Editing Timothy Dexter

{{Short description|American businessman and author (1747–1806)}}
{{about|the American businessman|the bear enthusiast|Timothy Treadwell}}
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{{Infobox person
| name = Timothy Dexter
| image = Timothy Dexter.jpg
| caption = Dexter in 1805
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1747|1|22}}
| birth_place = [[Malden, Massachusetts|Malden]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], [[British America]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1806|10|23|1747|1|22}}
| death_place = [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| resting_place = [[Old Burial Hill (Marblehead, Massachusetts)|Old Hill Burying Ground]], Dexter Family Plot, Newburyport
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| known_for = Uncommon good fortune, eccentricity
| notable_works = ''[[A Pickle for the Knowing Ones]]'' (1802)
| occupation = [[Entrepreneur]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth (Lord) Frothingham|1770}}
| children = {{ubl|Nancy Dexter|Samuel Dexter}}
}}

'''Timothy Dexter''' (January 22, 1747 – October 23, 1806), self-styled '''Lord Timothy Dexter''', was an American businessman noted for his eccentric behavior and writings. He became wealthy through marriage and a series of improbably successful investments and spent his fortune lavishly. Though barely educated or literate, Dexter considered himself "the greatest [[philosopher]] in the known world", and authored a book, ''[[A Pickle for the Knowing Ones]]'', which espouses his views on various topics and became notorious for its unusual misspellings and grammatical errors.

== Life and works ==

Dexter was born in [[Malden, Massachusetts|Malden]]<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Dexter, Timothy |volume=8 |page=141}}</ref> in the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]]. He was from a poor family of Irish immigrants who had moved to the New World the century before. He had little schooling and dropped out of school to work as a [[farm laborer]] at the age of 8.<ref name="Nicholas p.147-151">Margaret Nicholas, ''The World's Greatest Cranks and Crackpots'', {{ISBN|978-0-7064-1713-5}}, pp.&nbsp;147–151.</ref>{{sfn | Mitchell | 2022}}

When he was 16, he became a [[Tanning (leather)|tanner's]] [[apprentice]].<ref name="rdstrange">{{cite book |title=The Reader's Digest Book of Strange Stories, Amazing Facts |url=https://archive.org/details/readersdigestboo00read |url-access=registration |year=1975 |publisher=[[Trusted Media Brands|Reader's Digest Association]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/readersdigestboo00read/page/501 501]|isbn=9780276000805 }}</ref> In 1769, he moved to [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]].<ref name=HNIIxxvii>[https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/19299/dvm_LocHist005905-00622-1?pid=1173 History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764–1905. Vol. II. Chapter XXVII. Eccentric characters], pp. 419–431 and following. Accessed December 2019 via ancestry.com paid subscription site.</ref> He married 32-year-old Elizabeth Frothingham, a rich widow, and he then bought a mansion with the money.<ref name="HNIIxxvii" /> Dexter set up shop in the basement, selling moosehide trousers, gloves, hides, and whale blubber. Elizabeth also opened a shop that sold [[Notions_(sewing)|notions]].{{sfn | Mitchell | 2022}}

At the end of the [[American Revolutionary War]], he purchased large amounts of depreciated [[Early American currency#Continental currency|Continental currency]] that were worthless at the time.<ref name=HNIIxxvii /> At the war's end, the U.S. government made good on its notes at one percent of face value, while Massachusetts paid its own notes at [[par value|par]].<ref name=HNIIxxvii /> His investment enabled him to amass a considerable profit. He built two ships and began an export business to the [[West Indies]] and Europe.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Because he was largely uneducated, his business sense was considered peculiar. He was advised to send [[bed warmer]]s—used to heat beds in the cold New England winters—for resale in the West Indies, a tropical area. This advice was a deliberate ploy by rivals to bankrupt him. His ship's captain sold them as ladles to the local [[molasses]] industry and made a handsome profit.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://voices.yahoo.com/lord-timothy-dexter-newburyport-massachusetts-wealthy-111411.html?cat=38 |title=Lord Timothy Dexter of Newburyport, Massachusetts: Wealthy by Mistake? |author=Jim Stillman |agency=Yahoo! Contributor Network |date=November 15, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719092213/http://voices.yahoo.com/lord-timothy-dexter-newburyport-massachusetts-wealthy-111411.html?cat=38 |archive-date=July 19, 2012 }}</ref> Next, Dexter sent wool mittens to the same place, where Asian merchants bought them for export to [[Siberia]].<ref name="Nicholas p.147-151"/>

