Hispanopedia WikiWilliam Austin Dickinson (April 16, 1829 – August 16, 1895) was an American lawyer who lived and worked in Amherst, Massachusetts. Known to family and friends as "Austin", he was, notably, the older brother of poet Emily Dickinson.
After graduating from both Williston Seminary and Amherst College, where he was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi, Dickinson taught briefly before pursuing a legal education.[1][2] He attended Harvard Law School, then joined his father, Edward Dickinson, in his law practice. After his father's death, Austin became treasurer of Amherst College from 1873 until his death. In addition to his law practice and treasury work, Dickinson took part in numerous civic projects and responsibilities, such as moderating the town meetings from 1881 until his death, and acting as president of the Village Improvement Association.[3] He was responsible for getting Frederick Law Olmsted to design the Amherst Common, and was instrumental in the development of Wildwood Cemetery in Amherst.[4]
On July 1, 1856,[5] Dickinson married Susan Huntington Gilbert, a friend of his sister Emily from childhood. They had three children and resided at the Evergreens, which stood, and still stands, adjacent to the Dickinson Homestead in downtown Amherst. Aside from his connection to his world-famous sister, Emily, Austin is also known for his longtime affair with Mabel Loomis Todd, a young Amherst College faculty wife who would eventually edit the first few collections of Emily Dickinson's poetry.
Austin is buried in the cemetery he helped found, Wildwood Cemetery, as is, in a separate family plot, Mabel Loomis Todd.[6] Emily Dickinson is not buried at Wildwood, but at Amherst West Cemetery.
Austin and Susan Dickinson's home, largely intact since they died,[7] can be visited through the Emily Dickinson Museum.
Notes
- ^"William Austin Dickinson (1829-1895), brother". Emily Dickinson Museum. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- ^Phi, Alpha Delta (1922). Catalogue of the Alpha Delta Phi Society. Executive Council of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraterity.
- ^Sewall, p. 117
- ^Dobrow, Julie (2018). After Emily: Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America's Greatest Poet. W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-35749-3.
- ^Dickinson Bianchi, Martha (1924). The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson. Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 52.
- ^Wildwood Cemetery website https://www.wildwood-cemetery.com/tour-ideas-at-wildwood.htmlArchived 2023-07-19 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^See Amherst paper note about repairs to both Austin and Susan's home, and Emily's. https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2018/9-18/protecting-the-evergreens
References
- Longsworth, Polly. 1984. Austin and Mabel: The Amherst Affair and Love Letters of Austin Dickinson and Mabel Loomis Todd. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-10716-5.
- Sewall, Richard B.. 1974. The Life of Emily Dickinson. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN 0-674-53080-2.
External links
- William Austin Dickinson at Find a Grave
- People from Amherst, Massachusetts
- Williston Northampton School alumni
- Amherst College alumni
- Harvard Law School alumni
- 1829 births
- 1895 deaths
- 19th-century American poets
- American male poets
- Dickinson family
- 19th-century American male writers
- American law biography stubs