Return to the El Dorado County Page Return to El Dorado County TalesWritten by Joanne Burkett from research taken from Paolo Sioli's History of El Dorado County California, from El Dorado Co. birth, marriage, death and land records and often from interviews.
F. R. J. Dixon was born on June 8, 1829 in the small hamlet of Humbleton, Yorkshire County, England. He had plans to be a physician in his native country, but his life took another direction when, at age 19, he accepted a position as assistant in the colonial secretary's office in Melbourne, Australia. He had already received a good college education and the new job was a good one, but maybe adventure had too strong a pull on him because he soon left that position to sell merchandise in the gold diggings and work as a newspaper correspondent for his native England.
Romance had already found him and on Aug. 18, 1851, Dixon exchanged marriage vows with 18-year-old Rebecca Chappell, also a native of England. Four children were born while the couple was in Australia: Frederick E. K., Isaac J., Arthur C., and William Harold, who was the only one who survived to grow up with his parents in America. Dixon had been infected with the itch to try his luck in California's gold fields.
Arriving in California in January 1860, he promptly set to work mining the area near Pilot Hill for a time before trying his hand briefly in a farming venture. Again, he got itchy feet, leaving El Dorado County and heading back to San Francisco, where he found a job in the insurance field. In 1863, William got a new little brother when Robert P. was born while the family made their home in San Francisco.
The following year found Dixon mining again in El Dorado and Placer counties.
Whatever luck he had at mining could not match the luck he had at producing heirs because over the next 10 years, four more children were born: Eleanor Josephine, in 1865; another Fred, in 1867; John H., in 1870; and Mary H., in 1875. Since the couple named two sons Frederick, we can be somewhat safe in assuming that Dixon's own first name was probably Fred.
During this period, Dixon joined those opposing Chinese immigration, becoming the president of the Anti-Coolie Convention, which had its start in San Francisco in 1862.
Coolie was a name given to the Chinese that described their slave-like working life and unimportance in America. According to Hutching's Illustrated California magazine, "With the exception of leading Chinese merchants we have had the opportunity to observe only the most unfavorable specimens of this race...throngs of coolies and degraded women."
This quote shows that although there were a few Chinese-Americans that had earned some respect, most of them were looked down upon, like slaves. Not fair, but a fact of the times.
Dixon supported the anti-coolie movement and, I suppose, was happy in 1882 when congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which forbid Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, from entering the country for 10 years. Only Chinese merchants, diplomats, tourists and teachers were allowed in.
This situation was not new. Records show that the discrimination had been practiced against Chinese workers as far back as 1849 when 60 miners had been driven away from their jobs for a British company in Tuolumne County. By 1852, the white miners had run off hundreds of Chinese from Horseshoe Bar, Mormon Bar and other nearby diggings.
In 1879, the Dixon family was on the move again, this time settling for good in Greenwood, where Dixon served as the town's justice of the peace and notary public, as well as practicing law for a while before the adoption of the new Constitution. Eldest son William worked as a gold miner.
From 1879 to 1888, Dixon was granted deeds on 17 pieces of property, most of which was purchased from a George Burnham and the Central Pacific Railroad. An additional four deeds were recorded for his wife and more than 15 for William.
The 1880 census shows that all six children were still living with their parents, with 17-year-old Robert's occupation listed as farming.
Working together, two of the Dixon sons established a butchering business in Greenwood, which they launched on Dec. 1, 1881. Both became active workers in the order of the Blue Ribbon Temperance Club, of which their father served as president.
Earlier that same year, on Nov. 24, William took Mary Elizabeth Ward as his bride and less than three years later, on April 14, 1884, the family's youngest daughter, Eleanor, married Charles William Harris. Young Frederick married Emma Wubbena, daughter of Gerget and Christiana, on June 27, 1896, in Sacramento. Through the Dixon children's marriages, the family's roots became thoroughly entwined in El Dorado County history and heritage and, by now, the Dixon family, collectively, owned large tracts of El Dorado County land. They had at last found a place to call home.
Permission is granted by the author to use or republish this article, but proper attribution to the author -- Joanne Burkett -- is requested.
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Last Updated on: 27 October 2003