■74 DICKINSON. DICKINSON. removed to Wait's River, Vermont, and opened a general store. After remaining there three years, he returned to Lowell and engaged successively in the provision and grocery business, and in 1873 he started the business which he is at present successfully carrying on, that of wholesale and commission dealer in flour and country produce. Mr. Dexter was married in Montpelier, Vt., February -'4. 1863, to Mary S., daugh- ter of Robert and Mary (Burgin) McCrillis. They have had four children : Nellie May (now Mrs. F. L. Batchelder, Manchester, N. H.), Daisy B., Royal King, and Jennie Dexter, — the latter deceased. Mr. Dexter's religious affiliations are with the Baptist church, he being a member of the finance committee of the Freewill Baptist church. He has long been a jus- tice of the peace, a member of the High- land Lodge, I. O. O. F., the Improved Order of Red Men, the Lowell Rod and Gun Club, and of the Lowell Co-operative Association. He is a member of the Low- ell board of trade, and also of the Vermont board of trade. Mr. Dexter's interest in politics has led him to accept a few of the many honors offered to him. He served as a member of the Lowell common council in 1883 and '84. His fellow-citizens recognized his ability and conservative judgment, and prevailed upon him to represent them in the lower branch of the state Legislature in 1886. He served to great acceptance, and was re-elected the following year, serving on the committee on finance, and on the library. Mr. Dexter is fairly the architect of his own fortune, having nothing when he left the old farm-house but a stout heart, strong and willing hands, and an earnest convic- tion that the world owed him a living. The debt has been faithfully paid, and to- day he stands honorably high among the best known merchants of the city of Lowell. DICKINSON, JOHN WOODBRIDGE, passed his early years in South Williams- town, Mass. He was the youngest but one of a family of nine children. His father, William Dickinson, was a native of Hadley, and a direct descendant of Nathan- iel Dickinson, one of the first settlers of that town. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Worthington. She was a woman of fine character, and gave to her children a good example of a noble life. Mr. Dickinson obtained the rudiments of learning in the public schools of Williams- town. At the age of nine years he was put to work on the farm during the sum- mer months, attending school for a few weeks only during the winter. Having a strong desire for a liberal edu- cation, he passed through his preparatory course of studies at Greylock Institute, South Williamstown, and at Williston Sem- inary, Easthampton, and entered the fresh- man class at Williams College in the au- tumn of 1848. He graduated from that institution in 1852, with the classical hon- ors of his class. In September of that year he received the appointment of assistant teacher in the state normal school at Westfield, Mass. After serving as first assistant teacher in the school for four years, he was appointed its principal in July, 1856. For twenty- one years he performed the duties of his office with marked ability and success, pre- paring for the service of the State a large number of teachers, well trained in the philosophy and art of teaching, and gain- ing for the Westfield normal school a national reputation. Mr. Dickinson early became a diligent and successful student of pedagogical science. He was among the first to intro- duce those reforms in methods of teach- ing which have since been working their way into the best schools of the country. He trained his classes in the use of the analytic objective method of study and teaching, in presenting to their own minds or to the minds of others any branch of learning, whether subject or object. In 1 87 7, on the resignation of the Hon. Joseph White, Mr. Dickinson was called from the normal school at Westfield to the office of secretary of the Massachusetts board of education. His experience as teacher in the normal school had fitted him to perform the duties of his new office. During his term of service the cause of popular education has made great pro- gress in the Commonwealth. The normal schools have grown strong in public favor; the teachers' institutes have been made to contribute more directly to an improve- ment in methods in teaching ; the final abolition of the school district system has been accomplished ; the children of the Commonwealth have been provided with free text-books ; the small towns of the State have been aided in supplying them- selves with well-trained school superintend- ents, and the great ends to be secured by school life have come to be better under- stood. Mr. Dickinson has published twelve an- nual reports, which hold a high rank
