Richard Henry Dickinson was the son of William W. Dickinson, a wealthy planter and slaveholder, and his first wife, Sally Ann Gatewood Dickinson. His age as recorded in U.S. census returns in 1850, 1860, and 1870 indicates that he was born late in 1811 or during the first half of 1812, likely on his parents' Caroline County plantation. Little is known about Dickinson's education. By 1839 he was residing in Richmond.
Dickinson acquired valuable real estate holdings in Richmond and conducted business at several locations in the vicinity of the State Capitol and the city's principal hotels, including at the Bell Tavern. During the Civil War, his offices stood at Franklin and Wall streets in the heart of the slave-trading district. In 1861 Dickinson was one of the owners of the Saint Charles Hotel, successor to the Bell Tavern as a prime site for slave auctions and traders' offices. Later in the war it became a Confederate hospital. He served as a private in Company D, 1st Virginia State Reserves, for several years during the war.
Dickinson continued in the slave trade until the end of the Civil War, as shown by notices for slave sales and auctions he and his business, operating as Hill, Dickinson & Co. after 1863, placed in Richmond newspapers. In February and March 1865, the company, along with several other traders, announced that "in consequence of the increased taxes of one hundred per cent. upon the taxes of the year 1864 by the Confederate Government, we hereby give notice that, from this date, our charges for commission and taxes on all sales of Negroes will be ten per cent." A few days later his company advertised a sale of forty slaves from a single estate, and on March 13, Hill and Dickinson advertised for two reliable men, above the age for conscription, to work as watchmen, presumably at their premises. They also sought two experienced men to serve as plantation overseers in one of the counties of lower Virginia.
Time Line
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1855–1865 - R. H. Dickinson is the senior partner of his own Richmond slave-trading business. His most important partners are Charles B. Hill and Nathaniel Boush Hill.
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1811–1812 - R. H. Dickinson is born, probably in Caroline County.
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1839 - By this year R. H. Dickinson is living in Richmond.
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March 25, 1841 - R. H. Dickinson and Virginia Scott Blackburn marry.
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1844–1854 - R. H. Dickinson operates a Richmond slave-trading business in partnership with one or both of his brothers.
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November 13, 1855 - Virginia Blackburn Dickinson, the wife of R. H. Dickinson, dies.
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1861 - R. H. Dickinson is part owner of the Saint Charles Hotel in Richmond.
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March 1865 - Dickinson & Co., a Richmond slave-trading firm, announces a 10 percent tax on all slave sales.
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May 1865 - R. H. Dickinson is identified by the U.S. government as a peddler fourth class, apparently catering to soldiers in Richmond.
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1867 - By this year R. H. Dickinson has moved to Middlesex County.
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ca. November 2, 1873 - R. H. Dickinson dies, probably in Middlesex County.
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November 26, 1873 - The Middlesex County Court appoints an administrator for the estate of R. H. Dickinson.
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February 4, 1874 - The Henrico County Court assigns administration of the R. H. Dickinson estate to the county sheriff.
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Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Chesson, M. B., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. R. H. Dickinson (1811 or 1812–1873). (2017, August 25). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Dickinson_R_H_1811_or_1812-1873.
- MLA Citation:
Chesson, Michael B. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "R. H. Dickinson (1811 or 1812–1873)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 25 Aug. 2017. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: August 15, 2017 | Last modified: August 25, 2017