DICKERSON, James c1818 – 1908

DICKERSON

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/22/2019 at 12:43:24

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer July 3, 1908, 3, C5

James Dickerson, Who Homesteaded the Site of Clear Lake, Is Dead.
The first settler on the banks of Clear lake, James Dickerson, died at Britt, aged ninety, and was interred in the soil he homesteaded in 1854, and on which Clear Lake now stands. The records show that Dickerson secured his land on July 20, the first entry made in the county.
He came here with his young wife and babe in 1851, by team, driving through from Strawberry Point. After leaving the vicinity of Decorah, he passed over trackless prairie, his wagon being the first to cross, so far as known. He was told of the beautiful body of water lying here by the Indians.
The first summer he and his little family spent under a giant burr oak tree, around which a clumsy shelter had been placed, till a home was built. So delighted was he with the situation that he decided to remain there the rest of his life. Of late years he had been with relatives at Britt.