DIXON, JOHN, was born Oct. 8, 1784, in the village of Rye, Westchester county, N. Y. After spending fifteen years as a merchant in New York city, he closed his business there and started, April 13, 1820, for the west. He came by the way of Pittsburg, Pa., and Shawneetown, Ill., passing over the site of the city of Springfield before there was any thought of a town rising there, and settled nine miles further north, in what is now Fancy creek township. Four years later he moved to Fort Clark, where Peoria now stands. At the end of six years he moved north, into the country owned by the Winnebago Indians, and April 11, 1830, bought a ferry on Rock river from a half-breed Indian. From that time it was known as Dixon's ferry.

As a village began to grow, it was abbreviated to Dixon, and has now grown to the city of Dixon, Lee county, Ill. This is merely a synopsis of a long and useful life. John Dixon is now (1876) in his ninety-second year. Of his family, I have no record. He lives in the city founded by himself, and bearing his own name.