Baxter Dickinson (April 14, 1795 – December 5, 1875) was an American minister.
Dickinson, youngest son of Azariah and Mary (Eastman) Dickinson, was born in
Amherst, Mass., April 14, 1795. He graduated from
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
in 1817. He spent a year in teaching in Virginia, and in 1818 entered
Andover Theological Seminary
Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...
, where he completed the course in 1821. He was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational Church in
Longmeadow, Mass., March 5, 1823, and there remained until called to the 3rd Presbyterian Church in
Newark, N.J., where he was installed November 17, 1829. He labored successfully for six years in that relation, and then accepted an invitation to the Professorship of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology in
Lane Seminary
Lane Seminary, sometimes called Cincinnati Lane Seminary, and later renamed Lane Theological Seminary, was a Presbyterian theological college that operated from 1829 to 1932 in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, Walnut Hills, Ohio, today a neighborhood ...
,
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. After four years of active devotion to the interests of that institution, he accepted an appointment to the corresponding chair in the
seminary in Auburn, N.Y., and held the position eight years. For ten years he served the
American and Foreign Christian Union as one of its District Secretaries at New York and Boston, and then removed with his family to
Lake Forest, near Chicago, where with them he opened a Young Ladies' Seminary, which was successfully maintained until 1867. The infirmities of age rendering necessary a retirement from all labor, he removed in 1868 to Brooklyn, N. Y., to spend his closing years, and died in that city, December 5, 1875.
In 1838 he received the degree of
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
from
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
. He was the author of the paper known as the "True Doctrines," which was adopted in 1837 as the exponent of the doctrinal beliefs of the
New School branch of the
Presbyterian Church
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
, and received the endorsement of both branches at the late Reunion. In 1839 he was the
moderator of the New School General Assembly. He published several sermons, and some of these, as well as a volume of ''Letters to Students,'' were republished in England.
Dr. Dickinson was married, June 4, 1823, to Martha Bush, of
Boylston, Mass., who survived him. Of their nine children, one son and three daughters survived him. Two of the sons graduated at Amherst College, Rev. Richard Salter Storrs Dickinson in 1844 and Rev. William Cowper Dickinson in 1848. William Cowper Dickinson's son was organist
Clarence Dickinson
Clarence Dickinson (May 7, 1873 in Lafayette, Indiana – August 2, 1969 in New York City) was an American composer and organist.
Early Life and Studies
Dickinson grew up in a religious family. His grandfather was minister Baxter Dickinson. H ...
.
External links
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Baxter
1795 births
1875 deaths
Yale College alumni
Andover Newton Theological School alumni
Lane Theological Seminary faculty
Auburn Theological Seminary faculty
American Presbyterian ministers
19th-century American clergy