Scope and Contents
Missionary and teacher in Singapore, 1835-1844. Correspondence, a journal covering his years in Singapore, genealogical notes, a Malay lexicon and a Chinese-English vocabulary. Principal correspondents are Lyman Beecher, Horace Dickinson, Mercy Amelia Dickinson, Horace Greeley, Edward Everett Hale, Mary Ann Moseley Dickinson Perkins, and Lebbeus B. Ward.
Dates
- 1821-1884
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection are in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use. Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Alfred Howe Terry, 1941.
Extent
0.75 Linear Feet (2 boxes, 1 folio)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Missionary and teacher in Singapore, 1835-1844. Correspondence, a journal covering his years in Singapore, genealogical notes, a Malay lexicon and a Chinese-English vocabulary. Principal correspondents are Lyman Beecher, Horace Dickinson, Mercy Amelia Dickinson, Horace Greeley, Edward Everett Hale, Mary Ann Moseley Dickinson Perkins, and Lebbeus B. Ward.
Biographical / Historical
JAMES TAYLOR DICKINSON, 1806-1884
The James Taylor Dickinson Collection consists of two manuscript boxes of the correspondence and journal of James Taylor Dickinson.
The following account of Mr. Dickinson's life appears in the Yale Obituary Record, June 1885.
James Taylor Dickinson, the eldest child of Horace and Mary Ann (Taylor) Dickinson (both from Western Massachusetts), was born in Lowville, Lewis county, N.Y., October 27, 1806. His parents removed to Canada in 1816, and he entered College from Montreal in 1822.
After graduating he began the study of law in Montreal; but in 1827 he became convinced that he ought to enter the Christian ministry and removed to Andover Theological Seminary; he took last year of his course (1829-30) in the Yale Divinity School.
He was ordained pastor of the Second (Congregational) church in Norwich, Conn., April 4, 1832, and on the 21st of November following married Mary, daughter of Samuel Hikok, of Burlington, Vt., where he had been preaching for some time and had declined a call to settle. She died in Norwich, April 6, 1834, at the age of 19; and on the 20thof August next, he resigned his pastorate that he might fit himself for the work of a foreign missionary. After one year of preparatory studies in medicine, he embarked in July, 1835, for Singapore, in the East Indies, under an appointment from the American Board. Five years passed in the study of the Chinese and Malay languages, and in missionary labor. For four years from 1840 he was employed as a teacher in the Singapore Institution, till the loss of his health obliged him to return home.
In 1845, he settled in Middlefield, Conn., where he married, May 15, Sarah C., daughter of Deacon William Lyman, who survives him. Owing to his shattered health, he lived in seclusion, in the midst of his large and continually replenished library, chiefly occupied in reading and study. He published a few articles in periodicals, and contributed to Appleton's Cyclopedia an account of the Malay language; he also wrote a brief memoir of his brother-in-law, the Reverend George W. Perkins (Y.C. 1824), prefixed to a volume of sermons in 1859. These are the only results in print of his broad culture and accurate scholarship.
He died of paralysis, at his home in Middlefield, July 22, 1884, in his 78th year.
By his last will he added to a fund already established by him for the benefit of the College, which thus amounts to nearly $50,000; about 1,000 volumes of his valuable library were also bequeathed to the College.
The papers were the gift of Mrs. Alfred Howe Terry in 1941.
The James Taylor Dickinson Collection consists of two manuscript boxes of the correspondence and journal of James Taylor Dickinson.
The following account of Mr. Dickinson's life appears in the Yale Obituary Record, June 1885.
James Taylor Dickinson, the eldest child of Horace and Mary Ann (Taylor) Dickinson (both from Western Massachusetts), was born in Lowville, Lewis county, N.Y., October 27, 1806. His parents removed to Canada in 1816, and he entered College from Montreal in 1822.
After graduating he began the study of law in Montreal; but in 1827 he became convinced that he ought to enter the Christian ministry and removed to Andover Theological Seminary; he took last year of his course (1829-30) in the Yale Divinity School.
He was ordained pastor of the Second (Congregational) church in Norwich, Conn., April 4, 1832, and on the 21st of November following married Mary, daughter of Samuel Hikok, of Burlington, Vt., where he had been preaching for some time and had declined a call to settle. She died in Norwich, April 6, 1834, at the age of 19; and on the 20thof August next, he resigned his pastorate that he might fit himself for the work of a foreign missionary. After one year of preparatory studies in medicine, he embarked in July, 1835, for Singapore, in the East Indies, under an appointment from the American Board. Five years passed in the study of the Chinese and Malay languages, and in missionary labor. For four years from 1840 he was employed as a teacher in the Singapore Institution, till the loss of his health obliged him to return home.
In 1845, he settled in Middlefield, Conn., where he married, May 15, Sarah C., daughter of Deacon William Lyman, who survives him. Owing to his shattered health, he lived in seclusion, in the midst of his large and continually replenished library, chiefly occupied in reading and study. He published a few articles in periodicals, and contributed to Appleton's Cyclopedia an account of the Malay language; he also wrote a brief memoir of his brother-in-law, the Reverend George W. Perkins (Y.C. 1824), prefixed to a volume of sermons in 1859. These are the only results in print of his broad culture and accurate scholarship.
He died of paralysis, at his home in Middlefield, July 22, 1884, in his 78th year.
By his last will he added to a fund already established by him for the benefit of the College, which thus amounts to nearly $50,000; about 1,000 volumes of his valuable library were also bequeathed to the College.
The papers were the gift of Mrs. Alfred Howe Terry in 1941.
General
A genealogy and family tree are included only in print version of the finding aid available in the repository.
- Asia
- Beecher, Lyman, 1775-1863
- China -- Description and travel
- China -- Social conditions
- Chinese language -- Dictionaries -- English
- Clergy
- Diaries
- Dickinson, Horace, 1780-1832
- Dickinson, James Taylor, 1806-1884
- Dickinson, Mercy Amelia Bigelow
- Educators
- English language -- Dictionaries -- Malay
- Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872
- Hale, Edward Everett, 1822-1909
- Malay language -- Dictionaries -- English
- Missionaries
- Missions -- China
- Missions -- Malaysia -- Malaya
- Perkins, Mary Ann Moseley Dickinson, 1808-1851
- Singapore -- Description and travel
- Ward, Lebbeus Baldwin, 1804-1885
- Yale University -- Students
- Title
- Guide to the James Taylor Dickinson Papers
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- compiled by Staff of Manuscripts and Archives
- Date
- March 1983
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Created In Accordance With Manuscripts And Archives Processing Manual
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
Contact:
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
mssa.assist@yale.edu
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
mssa.assist@yale.edu
Location
Sterling Memorial Library
Room 147
120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511