Dickson, James Nelson

Jim Dickson's obituary, transcribed for West Hill Cemetery, called him a civic and governmental leader for more than half a century. Born at Luella in 1890, he attended the summer normal school held at Austin College and Metropolitan Business College in Dallas. He kept books for the Southmayd Gin and the Fred Birge business and worked for the State Board of County and District Road Bond Indebtedness in Austin. He was principal of the Cannon school. His courthouse career moved from the tax collector's office through assessor and auditor to county judge, and he led two regional judges' associations.

What the plaque says

Dickson, James Nelson JAMES NELSON DICKSON (1890-1986) BORN AND EDUCATED IN GRAYSON COUNTY, JAMES NELSON DICKSON BEGAN HIS LONG ASSOCIATION WITH COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN 1914 AS DEPUTY TAX ASSESSOR. FOLLOWING A 1930 COURTHOUSE FIRE, HE WORKED TO REPLACE DESTROYED RECORDS, INCLUDING IMPORTANT SCHOOL BOND PAPERS. IN 1945, THE COMMISSIONERS COURT NAMED HIM TO FILL AN UNEXPIRED TERM AS COUNTY JUDGE, A POSITION HE HELD THROUGH SUBSEQUENT ELECTIONS UNTIL 1962. UPON RETIREMENT, HE DEVOTED HIS EFFORTS TO THE PROMOTION OF LOCAL HERITAGE THROUGH MUSEUMS, EVENTS AND ORGANIZATIONS, AND COMPILED A HISTORY OF GRAYSON COUNTY SCHOOLS. RECORDED - 2005

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 9.3 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge — 11 mi
  A 1946 refuge on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, laid over land bought for Denison Dam and the site of the vanished railroad town of Hagerman, now a winter stop for geese.
• Eisenhower State Park — 12 mi
  A bluff-top park on Lake Texoma opened in 1958 on land leased from the Corps of Engineers, in the Red River country of Fort Johnson, Colbert's Ferry and the Butterfield stages.
• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 24 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.

More markers nearby

• Tom Randolph — steps away
• The Rev. John Silliman Moore — steps away
• Aaron S. Mangum — steps away
• Olive Ann Oatman Fairchild — steps away