Dyson had been born 19 April 1849 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England, a son of Samuel and Sarah (Mitchell) Jackson.  His mother died when he was 4 years old, and his father married Mary Ann Lockwood three years later.  In 1859, when Dyson was 10, he, his stepmother, and four of his siblings came to Richmond, Indiana, to join his father, who had gone there the previous year looking for opportunity.  They were still in Indiana when his stepmother died in 1862.  Two years after that, his father married a third time, to Elizabeth Mullis.  Dyson was 21 when his family moved again, in 1870, to Chase County, Kansas, where he met and eventually married Annie.

The Worralls and Jacksons had both homesteaded land in Chase County, in the northern part of Toledo Township.  Their farms were about a mile apart.  The Kansas state census of 1875 shows Dyson, Annie, and their daughter Sarah in Toledo Township, in a household with Dyson’s father and stepmother, and two of his sisters.  Annie’s parents and siblings are listed on the same page.

In 1878, Dyson and his father sold their Chase County land and moved to Morris County (about 10 miles north), where Dyson bought a quarter-section which straddled the Neosho River about a mile south-southeast of Council Grove.  At the same time, his father purchased an adjoining quarter-section just to the west, which gave them a combined property of 320 acres.

By the fall of 1879, the new farm was thriving, and Dyson won first prize for yellow corn from the Morris County Agricultural Society.  The 1880 census shows “Dysen” (age 31, “Anna” (25), and their daughter “Anciei” (5) in Valley Township, Morris County, Kansas, in a household with Dyson’s father, stepmother Elizabeth, and sister Mary.  “Anciei” is the same daughter who was shown as “Sarah” in the 1857 census.  Her correct full name was Sarah Annice Jackson, but she was mostly called by her middle name through her life.  What the census doesn’t show is Dyson and Annie’s second child, Eliza, who had been born in September 1878 and died four months later.

After Dyson’s father died in November 1881, Dyson gained possession of his father’s property, and he also bought up other adjacent properties when he could.  As his real estate holdings grew, so did his family.  The Kansas State census of 1885 shows Dyson (age 36), Anna (34), Sarah A. (10), Samuel (5), and Herbert (2), along with Dyson’s stepmother Elizabeth (64), residing in Valley Township, Morris County, Kansas.  Dyson and Annie had two more children after 1885, bringing the total number to six:

• Sarah Annice Jackson, 1874–1951 (married Emory B. Yates).
• Eliza Ellen Jackson, 1878–1879.
• Samuel Martin Jackson, 1880–1936 (married Norah S. Pulliam).
• Herbert James Jackson, 1883–1958 (married Sylvia Ann Gross).
• Joseph Ambrose Jackson, 1886–1957 (married Jettie Laura Maxwell).
• Benjamin Lauren Jackson, 1891–1948 (married (1) Nellie Mae Brown and (2) Mrs. Hazel Mae (Crist) Martin).

Dyson, apparently, was one of the most successful farmers in Morris County.  The Council Grove papers made frequent mention of him producing record crops of wheat and corn, and sending off large shipments of cattle and swine to the stockyards in Chicago and Kansas City.  In 1892, in particular, the Council Grove Republican printed an extensive profile of him and his farm, which is reproduced here.  Unfortunately, it makes no mention of Annie, other than to say that, at one point, Dyson had “taken unto himself a better-half.”  Among all the other mentions of Dyson in the papers, Annie mostly shows up as “and Mrs.” when the two of them had gone traveling somewhere or had participated in some sort of social event.  The few times when she is mentioned separately reveal that she was involved with the Ladies’ Aid Society, The Willing Workers, and the Knights and Ladies of Security, and that she was seriously ill with pneumonia for a couple of weeks in 1905.

The Kansas state census of 1895 and the 1900 Federal census both show Dyson and Annie in Morris County with their sons Sam, Herbert, Joseph, and Ben.  Their daughter Sarah was no longer in the household then, as she had married Emery Yates and moved out in 1892.  In addition, Dyson’s stepmother Elizabeth is shown in the 1895 census but not in 1900, owing to her own marriage to Jacob Cummings in 1897.  The 1900 census further notes that Annie was the mother of six, only five of whom were living.

In addition to his farming activities, Dyson was civic-minded and was, at various times, a delegate to both the county and state Republican conventions, a member of the Council Grove Township Board, a director of the local Chautauqua Association, and a Trustee of the Congregational Church.  He was also active in the Odd Fellows and the Foresters of America,  and he served on the Board of Directors of one of the local newspapers (The Courier-Guardian).

In the early 1900s, Dyson involved himself in a couple of business enterprises, aside from his regular farming.  In 1902, along with a couple of his neighbors, he formed the Council Grove Percheron Horse Company, which acquired at least four certified Percheron stallions for breeding purposes.  (Percherons are large, well-muscled draft horses very useful in agricultural work.)  Then in 1906, Dyson, along with Annie’s brother Ambrose Worrall and a local veterinarian, L. Fredenburg, formed the Council Grove Veterinary Remedy Company.  They marketed a kit of commonly used veterinary medicines for farmers and ranchers to keep on hand for emergencies.  Sales were reportedly quite robust during the next couple of years.  I’m not sure what became of the company after that, or what became of the earlier-formed Percheron Horse Company.  I haven’t seen any further mention of either of them in the Council Grove papers.

Between 1900 and 1910, three of Dyson and Annie’s four sons married.  The 1910 census shows Herbert and Joseph along with their wives Sylvia and Jettie in the household with Dyson, Annie, and Ben.  The eldest son, Samuel, has a separate residence (listed immediately afterwards in the census) with his wife Nora and two children.  Dyson is identified as a “Farm Operator”; Herbert, Joseph, and Samuel all have the designation of “Partner.”  No occupation is listed for any of the women or for Benjamin (who was 18 and still single).

In November 1913, Dyson sold the farm that he had labored for the past 35 years to build.  His holdings had grown to more than 1,100 acres and reportedly sold for $100,000 (which, at that time, was more than enough to support himself and Annie comfortably for the rest of their days).  I don’t know exactly where Dyson and Annie lived after the sale, but occasional mentions in the Council Grove papers suggest that they remained in that vicinity.

Ben married Nellie Mae Brown in October 1915, the last of Dyson and Annie’s children to marry.  Soon thereafter, early December, Annie fell ill, and Dyson took her to Kansas City for medical care.  There she lingered on through the holidays and finally succumbed on 11 February 1916.  The Daily Guard newspaper published an obituary for her, and she was laid to rest at Greenwood Cemetery in Council Grove.

Following Annie’s death, Dyson apparently moved from place to place, mostly staying with one or another of his four sons (all of whom lived in Council Grove), but also spending some time with a sister in St. Joseph, Missouri.  The 1920 census shows him living in Council Grove with his son Joe, Joe’s wife Jennie, and Joe’s daughter Irene.  The census date that year was January First.  Dyson died two months later, 11 March 1920, following what was described as a “lingering illness.”  An obituary appeared in The Weekly Guard, and he was laid to rest next to Annie at Greenwood Cemetery.

If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about the lives of Annie, Dyson, and their descendants, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:

Thanks,      
     —Pete Martin

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