Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together came, Grandmother Dickson got Grandfather up and told him to go down and bring that boy back. Grandfather arrived at the tepee (located where Ft. Lane is now) before any of the Indians were up. Then he waited and waited until finally the smoke started curling up our of the tepee, and the old chief came out. When he was questioned about the boy, he said, "Papoose is still asleep. You'll have to wait until he wakes up." So Grandfather waited again until finally Uncle Will woke up and was taken home. It was surely a grateful time. The important thing about this story is the fact that the old chief said, "Now we know we can trust you because you leave your papoose in our camp all night." To me, this was a great lesson in honoring people, because Grandfather had the courage to leave the boy. It would be a great test to me to leave one of my children in the tepee of an Indian that didn't feel very kindly toward the white people in general. It was about 1862 that Billa Dickson and my father, Albert Douglas Dickson, came to Morgan County from Layton and purchased the willow- covered land in Richville and built a house, then began clearing the acreage so that farming could be done. This is the same farm that I farm now and live on. It's a beautiful place to live. ■©)©• Albert Douglas Dickson Albert Douglas Dickson Albert Douglas Dickson, a man endowed with great faith and determination to serve his Heavenly Father and family, was a true Latter-day Saint, as was his father, Billa Dickson and grandfather, John Dickson. Albert's grandfather, John, was born on August 24, 1781, in Cambridge, Washington County, New York, to David Dickson and Sarah Dickson. At an early age, John left with his father to Leeds County in Upper Ontario Canada. In 1809 John married Mary Henderson, the daughter of David Henderson and Mary Tody Henderson. David was an United Empire Loyalist who had fled the colonies during the Revolutionary War. They had nine children. Mormon missionaries, John E. Page and James Blakesley, taught the family the true gospel and they were baptized in 1837. John and his sons traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, where John Sr. received his patriarchal blessing from the Prophet Joseph Smith's father. They then returned to Canada, crossing Lake Erie to prepare his family to move to Zion with the Saints. The family followed Elder Page to Kirtland, Ohio. After working on a highway in Ohio for some time. the group traveled on to DeWitt, Carroll County, in Missouri, and arrived on Tuesday, October 2, 1838. The Canadian Saints had traveled the 860 miles from Kirtland, and were immediately surrounded by an armed mob. Neither the citizens of DeWitt, nor of the wagon train were allowed to leave the town for over three weeks. A petition for relief was made up and sent to Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri. It bears the names of David Dixon (Dickson) and H. (Harmon) T. Chipman, the husband of Billa Dickson's sister, Mary Dickson. Food became scarce as no one was allowed to leave or enter the town. The Prophet Joseph Smith slipped into town under the cover of darkness and organized the Saints. He approached Billa's wife, Mary Ann Stoddard Dickson, and asked if she had any bread. When Mary Ann replied that she did, she gave him a loaf. He thanked her and said that neither she nor her family would be hungry and they never were. Stray cattle and pigs were shot and used for food by the citizens of DeWitt. Billa Dickson was able to track a stray pig in the river bed. As he dressed it out, the Prophet Joseph Smith rode by. He called out, "That is a good one, Brother Dickson, go and divide it among the camp." Which, of course, Billa straightaway did. The Dickson family fled to Illinois and devoted their energies to building the city of Nauvoo. They made their home in Nauvoo for several years in Commerce City, Lots 23 and 24, intersecting Joseph and Hyde streets, and about six or seven blocks from the homestead property of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife, Emma Smith. In 1840 Billa and Mary Ann 58