This photo from the Smith Collection is of Dr. L.A. Dickson and was taken around 1900. Dr. Dickson was born on October 18, 1827 and passed away on February 14, 1904. He is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in Batesville.
Including the photos show here of his mortar and pestle, cork press, Civil War surgical kit, and desk from the McGinnis Collection. Additional items including ledgers, photos and family histories are also part of the Museum’s collection of items related to Dr. Dickson.
Dr. Lycurgus Adair Dickson was born near Murfreesboro, Tennessee to Enos and Cynthia Dickson. By age 14 he was orphaned and he and his brothers were raised by their aunt and uncle G.B. and Mary Lannom in western Tennessee. A schoolteacher at age 19, he began studying medicine locally in 1851, later studying at the University of Nashville, and graduating from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1855. After graduating he headed west, settling in Alderbrook in Independence County, Arkansas where he lived with Judge Henry Neill and his family. He later spent a few years touring Texas as an itinerant physician, but returned to Alderbrook in 1859 and resuming his practice. In 1861, he became a surgeon for the 8th Regiment, Arkansas Volunteers during the Civil War. In January 1863, Dr. Dickson married Elizabeth Grey Neill of Alderbrook. The couple raised six children on their 280 acre farm which was located in Desha.