Moss Kent Dickinson was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 businessman, mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 from 1864 to 1866 and member of the Canadian Parliament from 1882 to 1887.

He was born in Denmark, New York

Denmark, New York

Denmark is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States named after the Kingdom of Denmark, situated in Scandinavia. The population was 2,747 at the 2000 census.The Town of Denmark is on the northwest border of the county and is east of Watertown....

 in 1822. His family moved to Cornwall, Ontario

Cornwall, Ontario

Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada and the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario. Cornwall is Ontario's easternmost city, located on the St...

 in 1827. By 1847, he had established a business transporting goods on the Rideau Canal

Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...

 between Ottawa and Kingston

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

. In 1860, with Joseph Merrill Currier

Joseph Merrill Currier

Joseph Merrill Currier was a Canadian member of parliament and businessman.He was born in North Troy, Vermont in 1820 and moved to Canada in 1837, where he began work in the timber trade. Around 1850, he set up a sawmill and gristmill operation at Manotick, Ontario with Moss Kent Dickinson...

, he completed construction of a mill, later Watson's Mill

Watson's Mill

Watson's Mill is a historic gristmill in Manotick, Ontario, Canada. It was built as the Long Island Flouring Mills by Moss Kent Dickinson and Joseph Merrill Currier. It was one of a series of mills constructed in the area using power from the Rideau Canal. It earned its current name when it was...

, at what would become the village of Manotick

Manotick, Ontario

Manotick, Ontario is an exurb in Eastern Ontario on the Rideau River, located on the south edge of Ottawa's urban area. Manotick is located immediately south of the booming suburbs Barrhaven and Riverside South and is about from downtown Ottawa. It has been part of the City of Ottawa since...

. Dickinson chose the name "Manotick" from Ojibwa

Ojibwe language

Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...

 words meaning "Island in the river". Dickinson's sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 and grist mill served as the economic basis for the formation of the village.

His home in Manotick near the mill served as campaign headquarters for Sir John A. Macdonald

John A. Macdonald

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...

 in the 1882 election. Dickinson was elected in the riding of Russell

Russell (Ontario electoral district)

Russell was a federal and provincial electoral district in eastern Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1968, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1867 to 1967....

 in the 1882 federal election. (Dickinson was the last non-Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 MP for Russell County

Russell County, Ontario

Russell County is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario.It was created in 1800 from a portion of Stormont County. It later merged with Prescott County to form Prescott and Russell United Counties....

 until Pierre Lemieux

Pierre Lemieux

Pierre Lemieux is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the MP for the riding of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell in Canada's 39th general election. He represents the Conservative Party of Canada...

 was elected in 2006, a span of 124 years.http://www.pierrelemieux.ca/download/ElectionNightSpeech.htm) His son George Lemuel

George Lemuel Dickinson

George Lemuel Dickinson was a manufacturer and political figure in Ontario, Canada. He represented Carleton in the Canadian House of Commons from 1888 to 1891 as a Conservative member....

also served in the House of Commons.

He died in Manotick in 1897. Dickinson Days are celebrated in Manotick on the first weekend in June.

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