The Dickinsons for several generations were landowners around Cambridge, England. In the early 1600's the Dickinsons were part of a company named The Cambridge Company that was organized to trade with the new settlements in America. In 1630 Captain John Dickinson and his two brothers came to New England as representatives of the company. The brothers settled in New England and raised large families. Captain John was Master of trade ships, among others, the "Ann" and later the "Desire." He settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts with his first wife and two children. She died in 1647. In 1651 he married Elizabeth Howland Hicks, a widow, a daughter of John Howland of the Mayflower. They lived in Barnstable until about 1658, when Captain John bought property in Oyster Bay, L.I., NY and moved his family there. For two or three generations the Dickinsons farmed and prospered in Long Island. Then in 1776 the Revolutionary War began. Most of the Dickinsons were Loyalists, and after the war, lost their farms and businesses, and were loaded on a British ship for transport to the wilds of New Brunswick. Most of the families received grants of land in New Brunswick to compensate for the land confiscated by the new government in the United States. The land was largely along the St. John's River. The Dickinsons and several of the other relocated families settled in the area now called Woodstock. For four generations they farmed and prospered in the area.
In 1906 Miles and Bertha Annett Dickinson left Woodstock with their three children, Helen (Jones), Marguerite (Dunlap)
and Kenneth Dickinson. They stopped in Monticello, where Elsie (Stanley) was born. They eventually came to Norridgewock
and lived in the town. It was here that Ralph Dickinson, Florence (Forbes) and George Dickinson were born. Later they moved to the farm on Route 2. There Esther (Burgess) were born. The girls grew up and married local farmers and businessmen. The boys started farms of their own.
In 2002, at the Dickinson reunion, 97 of the 200 plus descendents of this family met at Oosoola Park to meet their cousins and learn about their background. While many of these descendents live around Norridgewock, many more are scattered throughout the United States.
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