Dickerson, Mahlon, 1770-1853

Mahlon Dickerson (April 17, 1770 - October 5, 1853) was an American judge and politician. He was elected Governor of New Jersey as well as United States Senator from that state. He was twice appointed Secretary of the Navy - under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin van Buren.

Richard Dale was a naval officer.

Gov. of N.J.; Senator, Sec. of Navy.

U.S. secretary of the Navy, U.S. senator from New Jersey, and governor of New Jersey.

Governor of New Jersey, U.S. senator, and secretary of the navy.

Mahlon Dickerson, the son of Mary Coe (1752-1827) and Jonathan Dickerson (1747-1805), was born on April 17, 1770 in Hanover Neck, New Jersey. Although he was licensed as a lawyer in 1793, the following year he joined the force that journeyed into western Pennsylvania to stamp out the Whisky Rebellion. After this adventure, he returned to New Jersey and then Philadelphia where he practiced law and entered into local politics. He served as a New Jersey State Assemblyman, a New Jersey Supreme Court Justice, the Governor of New Jersey, a United States Senator, the Secretary of the Navy, and a U.S. District Judge for the State of New Jersey. After retiring from political life, Dickerson attended New Jersey's Constitutional Convention in 1844 and from 1846-1847 was President of the American Institute. In the late 1840s he finally retired from public life and spent his final days at Ferromonte. Mahlon Dickerson never married and died at his home on October 5, 1853.

Philemon Dickerson, the youngest son of Mary and Jonathan Dickerson, was born in Succasunna, New Jersey on June 6, 1788. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1808, was admitted to the bar in 1813, and opened a law office in Philadelphia. He relocated to Paterson, New Jersey soon after his marriage to Sydney Maria Stotesbury in 1816 and entered politics where he served as a New Jersey State Assemblyman, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Governor of New Jersey, and as a District Court Judge for New Jersey. Philemon and Sydney Dickerson had four children: John Henry, Mary, Edward Nicoll, and Philemon, Jr. Philemon Dickerson died in Paterson, New Jersey on December 10, 1862.