most important functions of the Dickinson Family Association is the awarding of our annual scholarship.  The deadline for applications for this year’s DFA scholarship is end of April.  Anyone interested in applying should print out the form from our website and submit it with all other required material to the scholarship chair, Jean Whitten, 9 Shepherd Road, Manchester, NH 03104.  If you don’t have access to the internet, contact Jean and she will send you the form.  
 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 
 NEWSLETTER ALERT      The DFA newsletter typically goes out in January, April, June and October of each year.  The June and October 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 this Oct 2013 newsletter 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@sbcglobal.net
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VOLUME X, NUMBER 3

Annual reunion, 2013

Mt. Holyoke college

South Hadley, ma

FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2013

Yarde Tavern Restaurant, So. Hadley, MA

          5 PM               Open Board Meeting

            6 PM               Social Hour

            7 PM               Dinner

SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2013

Morrison Room, Willits Hallowell Center, Mt. Holyoke College

            9:30 AM          Gathering of Cousins, historical display, genealogy table,

book and t-shirt sales

            11:30 AM        Group Photo, Counting of the Cousins, Gifts

            12 Noon          Lunch

            1:15 PM          143rd Annual Meeting of the Dickinson Family Association

            2 PM               Main Speaker:  Clifford Stott

            ~3:30 PM        Singing of “God Bless America”

If you haven’t yet replied to our April mailing or should you need one,

a duplicate response form is provided below for your convenience.

Refer questions to Andrew Dickinson, (413)634-2169,

______________________________________________________________________

The Dickinson Family Association, PO Box 2, Whately, MA 01093

TOWN OF SOUTH HADLEY

Aside from the beautiful Mt. Holyoke College campus, South Hadley has many other sites you might want to explore for their historic, cultural, natural or educational value.  Several beautiful old homes, some restored and preserved, can be found on Woodbridge street (Rte.116) just north of the green.  The Firehouse Museum is in the south part of town known as South Hadley Falls.  It tells much of the history of the town as well as exhibits firefighting artifacts.  Heading west from the green on Hadley Street (Rte. 47) and turning left on Ferry Street will bring you down to the river and Brunelle’s Marina.  There is the Dockside restaurant with a beautiful view and a river boat, the “Lady B,” if you’d like to take a cruise, conditions permitting.

     There are two excellent museums on the Mt. Holyoke campus, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum and the Joseph Allen Skinner Museum.  The latter is named after an early Holyoke industrialist and features Skinner’s collection of decorative arts, furniture and geological specimens.  The Skinner State Park, accessed further up Rte. 47, just past the Hadley town line, has a road that leads up to one of the peaks on the Mt. Holyoke Range, and spectacular views.

     More information can be found at http://southhadleyma.virtualtownhall.net .

DIRECTIONS TO REUNION VENUES

Mt Holyoke College and Willitts-Hallowell Center

From the South: Travel north on I-91.  Take exit 16 (Rte. 202)  Follow rte. 202 north through Holyoke, across the Connecticut River, and enter rotary, taking second right (staying on rte. 202).  Take the exit marked South Hadley Center/Amherst, Rte. 116 north.  The college is approx. 2.5 miles from the exit.  Pass the main gate of the college on the right, take the next right onto Church Street; take third right into the Willits-Hallowell Center main parking lot.*

From the North:  Travel south on I-91.  Take exit 16.  At the end of the ramp take a left and follow Rte. 202 as above.

From the Mass. Pike (east or west): Take exit 5.  After toll, bear right.  At the end of ramp turn left onto Rte 33 for five miles to Rte. 116.  Turn right onto Rte 116 and drive approx. 1.5 miles north to the college.  See above.

*Lower level parking for Willits, more accessible to our reunion space can be reached by following the above directions except take the second right off Church street (Lower Lake Rd.) then the first left.  Over a small bridge, look for signs to Willits-Hallowell Center.  A walkway by the river brings you to the patio/entrance.

