feature - Dickason

feature

Dickason

A family name once connected to The Village of Melbourn in Cambridgeshire. Various families with the surname Dickason family can be found in several parishes within Cambridgeshire of which Melbourn is one.

The surname is first recorded in Cambridgeshire from the early 1600,’s one notable family were known to be living in Melbourn from the time of a marriage of Joseph Dickason to Ann Wood in 1793. The Wood family would seem to have been living in Melbourn and can also be traced back to the 1600s. The name Dickason has on many occasions been miss spelt and written down as heard or spoken in different dialects where some have been transcribed as Dickerson, Dickeson and Diccison. The Joseph Dickason who married an Ann Wood and settled in Melbourn, was originally born in Guilden Morden. From small beginnings, his family established and settled in Melbourn. They must have been a well-educated family as many could write their names and can be seen on written documents from the mid-1700s. Joseph became a Church Warden and records show his name signed by him, providing valuable records, which would not be available in Family History sites, and farmed 160 acres in Melbourn, associated with the Manor of Melbourn with Meldreth Argentines and Trayles. A Joseph Dickason was also a Bailiff for the Manor of Melbourn with Meldreth Argentines and Trayles.

A family Bible dated 1837 owned by the said Dickason family, recorded a marriage of the son of Joseph and Ann nee Wood, also called Joseph, he married a Susannah Stamford from another well-known local family. The Bible has proved to provide some very interesting clues as to some members of the family. Records showing the various family connections through various marriages. Families such as Stockbridge, Wood, Scruby and Titchmarch to name a few.

On researching the family, it seems that Joseph Dickason’s family became very much integrated into the various local community establishments, where records show that they were prominent and are recorded many times within the Court Rolls of the Manor of Melbourn with Meldreth Argentines and Trayles. Many Dickasons were farmers and millers. Joseph is also recorded as a Leet Judge to the court, to which, the same the court rolls documented, gave more interesting records of the family from those living in neighbouring parishes. Such as Abington Piggott’s, where one James Dickason lived at Down Hall with his wife Elizabeth nee Stockbridge. The Enclosure Map of Melbourn in 1839 is also very informative and shows where the various members of the family had their lands recorded on the Map. The same document can be seen in the book ‘A glimpse into Melbourn’s past’ compiled by the Melbourn Village History Group. Land is shown, who the people were, and who farmed the land allocated. Whilst on one of my visits to Melbourn I noticed a road called Dickason’s a Cul-de-Sac located in Melbourn, which I found interesting, begging the question, was it once in the area where the family lived in the 18-19th Century? I believe there is also a road in Gamlingay where some Dickasons are recorded and lived. One a ‘John Dickason’, it seems, was contracted to manufacture bricks for Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, in the 1720s. A few emigrated to Australia in the Gold Rush of the mid 1800s where another Joseph Dickason owned land in Praharan, Melbourne, Australia. Today such properties he owned are priceless. Skeletons in the Cupboard I guess most families have some hidden secrets and mine is no different

You may ask how am I connected to the Dickason’s direct family line. DNA is a marvellous tool which in my case resolved a mystery in my family going back to a Robert David Dickason.

My Great Grandmother was a Baldwin and she had an illegitimate son. Many years later his father placed adverts in the local Newspapers where he lived in Worcestershire, and eventually found him. On finding his son they both teamed up and worked a farm bought by Robert David Dickason, in Shropshire and when Robert David Dickason died, his son was left a share of his estate. No written documents or records have to date been found to secure factual evidence that Robert David Dickason was the father, as his name was omitted on the birth certificate.

The only other clue I had to go on was in another family Bible, which had various cards showing dates of deaths within the family. One an illustrated hand written document of a Remembrance card of the death of a James Dickason of Abington Piggott’s who died in 1820 whose wife was Elizabeth nee Stockbridge. Having my DNA tested is a major factor in proving my heritage which has completed the jigsaw puzzle, it confirmed that Robert David Dickason was the biological father of my grandfather. DNA linked me to two other people connected to the Dickason family one of which led me to a family by the name of Leete, where we both shared our mutual 3, 4, and 5th great grandparents and beyond. The Leetes are another Cambridgeshire family which is well documented where a lot lived in the surrounding areas of Guilden Morden and Eversden. DNA DNA was the key which confirmed my family line leading me back to Cambridgeshire which confirmed my heritage. Some of this must be credited to the Cambridgeshire Family History Society who have very well documented historical records of Birth, Marriage and Deaths, compiled of all the Parishes in Cambridgeshire. Many hours can be spent on checking and re checking, so finding hidden or misplaced family records are rare gems and can prove to be very valuable, useful documents for future generations. Dickason Melbourn Family Bible The Melbourn Family Bible belonging to a Joseph and Susanna