People jokingly told him to "[[Coals to Newcastle|ship coal to Newcastle]]". Fortuitously, he did so during a Newcastle miners' strike, and his cargo was sold at a premium.<ref name="knapp">{{cite book | last = Knapp | first = Samuel L. | title = Life of Lord Timothy Dexter: Embracing sketches of the eccentric characters that composed his associates, including "Dexter's Pickle for the knowing ones" | publisher = J. E. Tilton and Company | year = 1858 | location = Boston | url = http://search.abaa.org/dbp2/book204715555.html | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071202095808/http://search.abaa.org/dbp2/book204715555.html | archive-date = December 2, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="nash">{{cite book | last = Nash | first = Jay Robert | title = Zanies: The World's Greatest Eccentrics | publisher = New Century Publishers | year = 1982 | isbn = 978-0-8329-0123-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/zaniesworldsgrea00nash }}</ref> On another occasion, practical jokers told him he could make money by shipping gloves to the [[Polynesia|South Sea Islands]]. His ships arrived there in time to sell the gloves to Portuguese boats on their way to China.<ref name="knapp"/>

He exported [[Bible|Bibles]] to the [[East Indies]] and stray [[cat]]s to [[Caribbean]] islands and again made a profit; Eastern missionaries needed the Bibles and the Caribbean welcomed a solution to rat infestation.<ref name="Nicholas p.147-151"/> He also hoarded [[Baleen|whalebones]] by mistake, but ended up selling them profitably as [[corset|corset stays]].<ref name="Nicholas p.147-151"/>

While subject to ridicule, Dexter's boasting makes it clear that he understood the value of cornering the market on goods that others did not see as valuable and the utility of "acting the fool".<ref name="Gencarella2018">{{cite book|author=Stephen Gencarella|title=Wicked Weird & Wily Yankees: A Celebration of New England's Eccentrics and Misfits|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uitLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR7|date=May 1, 2018|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=978-1-4930-3267-9|pages=1–14}}</ref>

[[New England]] high society snubbed him. Dexter bought a large house in Newburyport from Nathaniel Tracy, a local socialite, and tried to emulate [[Newburyport Public Library|Tracy's prominent mansion]].<ref name="Nicholas p.147-151" /><ref name=HNIIxxvii /> He decorated this house with [[minaret]]s, a [[Aquila (Roman)|golden eagle]] on the top of the [[cupola]], a [[mausoleum]] for himself, and a garden of 40 wooden statues of famous men, including [[George Washington]], [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]], [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and himself. The last had the inscription, "I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western World".<ref name=EB1911/> Dexter also bought an estate in [[Chester, New Hampshire]]. There, Dexter recommended people to call him the Earl of Chester. He offered one quarter to children who called him Lord Chester, and dinner and drinks for adults who did so.{{sfn | Mitchell | 2022}}

Despite his good fortune, his relationship with his family suffered. He frequently told visitors that his wife (who was actually alive) had died, and that the woman frequenting the building was simply her ghost.<ref name="Nicholas p.147-151"/> In one notable episode, Dexter faked his own death to see how people would react, and about 3,000 people attended Dexter's mock [[Wake (ceremony)|wake]]. When Dexter did not see his wife cry, he revealed the hoax and promptly started beating her with his cane for not sufficiently mourning his death.<ref name=HNIIxxvii /><ref>Todd, William Cleaves. ''Timothy Dexter''. Boston, Massachusetts: David Clapp & Son, 1886: 6.</ref>

== Writing ==
{{Wikisource|A Pickle for the Knowing Ones|A Pickle for the Knowing Ones}}

At age 50, Dexter authored the book ''[[A Pickle for the Knowing Ones]]'', also known as ''Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress''. in which he complained about [[politician]]s, the [[clergy]], and his wife. The book contains 8,847 words and 33,864 letters, but without any punctuation and with unorthodox spelling and capitalization. Dexter also signs his name at the end of each chapter, as though they were letters. One section begins:<ref name="Gencarella2018" />
 
