Wells Stoughton Dickinson (August 16, 1828 Bangor, Franklin County, New York – January 19, 1892 Malone, Franklin Co., NY) was an American merchant, manufacturer and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Life

He was the son of Joshua Dickinson. He attended the common schools and Franklin Academy, and eventually he became a merchant. In 1851, he married Thusa Fish. He manufactured potato starch, and owned sawmills and gristmills. He was a Supervisor of the Town of Bangor in from 1857 to 1859, a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

(Franklin Co.) in

1860 Events January–March * January 2 – The discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. * January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusett ...

, a delegate to the

1864 Republican National Convention The 1864 National Union National Convention was the United States presidential nominating convention of the National Union Party, which was a name adopted by the main faction of the Republican Party in a coalition with many, if not most, War Dem ...

, and a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

(17th D.) from 1872 to 1875, sitting in the

95th 95 or 95th may refer to: * 95 (number) * one of the years 95 BC, AD 95, 1995, 2095, etc. * 95th Division (disambiguation) * 95th Regiment ** 95th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation) * 95th Squadron (disambiguation) * Atomic number 95: americium *M ...

, 96th, 97th and 98th New York State Legislatures. Afterwards, he was the agent of the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

in charge of marketing the company's lands and building towns in the Dakota Territory. Dickinson, North Dakota, was named after him.

Sources

''Life Sketches of Executive Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York''
by William H. McElroy & Alexander McBride (1873; pg. 65ff) -book
''Main Street, North Dakota in Vintage Postcards''
by Geneva Roth Olstad (Arcadia Publishing, 2000; pg. 27)

transcribed from ''Historical Sketches of Franklin County'' by Frederick J. Seaver (1918) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Wells S 1828 births 1892 deaths Republican Party New York (state) state senators People from Bangor, New York Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly 19th-century American railroad executives 19th-century American legislators 19th-century New York (state) politicians