Yarde Tavern Restaurant

Follow above directions to So. Hadley center.  The Yarde Tavern is on Hadley St (rte.47), at the north end of the town green, next to the Post Office.  The restaurant has no parking lot but there is some street parking near the restaurant, especially on Woodbridge St (which is Rte 116 north).  A large parking lot is close by, behind the Village Commons shops, on the west side of the green.

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VOLUME X, NUMBER 2

A message from the President

Greeting Cousins,

This is the last newsletter before our Annual Reunion at the Willits-Hallowell Center, Mount Holyoke College on Saturday, June 22, 2013. As you may know, our main speaker this year is the renowned genealogist Clifford Stott who is travelling from Utah to give the presentation. Clifford has recently been doing research in New York City and elsewhere which pertains to our Dickinson Heritage. We can thank Mr. Stott for clearing up over 100 years of errors as to our English origins. Everyone is invited to attend our Association Dinner the evening before the Reunion. This year we meet at the Yarde Tavern in South Hadley, MA with an open Board Meeting, Social Hour and Dinner.

143th ANNUAL REUNION SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2013 at The Yarde Tavern, South Hadley, MA

          5 PM             Open Board Meeting

          6 PM             Social Hour

          7 PM             Dinner

SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2013 at Willits-Hallowell Center, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA

          9:30-11:30AM  Gathering of Cousins, historical display, genealogy table, book           and t-shirt sales

          11:30 AM   Group Photo, Counting of the Cousins, Gifts

          12 noon      Lunch

          1:15 PM          Annual Meeting of the Dickinson Family Association

          2:00 PM      Main Speaker, Clifford Stott

          3:30+PM          Singing of “God Bless America”

Please return your reservation card as soon as possible.

More information is available at Cliff’s website clstott.com. Moreover, Cliff is a Dickinson descendant (one of us!).

Andrew Dickinson, President

                             Come to the Reunion and hear Cliff tell:

How the discovery of Nathaniel Dickinson was made.

How the Wharton pedigree was disproved.

Who was Wharton Dickinson, his background and an evaluation of his other works.

A history of the life and times of our ancestors in Billingsborough, Lincolnshire.

New discoveries and a possible father for Waters Dickinson.

 2013 SCHOLARSHIP – LAST CALL Application forms are now available for the 2013 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, 2013.  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, 4 Waterford Way, Manchester, NH 03102, jeanmblackmer@gmail.com. 
 A MESSAGE FROM OUR GENEALOGIST Please send your births, marriages and death announcements to Dickinson Genealogist Adrienne Weible at 4 Briar Cliff Dr, Wilbraham, MA 01095 or alw48@aol.com 
 MISSING COUSINS Membership clerk Beth Landolina has supplied us with a list of several DFA members whose mailing addresses we do not have.  Their names and last known residence are as follows:  Marion Hubbard Cook Webster, NY, George S. Dickinson Fairfield, CT, Michael Dickinson Bradenton, FL, Phillip C. Dickinson, Thomas S. Dickinson, Daniel S. Dickinson Jr, Mary Jane Dickinson Graham, George Hawksley Bridgeport, CT, Elsie S. Hayden Westfield, MA, Barbara Dickinson Hilton, Debbi Jackson Dunnellon, FL, Frank A. Mallalieu Oro Valley, AZ, Elwin E. Mauer Evergreen, CO, Lora Pallatto, Autumn Rader, Kathy Sanders, Paul W. Toelken, Lynne Cresutello, Andrew and Kristin Dickinson  Evergreen, CO, Antony Roy Dickinson, Brad Dickinson, Robert and Linda Dickinsn Rockledge, FL, Cheyenne Huffor Northbridge, MA, Stephan Rantz Winston-Salem, NC.  If anyone has information regarding mailing or email addresses for any of the above cousins please email me at BethL0719@sbcglobal.net.  Thanks! 
 ADDRESS & E-MAIL ADDRESS CHANGES REQUESTED Please send your address and e-mail address changes to our membership clerk, Beth Landolina, at bethl0719@comcast.net.
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VOLUME X, NUMBER 1

A message from the President

Hello Cousins,

We hope your Holidays were pleasant and enjoyable. Currently your Family Association

is planning the details of the June 22, 2013 Annual Reunion with a “gathering of family”

dinner on Friday, June 21. This year’s Reunion will be held at Mount Holyoke College in

South Hadley at the Willits-Hallowell Center. Mount Holyoke College will be an excellent

venue to host our guest speaker, Clifford Stott. We can all look forward to hearing about

his research into the early origins of the Dickinson family in England. Clifford is an

award-winning author of several articles and books. He is a Certified Genealogist and an

Accredited Genealogist as well as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.

