Forgotten Dartmouth Men
I PROPOSE to bring to the attention of present Dartmouth alumni a few facts about an early Dartmouth man who I feel should be better known. He is of interest to us for several reasons. First, because I suspect he was rather typical of the early Dartmouth graduate in his sincere piety, his shrewdness, and his genuine public spiritedness, particularly valuable because untainted with self-in terest. Second, because he is a link between Dartmouth and Emily Dickinson, who is said on both sides of the Atlantic to have "written the finest poetry by a woman in the English language," for he was her grandfather. Third, because he was the most influential single person in the founding of Amherst, one of our sister New England colleges and last, he is of interest in himself because of his personality.
Samuel Fowler Dickinson was born at Amherst, Massachusetts, October the ninth, '775- He was the great, great, great grandson of Nathaniel Dickinson, the first Dickinson to come to America in the seventeenth century. His grandfather was Nathan Dickinson (born in Hatfield, Mass., in 1712; .died in Amherst in 1796). His father was Nathan Dickinson Jr. (born-in Hatfield in 1735; died in Amherst in 1825). His mother was Esther Fowler Dickinson, who came from Westchester, Connecticut. He had a brother Timothy'who graduated from Dartmouth in 1785. Samuel F. Dickinson married Lucretia Gunn of Montague, Massachusetts, 011 March 21, 1802. His eldest son Edward went to Yale College, was later treasurer and LL.D. of Amherst, and was the father of William Austin, Lavinia, and Emily Dickinson, the poet. Neither Emily nor Lavinia married. William married Susan Huntington Gilbert who was born in Old Deerfield, Massachusetts. Only one of their children survives, Martha Dickinson Bianchi. She is the last of Emily Dickinson's line.
EMILY DICKINSON'S HOME
Madame Bianchi inherited the Dickinson "Mansion" built by her great grandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickinson about 1813, "the first brick house in Amherst." Here Emily Dickinson was born, sung her songs, and died. "The Evergreens," the home across the lawn at the end of "the little path just wide enough for two who love," was built by Edward Dickinson in 1856 for his son William Austin and Susan Gilbert (Sister Sue to lovers of Emily Dickinson) upon their marriage. Here Madame Bianchi lives today. It is a most charming house and contains all the Dickinson memorabilia. Among these which bear pertinently on this paper are:
Samuel Fowler Dickinson's Diploma received from Dartmouth College.
Various letters from Samuel Fowler Dickinson to his son Edward at Yale: also letters from his wife and daughter to Edward; a number of Samuel Fowler Dickinson's personal possessions, such as his gold watch chain, his flip glass, a decanter etched with masonic emblems presented to him by the Masons; and some of his personal library including The History of the Church of Christ; The PanopUst; The Letters of Junius; The Iliad ofHomer; The Works of the Right Honorable Lord Byron; The Koran; The Life ofBaron Frederick Renck; Trial of ThomasC. Selfridge, before the Hon. Isaac Parker,Esquire for killing Charles Austin, on thePublic Exchange, Boston; Washington'sFarewell Address, and his own An Addressdelivered at Northampton, 1831. I have given this list of books because a man's library often throws some light on his character and mental interests.
Samuel Fowler Dickinson came from a long line of New England Puritans. Madame Bianchi well describes them:1
A DIGNIFIED PURITAN
"Their dignity was of the stiff reservedtype resenting the least encroachment onits individuality in character and privacyin habit—which they insured by confir?ning handsomely to the sense of their community, the laws of their state and country, and the will of God as expoundedfrom the pulpits of the white meetinghouse in Hadley and later in Amherst
S. F. Dickinson entered Dartmouth at the age of sixteen and graduated when he was twenty. He studied the classical curriculum then in vogue. This consisted in "learned languages," mathematics, speaking and writing, geography and logic in the sophomore year, English and Latin composition, metaphysics, and the elements of natural and physical law in the senior year. This curriculum, simple as it seems today, seemed to serve the undergraduate of that day very well. Most of them became public-spirited citizens, and some with S. F. Dickinson, zealots for religion and education. Although the youngest man in his class, he received the appointment to deliver the Salutatory Address in Latin at his graduation. He chose as his subject, "The Nature of Civil Government and Manners, their mutual relation and influence in society." This was delivered on August 26, 1795, and though it is in the Dartmouth archives, I confess, even though it is translated, not to have read it.
