ANSEL M. DICKINSON was born in West Fairlee, Vt., January 24, 1815, and is the third of the four children born to Ira and Dollie W. (Fairbanks) Dickinson, both natives of Massachusetts, and of English descent. Ira Dickinson was married in his native State, and soon after removed to Orange County, Vt., and for several years was engaged in rearing sheep. In 1817, be returned to Massachusetts, and died in Hampshire County, a member of the Masonic fraternity. Ansel Dickinson, when but eighteen months old, lost his mother, and until the age of seventeen years was reared among strangers. He then learned broom making, and followed the trade in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana for more than thirty years. In the fall of 1843, he came to Pittsburgh, Carroll County, this State, and, in the spring following, to this county, where for a number of years he worked at his trade and farmed on shares. In the spring of 1843, he bought the farm of 128 acres in this township, where he yet lives. January 28, 1851, he married Martha Harris, of Illinois, who bore him five children, and died November 2, 1874. Mr. Dickinson is a Republican, and under the old Constitution was Trustee of the township one term; he likewise served as, County Commissioner three terms- from 1860 to 1869. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.

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