Clifford is also a contributing editor to The American Genealogist as well as a consulting

editor to The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. More information is

available at his website clstott.com. Moreover, he is a Dickinson descendant (one of us!).

Please plan to be with us this June for this very important Reunion.

Andrew Dickinson, President

 2013 SCHOLARSHIP FORMS AVAILABLE      Application forms are now available for the 2013 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, 2013.  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, 4 Waterford Way, Manchester, NH 03102, jeanmblackmer@gmail.com.     As always, we rely on contributions from DFA members to sustain and increase the scholarship fund.  If you are able, we would appreciate your help.  Indicate “scholarship fund” on the January Survey form if you wish to make a donation.
VIEW EMILY DICKINSON MANUSCRIPTS ONLINE      Amherst College has been digitizing their special collections and has recently announced that their Emily Dickinson Collection is now available for viewing online.  This includes 850 manuscripts of poems, letters, recipes, etc. by Emily Dickinson.  To view these items, go to acdc.amherst.edu and then click on the Emily Dickinson Collection link.  You can view these as a “guest” for free.     You may click on the thumbnails to download enlarged images of these actual manuscripts.  Alternatively, you can search for a particular poem by its first line or by its Franklin or Johnson number.  You can search for letter by the recipient name.     Although Amherst College has only a portion of the 1789 poems by Dickinson, they have reached an agreement with Harvard to make all the manuscripts available online by the year 2014.  There are many other fascinating items in the Amherst College Digital Collections website which you may want to explore while you’re at it. Alan Dickinson 
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. 
 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. 2012) 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.
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VOLUME IX, NUMBER 3

Annual Reunion, 2012

First Congregational Church

Westfield, Ma

FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012

            5 PM               Board Meeting, Lord Jeffrey Inn, Amherst, MA

            6 PM               Social Hour, Lord Jeff

            7 PM               Dinner, Lord Jeff

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2012

            9:30-11:00      Arrivals greeted by bagpipes at the First Congregational Church, Westfield, MA

            11:00 AM        Morning Music Program

            12 Noon          Group Photo/Lunch/Counting of the Cousins

            1:15 PM          142nd Annual Meeting of the Dickinson Family Association

            2:00 PM          Main Speaker:  Dr. Elizabeth Keithcart

            3:30 PM          Singing of “God Bless America”

If you haven’t yet replied to our April mailing or should you need one,

a duplicate response form is provided below for your convenience.

Refer questions to Andrew Dickinson, (413)634-2169.

______________________________________________________________________

The Dickinson Family Association, PO Box 2, Whately, MA 01093

DIRECTIONS TO REUNION VENUES

TO THE LORD JEFFREY INN, AMHERST CENTER    FROM SOUTH: Take I-91 to exit 19 in Northampton. At the end of the ramp turn right onto Rte. 9.  Follow this (east)  6 mi. to the green in Amherst Center.    FROM WEST:  Take MassPike (I-90) to exit 4 and get on I-91 north.  Follow directions from the south above.  FROM NORTH:  Take I-91 to exit 20 in Northampton and follow signs to Rte. 9.  Take Rte. 9 east 6 mi to the green in Amherst Center.  FROM EAST:  Take MassPike (I-90) to exit 8.  Turn left after toll booth onto Rte. 32  At a fork, take a slight left onto High St. which eventually becomes Main St. in Three Rivers.  At the Sykes St intersection (traffic light) turn right and you will be on Rte. 181.  Follow that to Belchertown center where you pick up US 202 north.  At the junction with Rte. 9 (traffic light) turn left and follow Rte. 9 about 9 mi. to Amherst.  The Lord Jeff  is on the east side of the Amherst green at 30 Boltwood Ave.

