Dickinson family.

The Dickinson family of Amherst, Massachusetts was related to the American poet, Emily Dickinson.

Edward Dickinson was the father of Emily Dickinson. He attended Amherst College and then transferred to Yale College, graduating with honors in 1823. He was a long-time resident of Amherst, Massachusetts and practiced law there for forty-eight years. On 6 May 1828 he married Emily Norcross.

Emily Norcross Dickinson, mother of the poet, was born in Monson, Massachusetts. She attended a boarding school in New Haven, Connecticut from 1822-1823. After her marriage, she rarely traveled, except to visit family in Monson or Boston.

William Austin Dickinson (1829-1895), commonly called Austin, was Emily Dickinson's brother. He attended Amherst College and then prepared for his career as a lawyer. Admitted to the bar in 1854, he practiced law throughout his life in Amherst and succeeded his father as Treasurer of Amherst College in 1873.

Lavinia Norcross Dickinson (1833-1899), sister of the Emily Dickinson, attended Amherst Academy, and Wheaton Family Seminary in Ipswich. Though she visited friends and relatives more frequently than her mother or her sister, she too remained at home for the most part.

Susan Huntington Dickinson (1830-1913) was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts. She became close friends with Emily Dickinson when she moved to Amherst in 1850 to live with her newly married sister (Harriet Gilbert Cutler). Susan became engaged to Austin Dickinson in 1853 and they were married in 1856. The couple then moved into a home on the Dickinson homestead that Edward Dickinson built for them. Susan was an author in her own right, publishing poetry as well as essays about life in Amherst.