A Leroy Dickinson

Submitted by Marrie Miller

Whatever of achievement and adornment there may be to credit to the account of later men and women, the real foundation builders of the great Northwest were these trail-blazers and early settlers who opened the way for the advancing march of civilization, gave trend and direction to the educational and moral forces, fixed the character of the political institutions and awakened and vitalized the commercial agencies of the various communities. All honor to the race of noble American pioneers! Full well they met the demands of their day and conditions, far better than they knew, they built for states and politics to govern and to bless mankind. High on the roll of this advance guard of enlightenment and civilization is written the name of A LeRoy Dickinson, now a progressive and enterprising farmer and stock grower on a fork of Sundance Creek, four miles from Sundance, whose ranch proclaims his spirit of progress, his skillful husbandry, his judgment in the character of its buildings and other improvements, and his taste in the arrangement of its accommodations and their adornment. It was among the earliest parts of this territory to fall under the reclaiming industry of civilized man. and has responded bountifully to the care bestowed upon it. Mr Dickinson was born on June 26, 1852, in Dane county. Wis, a son of Luke and Nancy (Crane) Dickinson, natives of New York and early pioneers in that portion of Wisconsin, where they settled in 1849. The father was a farmer and carpenter, who, after working at both vocations a number of years in Dane county, removed to Adams and later to Wood county in the same state, in Wood remaining until his death in 1865, his widow dying there one year later. Thus left an orphan at the age of fourteen, Mr Dickinson, of this review, did not have opportunity for much of the education dispensed by the schools, but was forced to take his place at Nature's own form and get his training by actual contact with the world and its contests from his very youth. He worked on farms in Wood county, and as soon as he was old enough began learning the carpenter trade. He mastered it and wrought at it for a number of years in that locality, remaining there until he was twenty-five. In 1879 removed to Minnesota, and, locating in McLeod county, passed four years there in peaceful and profitable farming. In 1883 he came to Deadwood, S D, and in the fall of the year came to Wyoming, settling in Crook county and there taking up a portion of the ranch he now occupies on a fork of Sundance Creek, four miles from the town. Here he has carried on a successful and expanding cattle industry, has added to the value of his land by judicious and well placed improvements, working out his advancement by his own efforts, and losing no foot of ground which he once gained in the progress. He is highly esteemed as a leading and representative citizen, being a Republican in politics, but not an active partisan, a useful factor in every project for the real benefit of the community. On June 26, 1875, in Wood eounty, Wis, he was married to Miss Mattie Teed, a native of that state and a daughter of Stephen and Zenetta (Barnes) Teed, natives of New York. Her father was a merchant at Lake Mills, Wis, and there both of her parents died at a good old age. Mr and Mrs Dickinson have two children, Zenetta, married to Mr Shroyer, and Walter.