{{Blockquote|text='Ime the first Lord in the younited States of A mercary Now of Newburyport it is the voise of the peopel and I can't Help it and so Let it goue'}}

The first edition was [[self-publishing|self-published]] in [[Salem, Massachusetts]], in 1802. Dexter initially distributed his book for free, but it became popular and was reprinted eight times.<ref name="rdstrange"/> The second edition was printed in [[Newburyport, Massachusetts|Newburyport]] in 1805.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Currier |first1=John J. |title=History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764–1905|location=Newburyport|date=1906 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |page=495}}</ref> In the second edition, Dexter responded to complaints about the book's lack of punctuation by adding an extra page of 11 lines of punctuation marks with the instruction that printers and readers could insert them wherever needed—or, in his words, "thay may peper and solt it as they plese".<ref>Nelson, Randy F. ''The Almanac of American Letters''. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: p. 207. {{ISBN|978-0-86576-008-0}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:A view of the mansion of the late Lord Timothy Dexter in High Street, Newburyport, 1810 - J.H. Bufford's lith. LCCN93504543.jpg|thumb|''"Lord" Timothy Dexter House'', Newburyport, Massachusetts.]]

Some of Dexter's social contemporaries considered him very unintelligent; his obituary considered "his intellectual endowments not being of the most exalted stamp".<ref name="HNIIxxvii" /><ref>Timothy Dexter obituary notice, ''Newburyport Herald'', October 24, 1806.</ref> Dexter attempted to burnish his own legacy by enlisting the efforts of Jonathan Plummer, a fish merchant and amateur poet, who extolled his patron in verse:<ref name="Gencarella2018"/> 

{{poemquote|
Lord Dexter is a man of fame;
Most celebrated is his name;
More precious far than gold that's pure,
Lord Dexter shines forevermore.}}

[[File:Lord Timothy Dexter House, as seen on October 22, 2022.jpg|thumb|Lord Timothy Dexter House, as seen in October 2022]]

The [[Massachusetts Probate and Family Court|Massachusetts Probate Office]] valued his estate at $35,027.39 (roughly {{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=35,027.39|start_year=1806|fmt=eq}}) at the time of Dexter's death in 1806.<ref>Todd, William Cleaves. ''Timothy Dexter''. Boston, Massachusetts: David Clapp & Son, 1886: p. 11.</ref> After his death, Dexter's Newburyport house had its household furniture, gilt balls, and much of the garden statuary auctioned off on 12 May 1807. The [[1815 New England hurricane|Great September Gale of 1815]] toppled most of the remaining statues, and the survivors were sold at another auction; some ended up being burned for firewood.<ref name=BrooksHistoryMA>{{cite web |last=Brooks |first=Rebecca |url=https://historyofmassachusetts.org/timothy-dexter-house/ |title=Timothy Dexter House in Newburyport, Massachusetts |website=History of Massachusetts |date=23 October 2022 |access-date=26 January 2024}}</ref>

Ultimately, fewer than six of the original 40 statues survived to the present day, being rediscovered during the [[Great Depression]] as a result of a [[Works Progress Administration]] survey; the most prominent one being that of William Pitt, restored by the [[Smithsonian Institution]]. It was loaned to the local Museum of Old Newbury in 1994, and its ownership was transferred to the local museum in January 2025. In 2013, a pair of carved figurines that once adorned the house's entrance, titled "Peace" and "Plenty", were put on auction by an [[Amesbury, Massachusetts|Amesbury]] auction house, but failed to meet the $40,000 reserve price expected by the seller.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rogers |first=Dave |url=https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/bid-too-small-for-peace-and-plenty/article_f93aab0e-6fc3-5334-962e-7214c912b28e.html |title=Bid too small for 'Peace' and 'Plenty' |website=Newburyport News |date=13 August 2013 |access-date=26 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://business.newburyportchamber.org/news/details/smithsonian-transfers-iconic-statue-once-belonging-to-lord-timothy-dexter-to-museum-of-old-newbury-01-15-2025 |title=Smithsonian Transfers Iconic Statue Once Belonging to Lord Timothy Dexter to Museum of Old Newbury |website=Newburyport Chamber |date=15 January 2025 |access-date=16 February 2025}}</ref>

