Caleb Dickinson of Kingweston

Brother of Ezekiel and Vickris Dickinson, father of William Dickinson I and grandfather of William Dickinson II (each of whom q.v.).

1. Ezekiel and Caleb Dickinson were listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owners of 7055 acres of land in St Elizabeth.

2. Will of Caleb Dickenson or Dickinson of Kingweston [made in 1777] proved 25/05/1783. Under his will he instructed his two brothers and son to supply one-third of the income of his estates to support his sister Margaret Goldney if she were widowed to ensure she could keep a coach and live genteelly. After minor monetary legacies to servants, he left his estates in Great Britain and Jamaica, his moiety of the Flatholm Lighthouse and the property that came to him from his uncle Jonathan Dickinson of Philadelphia and Jonathan's sons Jonathan, Joseph and John (all deceased) to his son William. In a codicil of 1778 he said that since he had committed so much to building up and 'improving and repairing' the Kingweston estate and rendered it 'very convenient', he requested that his son William consider it his chief seat in the county when not in London, that William entail it with the strictest settlement and the contents be treated as 'Heir looms'.

The papers correspondence received by Caleb Dickinson relating to his business and private matters is held at the Somerset Heritage Centre, DD/DN, https://somerset-cat.swheritage.org.uk/records/DD/DN [accessed 01/05/2019].

1. 'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

2. PROB 11/1103/362.

We are grateful to Ruth Hecht for her assistance with compiling this entry.