Jeremiah Dixon | |
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.png) 1910artist's impression of Dixon surveying theMason–Dixon line | |
| Born | (1733-07-27)27 July 1733 |
| Died | 22 January 1779(1779-01-22) (aged 45) Cockfield, County Durham |
| Known for | Mason–Dixon line |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy,surveying |
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Jeremiah Dixon (27 July 1733 – 22 January 1779) was an English surveyor and astronomer best known for surveying theMason–Dixon line withCharles Mason from 1763 to 1767. The line came to mark the borders betweenMaryland,Pennsylvania andDelaware.[1][2]
Dixon was born inCockfield, nearBishop Auckland,County Durham, in 1733, to an established Yorkshire family.[3][4] Dixon became interested in astronomy andmathematics during his education at John Kipling's Academy inBarnard Castle. Early in life he became acquaintanced with the eminent intellectuals of Southern Durham: mathematicianWilliam Emerson, and astronomersJohn Bird andThomas Wright.
Dixon was recommended to assistCharles Mason in 1761, likely by astronomerJohn Bird, an active Fellow of the Royal Society. TheRoyal Society sent them to observe thetransit of Venus fromSumatra. However, their passage to Sumatra was delayed, and they landed instead at theCape of Good Hope where thetransit was observed on 6 June 1761. Dixon returned to the Cape once again withNevil Maskelyne's clock to work on experiments withgravity.
Dixon and Mason signed an agreement in 1763 with the proprietors ofPennsylvania andMaryland,Thomas Penn andFrederick Calvert, sixthBaron Baltimore, to assist with resolving a boundary dispute between the two provinces. They arrived inPhiladelphia in November 1763 and began work towards the end of the year. The survey was not complete until late 1766, following which they stayed on to measure adegree ofEarth'smeridian on theDelmarva Peninsula in Maryland, on behalf of the Royal Society. The boundary between the states is 312 miles long, but Mason and Dixon only surveyed 240 miles, before they were driven away by hostile Indians in November 1767. The Mason-Dixon line later became the focal point for the American Civil War (1861–1865).
An anecdote recounts Jeremiah Dixon's views:
Jeremiah Dixon, happening upon a slave driver mercilessly beating a poor black woman. 'Thou must not do that!' he shouted. 'You be damned! Mind your own business,' came the reply. 'If thou doesn't desist, I'll thrash thee!'
Tall and powerful, Jeremiah seized the slave-driver's whip and gave him a sound thrashing. When he returned to Cockfield, the whip came too, and was one of the Quaker family's treasured possessions.[5]
Dixon and Mason also made a number of gravity measurements with the same instrument that Dixon had used with Maskelyne in 1761. Before returning to England in 1768, they were both admitted to theAmerican Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge, inPhiladelphia.[6]
Dixon sailed toNorway in 1769 withWilliam Bayly to observe another transit of Venus. The two split up, with Dixon atHammerfest Island and Bayly atNorth Cape, in order to minimize the possibility of inclement weather obstructing their measurements. Following their return to England in July, Dixon resumed his work as a surveyor in Durham, surveying the park of Auckland Castle and Lanchester Common.
The Dixon family originated from the Dixons at Furness Fells, descending fromThomas Dixon, 1st Baron of Symondstone in the 13th century. Sir Nicholas Dixon (1390–1448) was born at High House, Furness Falls. His grandson, Sir John Dixon (1460–1550), was a government official under Henry VIII.
His grandson, George Dixon (1550–1631), ofRamshaw Hall, was collector of the Barony ofEvenwood. He was granted arms in 1614, at the visitation ofRichard St George.[7]
George Dixon (1635–1707) was aQuaker by convincement, joining theSociety of Friends "at its rise", an early follower ofGeorge Fox.[8]
George Dixon (1671–1752),[9] wasseneschal to Gilbert Vane,Second Baron Barnard atRaby Castle. He often refused to bring Lord Barnard more wine, if he drank excessively. Bemused by this curiosity, Baron Barnard's guests bet £200 that George would not refuse his master; when he did, they commissionedSir Joshua Reynolds to paint a portrait of George "An Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile" and a quote from Horace "Fortis & in seeps totes trees ate rotunds" ("strong to restrain immoderate desires, lightly esteeming public honours, a self-reliant and courteous man"). This was Jeremiah Dixon's great-uncle.
Sir George Fenwick Dixon (1701–1755), a coal mining magnate in Bishop Auckland and Cockfield married Mary Hunter, a native of Newcastle, "the cleverest woman" ever to marry into the Dixon family.[10]
They had seven children, including Jeremiah Dixon and engineer and inventorGeorge Dixon.
Jeremiah's great-nephewJohn Dixon worked on theDarlington Rocket with George Stephenson, in 1820. John Dixon's three nephews were also active:Sir Raylton Dixon, shipbuilding magnate and Mayor of Middlesbrough; the engineerJohn Dixon, who transportedCleopatra's Needle to London in 1877; and his brotherWaynman Dixon was an engineer and Egyptologist at Giza, and later Honorary Consul to Japan in 1922.[11]
Dixon died unmarried inCockfield on 22 January 1779, at the age of 45, and was buried in an unmarked grave in theQuaker cemetery inStaindrop. Although he was recognised as a Quaker, he was known to violate rules by wearing a long red coat (possibly from the Royal Woolwich Academy) and occasionally drinking to excess.[12] His nephew, John Dixon, came into possession of his "commontheodolite", a work ofGeorge Adams. John's grandson, Edward, donated it to theRoyal Geographical Society circa 1916.[13] Dixon's name may be the origin for the nicknameDixie used in reference to theSouthern United States.[14]
Jeremiah Dixon is one of the two title characters ofThomas Pynchon's 1997 novelMason & Dixon. The songSailing to Philadelphia fromMark Knopfler'salbum of the same name, also refers to Mason and Dixon, and was inspired by Pynchon's book. An exhibition about the life and work of Jeremiah Dixon was mounted at theBowes Museum inBarnard Castle in England in 2013. TitledJeremiah Dixon: Scientist, Surveyor and Stargazer, it was scheduled to run from 27 April to 6 October. In September 2013, a locomotive operating on theWeardale Railway inCounty Durham was named after Jeremiah Dixon. The locomotive now operates in theWillesden area of northwestLondon.
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