Where did this Dickerson family go?

[Michael ONeil]

The following arrived in New York from Liverpool 6 June 1836 on board the St. Mark. I’ve found the children’s baptismal records at a church in Bradfield, Yorkshire to parents Isaac and Sarah and mostly it’s the correct years of birth give or take a few. I’m sure Sarah’s year of birth is wrong in the manifest and she is the mother as she’s only 9 years older than the eldest child. However I can’t find any further evidence for them in the USA/Canada afterwards. Most strange given the names Isaac and Benjamin would help narrow things down?

Isaac Dickerson, b1793
Sarah Dickerson, b1807
Mary Dickerson, b1816
Elizabeth Dickerson, b1820
Benjamin Dickerson, b1818
John Dickerson, b1822
William Dickerson, b1824
George Dickerson, b1826
Henry Dickerson, b1830
Isaac Dickerson, b1833

Any ideas welcome.

[Erato]

The problem is that the 1840 census only names the head of household and doesn't give the place of birth.  I'm wondering about this Dickinson family in Springfield, Massachusetts:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YYK-SSH5?i=12&cc=1786457

[Erato]

I note that in 1850, there was a John Dickinson [age 36] and a Henry Dickinson [age 28] both in Chicopee, Massachusetts [about 3 miles north of Springfield] and a George [age 25] and an Isaac Dickinson [age 17] living together in Hartford, Connecticut [about 24 miles south of Springfield].  All  were born in England; John was a machinist; Henry was a painter; George and Isaac were gunsmiths.  Some of the ages are a bit off but they're worth considering.

John Dickinson, 1850
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GB9V-T8F?i=164&cc=1473181

Henry Dickinson, 1850
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9B9V-RGX?i=15&cc=1473181

George and Isaac Dickinson, 1850
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6S8H-BV?i=279&cc=1401638

[Erato]

I think this is the right family of Dickersons/Dickinsons.  Here are some deaths:

Death of Sarah Dickinson, age 51, widow, born in Bradfield, England, died 8 April 1848 in Springfield/Chicopee, Massachusetts.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QG3-Q4L?i=162&cc=1463156

Death of Emmeline Smith, age 28, in Chicopee, Massachusetts on 29 Nov 1870.  Her parents were Isaac and Sarah Dickinson, both born in England.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DZY5-F7?i=373&cc=1463156

Death of Sarah C. Dickinson, age 14, on 19 April 1852, in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts; parents Isaac and Sarah Dickinson.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-68D4-5V?i=246&cc=1463156

[Erato]

Isaac Dickinson, grave; born 1791 in England, died 29 November 1842, Chicopee, Massachusetts.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62390113/isaac-dickinson

[Erato]

Marriage of Henry Dickinson, born 1831, Sheffield, England, parents Isaac and Sarah.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-65HV-M4?i=151&cc=1469062

[Michael ONeil]

Hi folks - wow what fab finds. Apologies for only replying now but I've been away for Easter.

I'm confident that all of the finds are to do with this family. I went through the 1840 Census and ticked off all household members comparing to what age they would have been and all matched except Mary (b1816) was missing - possibly married by now and there were 2 females under age 5 listed which means that Isaac and Sarah must have continued to have children.

From the death records it appears that they did - Sarah (b1838) in New Jersey and Emmeline (b1842). This means Sarah must have been one of the 2 under 5s. New Jersey now gives another place to look and most likely says in New York in 1835, New Jersey in 1838 and then Massachusetts by 1840 and thereafter.

My reason for searching is this. I am trying to find info for a William Dickers (b1824) in England. He was a rigger and in New York in 1850 married to an Ellen. Ellen died in 1854 and he remarried shortly after in the same year to a Catherine Beechinor. The 1855 NY Census has him as being in the USA for 20 years so arrival 1835-ish. His surname has been spelt variously Dickers, Decker and Dickerson and as the records posted here show Dickerson can become Dickinson. So I'm wondering whether the William Dickerson in the 1835 manifest became William Dickers??? If he did arrive 1835-ish then he would only have been aged 9 so surely there would have been a family group? I couldn't find anything else that came close for another arrival.

[Erato]

There was a William L. Dickinson who married Harriet J. White on 24 November 1842 in Russell, Hampden County, Massachusetts.  Russell is about 5 miles west of Springfield and Chicopee.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6RQS-KMC?i=165

From the 1850 census, though, it looks like he was not part of the English Dickerson/Dickinson family but you might want to examine him a bit more closely to be sure.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-X499-YCV?i=5&cc=1401638

[Michael ONeil]

Hi Erato,

Many thanks for looking at this. At first I thought that my theory about William Dickers/Dickerson is now dead in the water given the locations of the records you dug up and that this William must be from the original emigrant family but now I can't be sure...

I think the marriage and census records are the same family - William and Harriet however William's age in 1850 is given as 31 meaning a DOB of 1819 plus it says birthplace as Mass. And the marriage record appears (for William at least) to suggest a DOB of 1819. There's what looks to be a ditto like bracket coming down from the 2 marriages recorded suggesting the same ages of each group - 23 and 24??? If William was 23 in 1842 then the DOB is 1819. The only problem is that this doesn't work for Harriet as it would give different DOBs for her if you compare the marriage and census records.

Now I know you can't always trust DOBs but all my NYC records for William Dickers consistently give his DOB as being between 1824-27 - nothing earlier and his birthplace is always stated as England.

So whilst I'm now 100% convinced that the emigrant family are the same family that has eventually settled in the Chicopee, MA area I'm still left with either believing that my William Dickers, if he was the same William from the emigrant family, somehow ended up in NYC and being married to an Ellen by 1850 or my theory is a red herring in which case I still need to find an entry for him aged roughly 9 sometime about 1835-ish.

My absolute earliest 100% confirmed record is the 1850 NYC census and he is listed twice with Ellen. He's in the 1851 city directory but he might also be in the earlier 1847 directory in an adjacent street to where I know he lived from 1850 onwards but listed as a seaman and not a rigger. Tantalisingly close but not definite. In one of the 1850 census listings he is with his wife Ellen, age 28, born NY and a Bridget McCormick, age 50, born Ireland. Now I think that Bridget could possibly be his mother-in-law but unfortunately the NY birth records don't go back that far to check for Ellen's birth and I've no way of knowing if Bridget was married in Ireland or NY so I wouldn't be able to check entries for when she arrived in NY other than it must have been by 1822.

Blimey I have gone on a bit, still who said geanealogy was easy eh?