TO THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WESTFIELD  FROM MASS PIKE (I-90): Get off at Exit 3 (Westfield).  At the end of the ramp turn right; this is US202.  Follow this (south) 1.7 mi. to the green in Westfield Center.  The church is at the southeast end of the green at 18 Broad Street.  Parking may be found behind the church, adjacent to the Stop and Shop parking lot.

STAYING IN TOUCH

If you have received this by e-mail we thank you.  E-mailing the June and Fall newsletters saves the DFA much time and money.  If you have received this by postal mail and you do have an e-mail address you are willing to share, please send the information to membership clerk, Beth Landolina at bethl0719@sbcglobal.net .  If you are reading this on our website and would like to receive our newsletters (a little earlier) send your mailing address, and e-mail if possible, to Beth.  Her postal address is 82 Evergreen Dr., Tolland, CT 06084.  The January and April newsletters are accompanied by other enclosures so they must go out by USPS.  If there are ever any changes to your mailing and/or e-mail address, please notify Beth promptly so we can continue to stay in touch.

BREAKING NEWS!   It has been confirmed that next year’s reunion will be June 21-22 at Mt. Holyoke College, S. Hadley, MA.  Our guest speaker will be reknowned genealogist, Clifford Stott.
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VOLUME IX, NUMBER 2

A message from the Presidentabout the 2012 Reunion on June 22 & 23 Hello Cousins: Our Annual Reunion this year falls on June 23, 2012 and will be held at the First Congregational Church in Westfield, Massachusetts. Cousin, Dr. Betsy Keithcart, will give a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “The Dickinsons and Music Education” with Betsy’s and Clarence Dickinson’s musical settings of Emily Dickinson poems.  Betsy, Alan Dickinson and Andrew Dickinson, Jr. will play harp, pipe organ, piano and bagpipes in the morning music program. Everyone is welcome to attend our Association Dinner the evening before the Reunion. On June 22, 2012, we gather at the newly renovated Lord Jeffrey Inn in Amherst for the open meeting, social hour and dinner. Andrew Dickinson, president 
 142th ANNUAL REUNION SCHEDULE FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012          5 PM                 Board Meeting, Lord Jeffrey Inn, Amherst, MA            6 PM                 Social Hour, Lord Jeffrey Inn            7 PM                 Dinner, Lord Jeffrey Inn SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2012             9:30-11:00       Arrivals greeted by bagpipes at the First Congregational Church, Westfield, MA            11:00 AM        Morning Music Program            12 noon           Group Photo/Lunch/Counting of the Cousins            1:15 PM          Annual Meeting of the Dickinson Family Association            2:00 PM          Main Speaker: Betsy Keithcart            3:30 PM          Singing of “God Bless America” Please return your reservation card as soon as possible.Driving directions will appear in the June newsletter. 
 PIPER TO THE DICKINSON FAMILY ASSOCIATIONSomething New At our last Board Meeting we created a new position within the DFA, that of “Piper to the Dickinson Family Association”. In the tradition of the Scottish Clans of old we have our own ceremonial bagpiper. Andrew Dickinson’s son, Andrew Dickinson, Jr., age 12, has been competing and playing since he was 8 and has won several awards and scholarships. Drew will “pipe you in” as you arrive at the Reunion and he will join Alan Dickinson in a duet of “Highland Cathedral” during the Morning Music Program. 
 NORTHFIELD DICKINSONS The 2012 DFA brochure, which very few of you will probably see, has a picture on its cover of a Memorial to Nathaniel4 Dickinson in Northfield, MA.  This monument came to our attention recently when one of our members sent us a photo of the 1872 dedication program which he had found among his memorabilia.   The website of the Dickinson Library in Northfield provided the picture.  The monument stands at the intersection of routes 10 and 63 in Northfield.  This Nathaniel Dickinson was born in 1698 in Hatfield, MA, and was the great grandson of our patriarch.  He was “killed and scalped by the Indians” in Northfield on April 15, 1747.  Ironically, earlier in the year in which he was born, his oldest brother, also named Nathaniel, was killed by Indians in Hatfield while he was hoeing corn with his father and brother, both of whom survived the attack.   The Northfield Library is named after Elijah Marsh7 Dickinson, great grandson of Nathaniel4.  Elijah was born in Northfield and was the founder of the E. M. Dickinson Shoe Company of Fitchburg, MA.  He donated the money for the current library building of 1898.  Read more on the library website: www.northfieldpubliclibrary.org/library-history.Alan Dickinson, DFA Historian 
 2012 DFA SCHOLARSHIP ALERT – LAST CALL One of the most important functions of the Dickinson Family Association is the awarding of our annual scholarship.  The deadline for applications for this year’s DFA scholarship is April 30.  Anyone interested in applying should print out the form from our website and submit it with all other required material to the scholarship chair, Jean Blackmer, 61 Sever St., Worcester, MA 01609.  If you don’t have access to the internet, contact Jean and she will send you the form. 
 ADDRESS & E-MAIL ALERT Frequently postal and e-mail addresses change and it is easy to forget to update them.  So if you change your any of your addresses we would greatly appreciate your sending the new one(s) to our membership clerk, Beth Landolina, at bethl0719@sbcglobal.net 
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VOLUME IX, NUMBER 1