After leaving college, he taught for one year in the Academy at New Salem, considered the ministry, and ultimately studied law.
That he continuel loyal to his Alma Mater is attested by some of his letters to Tilton Eastman, A.8., Preceptor of the Academy, Hanover. I shall quote briefly from some of them.
After leaving Dartmouth he soon resolved to be a minister of the gospel. In a letter dated May 1, 1797, to Mr. Eastman, he writes:
A LETTER TO MR. EASTMAN
. ... to proceed, I made a journey toHudson (Ohio), was disappointed in myexpectations and consequently returned.For my own information in that branchof science, and for other reasons, whichyou may easily guess at, I stepped asideinto the field of Divinity, about fourmonths, at Franklin with Rev. Emmons, avery worthy and great Divine. The studywas pleasing and as I conceived useful.Then returned to Amherst and renewedthe study of Law, in Mr. Strong's office,where 1 have continued since. By thismeans the reason, which I hinted at above,were i?i a manner obviated.
"When I returned to Amherst I founda general debility pervading my constitution. Whether it arose from a want of exercise or some other cause, I know not.This took its seat in my lungs and has in ameasure prevented my application since,but is now chiefly removed. I hope notlong to feel its effects. Thus I have likeBunion (Banyan) with his pilgrim, givenyou a concise history of my life for eightmonths past
"Caprice is always characteristic of thepopulace, and this might make part ofthe description of man in general. In entering the world we need all thearmour of fortitude and determination.
"Have heard little from College thisyear. Heard of Mr. Hardy's Tutorship andProfessor Smith's officiating in Lecturesin Divinity—Drink clear, limpid, unsullied, unpolluted orthodoxy from them."2
20n wondering why he sent his son Edward to Yale later on I came to the conclusion that there may be a clue here. Yale was for many years the seat of orthodox Calvinism. Samuel FDickinson was a zealot for orthodoxy, and as ... "I respect our old Fraternity andthe venerable ØBK. My best wishes ac-company them and their members. Myrespect to inquiring friends—particularlyof the Senior Class. I should make toolong a catalogue should I particularize."By this time I must have worried you,as I have tired myself, burned out mycandle and made the clock strike thirteen.
"Yours with esteem, etc."
Like many of his contemporaries Samuel F. Dickinson had a horror of wasting time. It is said that he often slept but four hours a night. He was an abstemious man and is said to have lived on a diet of apples, cheese, coffee, and cider. Edward Hitchcock in his Reminiscences of Amherst College (Northampton, Mass., 1863) writes of him as"one of the most industrious and persevering men that I ever saw." Again he says, "He was also a man ofvery decided religious principles, andwhen once satisfied that he was in thepath of duty, his face was as a flint, and hereminded one of the early Puritans." Madame Bianchi writes that "a flamingzealot for education and religion, Emily'sgrandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickinson, began his career by joining the church at anearly age and being made a Deacon attwenty-one." She continues,4 "He continued to be an edifying embodiment ofthe qualities characteristic of the best ofold New England, until he was admittedto be '"probably the finest lawyer in theregion.'"
By 1814 Samuel F. Dickinson had prospered, married, begotten several children, and as I have written before, built a substantial red brick house, where his famous granddaughter Emily was to be born. The Amherst College phase of his career now begins.
It would appear that soon after leaving Dartmouth the one dream of his life, to found a college in Amherst, came to him. It was said of him that "the conversion of the world often pressed heavily upon his mind," and in his vision he saw Amherst College, by training ministers and missionaries, as an agency to hasten the conversion of the whole world. He saw, in an apocalyptic vision, the millenium as only seven years away. He lived to be disillusioned, neglected, and forgotten.
In 1814 Amherst Academy was founded. "The subscription for Amherst Academy (out of which the college grew) was started by Samuel Fowler Dickinson and Hezekiah Wright Strong" says the History of Amherst. His signature adorned the petition to "The Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" in 1816, for Amherst Academy. Both Mary Lyon, who founded Mount Holyoke Seminary, "the pioneer institution in Massachusetts of higher education for females, and Helen Fiske, later known as Helen Hunt Jackson, author of Ramona, and Emily Dickinson, attended this school. Mr. Dickinson subscribed $1005 for the cause. When the attempt was made to raise the charity fund it was his suggestion that the object be changed from the founding of a professorship to the establishment of a collegiate institution. He was one of the signers of the $15,000 guarantee bond, and it is doubtful if, without his aid, the first college building could have been completed. Time and again when the funds were exhausted, he pledged his private property at the bank that the work might go on. When there was no money to pay foi the teams to draw the brick, or men to handle them, he sent his own horses and his own laborers to assist. Often he fed the laborers in his own house. Tyler in his History of Amherst College writes (pp. 120-121): "His own means began tofail. His business, which was so large as torequire all his time and care, suffered fromhis devotion to the public. He became embarrassed and at length actually poor." Madame Bianchi confirms this in her Lifeand Letters of Emily Dickinson. There can be no questioning of Samuel Fowler Dickinson's sincerity.
