Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Jacob W. DIXON
Jacob W. Dixon was born in New Castle County, Delaware, in 1832. His father was James Dixon, a prominent man of affairs. His mother was a Heald, a prominent Quaker family of Chester County, Pennsylvania, whose ancestors came with and belonged to the colony of William Penn. He received his preliminary education at the public schools, and at the Academy of the noted Milton Durnal at Unionville, Pennsylvania. He taught school one season and then entered the National Law School of Poughkeepsie, New York, where he remained two years and from which he was graduated with honors. He came to Ottumwa in 1855. In 1856 he married Miss Sarah Ann Vernon, whose ancestors were also Quakers, belonging to the Penn colony.
J. W. Dixon was, in many respects, one of the ablest men I have ever known. He had a highly philosophical mind, quick of discernment and inclined to abstruse investigation. He was fond of the natural sciences, took great interest in geology and had a good deal of astronomical knowledge. He was a cogent reasoner, and a clear, concise speaker. He was powerful in denunciation and convincing in argument. He was stubborn in his opinion when once formed, combative, and always a formidable antagonist in any dialectic struggle. Notwithstanding his determined character, he was, nevertheless, a natural diplomat of the first order, and had the opportunity been given, he would have distinguished himself by his diplomatic skill in any court of Europe, and been able to successfully untangle, if the subject were capable of it, the most difficult problems of international affairs.
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