The Timothy Dexter House was briefly converted into an inn shortly after Dexter's widow Elizabeth died in 1809, followed by a succession of private owners.<ref name="Nicholas p.147-151"/> In 1984, William Quill, a Newburyport local raised on Johnston St, purchased the house for $200,000 and restored it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shea |first=Jack |title=Man who faced challenge restoring Lord Timothy Dexter's mansion |url=https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/man-who-faced-challenge-restoring-lord-timothy-dexters-mansion/article_5e575973-b0c5-5f3f-a21c-7a82e6c9cd06.html |website=Newburyport News |date=29 January 2018 | access-date=26 January 2024}}</ref> As restoration works came close to completion, a [[blowtorch]] accident on 15 August 1988 caused a fire that gutted the building, but original blueprints preserved by the [[Historic New England|Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities]] allowed the house to be rebuilt exactly as it was.<ref name=BrooksHistoryMA></ref> The Timothy Dexter House remains the Quill family's private residence to this day.

After Dexter's death, a street that intersects the High St corner where the Timothy Dexter House is located was named "Dexter Ln" in his honor. The first house built on the street was constructed in 1967. The Dexter Lane Project, a 16-unit affordable housing development, is currently planned to be built at 14 Dexter Ln.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cityofnewburyport.com/affordable-housing-trust/agenda-items/dexter-lane-project |title=Affordable Housing Trust - Dexter Lane Project |website=City of Newburyport, MA|date=8 May 2023 |access-date=26 January 2024}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite book|author=Samuel L. Knapp|author-link=Samuel Lorenzo Knapp|title=The Life of Lord Timothy Dexter, with Sketches of the Eccentric Characters that Composed his Associates, including his own writings, "Dexter's Pickle for the knowing ones", &c., &c|year=1858|location=Boston|publisher=J. E. Tilton and Co|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeoflordtimoth00inknap}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Dexter|first1=Timothy|last2=Quince|first2=Peter|title=A pickle for the knowing ones: or, Plain truths in a homespun dress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uboNAAAAYAAJ|access-date=May 19, 2011|year=1881|publisher=S. A. Tucker|pages=36 pages|no-pp=yes|archive-date=July 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729124707/https://books.google.com/books?id=uboNAAAAYAAJ|url-status=dead}}<!-- This "deadlink" works fine on a laptop. In the WP Mobile App it goes to books.google.com and produces a 404 error. -->
* {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Dexter, Timothy|year=1900}}{{dead link|date=August 2020}}<!-- This "deadlink" works fine on a laptop. On the WP Mobile App the link goes to en.m.wikisource.org and says 'Bad title The requested page title contains invalid characters: "%27". Return to Main Page.' -->
* {{cite web | last=Mitchell | first=Robbie | title=The Ridiculous Timothy Dexter: Disappointed at His Own Funeral | website=Historic Mysteries | date=2022-12-13 | url=https://www.historicmysteries.com/history/timothy-dexter/29288/ | access-date=2024-03-11}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource|Author:Timothy Dexter}}

* {{Gutenberg author|id=42217}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Timothy Dexter|sopt=t}}
* [http://www.LordTimothyDexter.com The Official Virtual Seat on the "Noue Systom of Knollege & Lite" Assigned the Notable and Most Noble Lord Timothy Dexter]
* [http://www.lordtimothydexter.com/the_holl_pickle.htm Complete transcription of "A Pickle for The Knowing Ones; or Plain Truths in a Homespun Dress" ~ with translation and annotations]
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4462621 NPR’s "Weekend Edition": The 'Literary' Legacy of Lord Timothy Dexter]
* {{Find a Grave|10727565}}

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{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dexter, Timothy}}
[[Category:1747 births]]
[[Category:1806 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century American writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Old Hill Burying Ground]]
[[Category:Merchants from colonial Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Malden, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People who faked their own death]]
[[Category:Writers from Newburyport, Massachusetts]]