We get a revealing glance of him in a letter from his sister Lucretia to his son Edward at Yale: "Father left in the yellowgig for the Bay Road this morning. He hasgone to Boston by coach to see about getting a charter for something they proposeto call Amherst College. He looked so finein his white beaver and new great coat."
THE FOUNDING OF AMHERST
Dartmouth men had a good deal to do with the early Amherst College. Its first president, called from Williams, Dr. Zephaniah Swift Moore D.D. was formerly Professor of Languages in Dartmouth College. Some of its early teachers were Dartmouth men. Mr. Hitchcock in his Reminiscences of Amherst College writes that Colonel Graves (one-time lecturer in chemistry at Dartmouth College) with Samuel F. Dickinson "had more to do informing and executing plans for the founding of Amherst College than any othermen."
Amherst College was not achieved without a struggle. Both Williams5 and Harvard objected strongly to the founding of another college in Massachusetts. The question of site, as soon as the charter was granted, arose. Many wanted the new school to be in Northampton. On Sept 30, 1818, Samuel Fowler Dickinson made an impassioned speech in favor of Amherst and not Northampton for the site of the college. His oratory had a great deal to do with swaying the choice to Amherst. In 1830 he was one of a committee to "secure a good and sufficient title to the ten acres of land conditionally conveyed to the trustees of this academy as the site of said institution." From 1820 to 1824 Mr. Dickinson was a trustee.
I will not go into detail about Mr. Dickinson's career as a public servant. The Gazetteer (First Part) of Hampshire County, Mass., 1654-1887, states: "For fifteen years, from 1804-1818 inclusive, he was town clerk, was frequently employed as the agent and advocate of the town in litigated questions, and served in the legislature twelve years, in the House of Representatives eleven, and in the Senate one, being chosen first in 1805." He entered the Senate in 1827.
He is described at this time as "a tall, thin man, plain in his dress and appearance, of prodigious bodily and mental activity and energy, a famous walker, a ferocious worker, a born leader, a man of ideas and principles, of rare public spirit, strong leligious faith and zeal, whose whole life was one of self-denial and self-sacrifice in the public service for education and religion, for the glory of God and the good of his fellow men."
He went west in 1833. He was at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was later at Western Reserve College at Hudson, Ohio, and in 1838 "died (suddenly of pneumonia) at the age of sixtytwo, after great labors and discouragement, in full possession of his faculties and the piecious hope of rest and reward in heaven. His son Edward brought his body home to Amherst for burial. Of such stuff were the early sons of Dartmouth made.
For certain information on the subjectof this paper I am much indebted to Mr.Arthur Leete Hampson, to Miss Saundersof the Baker Library, and to MadameMartha Dickinson Bianchi, I am indebtedfor her permission to quote several passages from her Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson, and from Emily Dickinson Face to Face, both published by Houghton,Mifflin & Company, Boston.
1 The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson, by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Boston, 1924. Page 3.
seen 111 his letters to Edward was much concerned about his religion. Yale offered this in limpid, unsullied, unpolluted" measure. In 1819 he wrote to his son Edward, then a student at New Haven: "I hear the religious attention continues at New Haven. If, Edward, I could learnthat you were among the number who had embraced the Savior how joyful the news! Prayfor a new heart. Never forget your morning andevening supplication for such mercies as youneed3 and most of all for your great salvation.You know we place much confidence in your upright and honorable deportment and your strictattention to every religious and moral duty." I might say here that Edward successfully resisted this exhortation and didn't join the church until 1850, twelve years after his father's death. 8 Emily Dickinson Face to Face, by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston. 193.2. Page 76. 4 Ibid. Page 77.
See Sons of Ephraim, by Macgregror Jenkins. Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1934. Page 47.
A Founder of Amherst CollegeSamuel F.Dickinson, 1795
