Philemon Dickerson

Philemon Dickerson (January 11, 1788 – December 10, 1862) was a United States congressman representing New Jersey, and was later a United States federal judge. He was the brother of Governor, then United States Senator, Mahlon Dickerson of New Jersey. Philemon Dickerson was the father of patent attorney Edward Nicholl Dickerson who had defended Samuel Colt and Charles Goodyear in their patent-infringement suits.

Biography

Born in the Succasunna section of Roxbury Township in Morris County, New Jersey, Dickerson received an A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1808 and read law to be admitted to the bar in 1813. He practiced law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until 1816, and then in Paterson, New Jersey until 1821. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly (1821–1822). In 1832, Dickerson was elected to the House of Representatives on the Democratic-Republican Party ticket. He served in Congress until he resigned during his second term to accept an appointment from the legislature to be Governor of New Jersey.

Dickerson won an election to Congress again in 1838, this time as a Democrat. Having lost his reelection bid in 1840, on February 22, 1841, Dickerson was nominated by President Martin Van Buren to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey which had been vacated by his brother Mahlon Dickerson. Mahlon had been appointed as a placeholder, so that his brother could finish his term in the closely divided Congress before taking the bench. Dickerson was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 27, 1841, and received his commission on March 2, 1841. He served in that office until his death, in 1862, in Paterson. Dickerson is buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Paterson.

External links

• Philemon Dickerson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Philemon Dickerson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• New Jersey Governor Philemon Dickerson, National Governors Association
• Biography of Philemon Dickerson from The Political Graveyard

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Isaac Southard	U.S. House of Representatives New Jersey At Large March 4, 1833–November 3, 1836	Succeeded by Samuel Fowler
Preceded by John Bancker Aycrigg William Halstead John Patterson Bryan Maxwell Joseph Fitz Randolph Charles C. Stratton Thomas Jones Yorke	U.S. House of Representatives New Jersey At Large March 4, 1839–March 3, 1841 William Raworth Cooper Joseph Kille Joseph Fitz Randolph Daniel Bailey Ryall Peter D. Vroom	Succeeded by John Bancker Aycrigg William Halstead John Patterson Bryan Maxwell Joseph Fitz Randolph Charles C. Stratton Thomas Jones Yorke
Political offices
Preceded by Peter Dumont Vroom	Governor of New Jersey November 3, 1836–October 27, 1837	Succeeded by William Pennington
Legal offices
Preceded by Mahlon Dickerson	Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey 1841–1862	Succeeded by Richard Stockton Field