A message from the President

Winter Greetings to all the Cousins!

We are hoping you had an enjoyable Holiday Season. We haven’t had any snow here in New England since October but I haven’t heard anyone complain. The Congregational Church in Westfield, MA is the location for our 2012 Dickinson Family Reunion on Saturday, June 23. This church has a pipe organ which Alan Dickinson will play as part of Dr. Betsy Keithcart’s presentation. The newly renovated Lord Jeff Inn in Amherst, MA will host the Friday night dinner on June 22. In other news, our treasurer, Virginia Allis, has solved a mystery related to an historical monument. Some time ago a kind gentleman sent us a copy of a document he had inherited from his father. This 1872 document describes the installment and ceremony of a memorial monument in Northfield, MA. We didn’t know if this monument still existed 140 years later. Virginia tracked it down on Routes 63 and 10 across from the boat ramp. There are pictures of it on the Northfield Library’s website, northfieldpubliclibrary.org.

Andrew Dickinson, President

 2012 SCHOLARSHIP FORMS AVAILABLE      Application forms are now available for the 2012 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, 2012.  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.     As always, we rely on contributions from DFA members to sustain and increase the scholarship fund.  If you are able, we would appreciate your help.  Indicate “scholarship fund” on the January Survey form if you wish to make a donation.
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. 
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. 2011) 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
Caleb Cooley Dickinson      Do you recognize Caleb Dickinson? No? Perhaps you might recognize the Cooley Dickinson Hospital located in Northampton, MA. Caleb Cooley Dickinson was a farmer from Hatfield who did not have much use for his first name, Caleb. However he did have a good use for the money he had made over the years. Cooley Dickinson wanted his money to be used to provide care for the sick and the poor.      When Caleb Cooley Dickinson died in 1882 he left a bequest of $97,000 “to establish and put in operation in the town of Northampton a hospital for the sick poor.” The hospital opened on January 1, 1886 on ten acres of the Denniston farm in Northampton, MA. Hence Caleb Cooley Dickinson is the founder of the Cooley Dickinson Hospital.      Caleb is also Emily Dickinson’s forth cousin, twice removed. Caleb Cooley Dickinson lineage is as follows: (1) Nathaniel, (2) Nathaniel, (3) Nathaniel, (4) Daniel, (5) Aaron, (6) Caleb Cooley Dickinson. Caleb was born Nov 25, 1804 and died September 16, 1882. His mother was Experience Phelps, dau of Charles and Dorothy (Root) Phelps and wid of Caleb Cooley. 
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