A recent post included a quote from a letter from Emily Dickinson to her third cousin Perez Dickinson Cowan:
“It grieves me that you speak of Death with so much expectation. I know there is no pang like that for those we love, nor any leisure like the one they leave so closed behind them, but Dying is a wild Night and a new Road.”
I wondered what was going on in her third cousin’s life for Dickinson to say such a thing, so I looked into it. I’ll get to the possible meaning behind this quote tomorrow (and some lines from other letters too), but for today I’ve pieced together “who was Perez Dickinson.” My investigation got a bit confusing because it turns out that there were three of them – and most info online centers on the second one, a prominent businessman in Knoxville, Tennessee. Here’s the low down:
1. Perez Dickinson, 1763 – 1813. He was the brother of Emily’s grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson, so this Perez was Emily Dickinson’s great-uncle.
2. Perez Dickinson, 1813 – 1901. He was the son of Perez Dickinson #1, so a cousin of Emily’s father Edward and a second cousin to Emily. He was also the brother to Lucinda Dickinson (and there were other siblings too), the mother of the Perez #3 below.
3. Perez Dickinson Cowan, 1843 – 1923. Lucinda Dickinson, the daughter of Perez Dickinson #1 above, married James H. Cowan, and one of their children was this Perez Dickinson, a third cousin to Emily Dickinson.
“It grieves me that you speak of Death with so much expectation. I know there is no pang like that for those we love, nor any leisure like the one they leave so closed behind them, but Dying is a wild Night and a new Road.”
I wondered what was going on in her third cousin’s life for Dickinson to say such a thing, so I looked into it. I’ll get to the possible meaning behind this quote tomorrow (and some lines from other letters too), but for today I’ve pieced together “who was Perez Dickinson.” My investigation got a bit confusing because it turns out that there were three of them – and most info online centers on the second one, a prominent businessman in Knoxville, Tennessee. Here’s the low down:
1. Perez Dickinson, 1763 – 1813. He was the brother of Emily’s grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson, so this Perez was Emily Dickinson’s great-uncle.
2. Perez Dickinson, 1813 – 1901. He was the son of Perez Dickinson #1, so a cousin of Emily’s father Edward and a second cousin to Emily. He was also the brother to Lucinda Dickinson (and there were other siblings too), the mother of the Perez #3 below.
3. Perez Dickinson Cowan, 1843 – 1923. Lucinda Dickinson, the daughter of Perez Dickinson #1 above, married James H. Cowan, and one of their children was this Perez Dickinson, a third cousin to Emily Dickinson.
Part of the confusion I encountered came from an article I found, HERE, on the branch of the Dickinson family that settled in Knoxville, Tennessee. The story focuses on Island Home Farm, the home in Knoxville of Perez Dickinson #2.
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Here are some of the statements from the article that added to my confusion:
A. “A wealthy Massachusetts merchant and banker, and cousin of poet Dickinson, Perez Dickinson moved to Knoxville in 1829 where his brother Joseph Estabrook, was the principal of the Knoxville Female Academy….”
Sooo…Dickinson had a brother named Joseph Estabrook? No, my research revealed that Estabrook was Dickinson’s brother-IN-LAW. He had married Perez Dickinson’s sister Nancy (not shown on the abbreviated family tree above).
B. “After graduation his educational career deviated into a business partnership with James Cowan leading to the formation of an enduring grocery and dry goods wholesale business, Cowan, McClung, and Dickinson.”
At first, I wasn’t sure who James Cowan was, but I have since learned that Cowan married Perez’s sister Lucinda -- but the real confusion came with the next line.
C. “Following Dickinson’s death in 1901, ownership of the farm passed to his son, Perez Dickinson Cowan.”
This statement definitely had me perplexed, especially in conjunction with the preceding statement. Before I discovered who James Cowan was, the two statements made it sound as if Perez Dickinson and his business partner James Cowan had had a son, Perez Dickinson Cowan. Hmm…how daring for the two men in the later 1800s!
Well, in piecing together the various family connections (which was confusing since popular family names were used over and over again), I had to draw myself a chart (the one shown above). It turns out that Perez Dickinson #2, the celebrated "Merchant Prince" of Knoxville, had no children. He did marry at one time, but his wife, Susan Penniman, died shortly thereafter.
Perez Dickinson Cowan (the "son" mentioned in the article) was, in fact, the son of Lucinda Dickinson Cowan and her husband James H. Cowan. It is this Perez Dickinson to whom Emily Dickinson sent the metaphor on dying mentioned at the start of this post. More on that tomorrow.
A. “A wealthy Massachusetts merchant and banker, and cousin of poet Dickinson, Perez Dickinson moved to Knoxville in 1829 where his brother Joseph Estabrook, was the principal of the Knoxville Female Academy….”
Sooo…Dickinson had a brother named Joseph Estabrook? No, my research revealed that Estabrook was Dickinson’s brother-IN-LAW. He had married Perez Dickinson’s sister Nancy (not shown on the abbreviated family tree above).
B. “After graduation his educational career deviated into a business partnership with James Cowan leading to the formation of an enduring grocery and dry goods wholesale business, Cowan, McClung, and Dickinson.”
At first, I wasn’t sure who James Cowan was, but I have since learned that Cowan married Perez’s sister Lucinda -- but the real confusion came with the next line.
C. “Following Dickinson’s death in 1901, ownership of the farm passed to his son, Perez Dickinson Cowan.”
This statement definitely had me perplexed, especially in conjunction with the preceding statement. Before I discovered who James Cowan was, the two statements made it sound as if Perez Dickinson and his business partner James Cowan had had a son, Perez Dickinson Cowan. Hmm…how daring for the two men in the later 1800s!
Well, in piecing together the various family connections (which was confusing since popular family names were used over and over again), I had to draw myself a chart (the one shown above). It turns out that Perez Dickinson #2, the celebrated "Merchant Prince" of Knoxville, had no children. He did marry at one time, but his wife, Susan Penniman, died shortly thereafter.
Perez Dickinson Cowan (the "son" mentioned in the article) was, in fact, the son of Lucinda Dickinson Cowan and her husband James H. Cowan. It is this Perez Dickinson to whom Emily Dickinson sent the metaphor on dying mentioned at the start of this post. More on that tomorrow.
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