I am Dr. Mitch Wilkinson. I am composing a novel about a colorful Old West figure named Tom Dixon. I am researching his background and can use any information provided. Thomas Dixon immigrated to Eureka, Nevada, in 1867. Here are some facts about his family:
Father: John Dixon ( 1821-1901) Mother: Sarah McEndoo (1821-1901) Children: Thomas Dixon (1847-1927), Matilda, Margaret Jane, John George, James ( physician in England), Robert (owned drapery shop in England), Elizabeth, and Sarah Ann. All the girls married except for Sara Ann. The family worshiped at Drunkeen Presbyterian Church in Monaghan.
John George inherited the farm on townland Corrwgarry and built a stone house called "The Grange." John George (1851-1930)
Married Sara ( 1866-1954). They had five children: James (1898-1988), John (1899-1943), Hannah (1901-1974), Margaret Edith ( 1903-1940), and Alice ( 1908-1915).
I am searching for a reason that Tom Dixon went to India, Possibly to visit a family member or court Mary Ann Stewart.
My e-mail address is wdocmitch16@Yahoo.com add "Dixon" to the message so I will know the content.
Chapter IV
The legend of Tom Dixon
Photo #1 – Eureka, Nevada circa the 1880s
Even in the days of the Old West, it would be hard to find many individuals who could claim a life of success and adventure that could rival an Irish immigrant named Tom Dixon. His life and legend will forever be linked to curly-coated horses in Nevada. The tale of Dixon bringing curly-coated horses originating from Delhi, India in the 1870s or 1880s is unconfirmed. However, it can be confirmed that he
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did bring curly-coated horses into the area during the late 1800s, only the horses’ origins are unsubstantiated. To understand the indomitable spirit that resided in this horseman, miner, gunfighter, and pioneer, we need to take a look at his roots.
Tom Dixon was what we term in the United States “Scotch-Irish.” To understand the term, you have to know the history. After the “nine Years War that ended in 1603, King James I of England made a policy decision that would cost countless lives in the succeeding 400 years. This policy involved the confiscation of all lands owned by Irish Nobility in the Ulster province of Ireland. The lands than would be given to English and Scottish Protestants who would replace Irish Catholics. Most of the Scottish settlers were Presbyterian.
Thomas Dixon (1715-1784) was the first Dixon to settle in Ulster. He was followed by a succession of sons and grandsons all named “Thomas.” The Dixon family farmed their land in County Monaghan, Ireland, generation to generation for over 200 years. County Monaghan is one of the nine counties which make up the region called Ulster.
In rural Ireland, the lanes or secondary roads are called “townlands.” Townlands are much like “farm-to-market roads” in the United States. The townland where the Dixon land holdings reside is called Corragarry. The two closest villages are Newbliss ( 5 miles) and Ballybay (14 miles).
The Dixon family worshiped at Drumkeen Presbyterian Church and were very devout and prominent members. Many Dixons are buried in the church cemetery. On this island of protestant Scottish settlers, John Dixon (1814-1903) and his wife Sarah McEndoo (1821-1901) started their married life on the family farm. They had eight children. Thomas (Tom Dixon) was the eldest. Their first son was followed by Matilda, Margaret Jane, John George, James, Robert, Elizabeth, and Sarah Ann.
Hearing rumors of gold strikes and instant wealth in America, the adventurous eldest son, Tom, left for America. James left for England and became a surgeon. Robert also went to England and owned a drapery shop. John George Dixon stayed and inherited the family farm. He named the farm “The Grange.” He built a fine, two-story stone home on the property around 1901. Some of the finances for the home could have come from his prosperous brother, Tom, in America. All the girls married with the exception of the youngest daughter, Sarah Ann. Sarah Ann who was to inherit the bulk of Tom Dixon’s estate lived as a spinster in her brother John’s home for her entire life. The ruins of the abandoned “Grange” still can be seen on Corragarry Townland to this day.
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The date that Tom left his childhood home and County Monaghan to start his quest is not known. From the farm, he went to the port city of Cobh in County Cork. There, he worked as a laborer to earn passage to America. How long he resided in Cobh is unknown, but between 1848 through 1950 over six million people immigrated from Cobh to America, and Tom Dixon was one of them. Tom Dixon’s name can be found on Ireland to New York passenger lists of 1868. He subsequently was processed as an immigrant at Ellis Island, New York.
Photo #1 - The Grange (left) and Drumkeen Presbyterian Church (right) Tom Dixon’s Adventures in America
Within days of reaching the streets of New York, Tom booked railway passage to California. After arriving in San Francisco, he soon realized that the 1849 gold rush in California was over, but he heard of silver and mineral strikes in Nevada. It was late 1869, and the twenty-two-year-old Tom Dixon found himself on the streets of a newly formed mining,” boom town” called Eureka. The young man surely asked himself, “ OK, I’m here. What do I do next?”
In vain, Tom looked for signs of profitable minerals to stake a claim. Having absolutely no experience in such matters, he only found sagebrush and dirt. However, wherever he went prospecting, he noticed wild horses. From his days on the farm, Tom knew horses. He had a reputation as a good horseman and horse trainer in County Monaghan. As an alternative to “instant riches” in mining, Tom had the idea he could catch and train the wild horses and possibly make some money while he learned about prospecting.
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For the next few years, the young Dixon found he was quite successful in the horse business. During this time, he bought a new Colt 44 revolver which he would keep for the rest of his life. The budding equine entrepreneur kept many of his horses in the Antelope and Little Smoky Valley in an area locally known as Fish Creek. Fish Creek is located thirty-five miles South of Eureka. He registered a brand for his horses which ran free most of the time. There was little hay available and the desert biome required a large amount of acreage per horse. This is where the young man’s troubles began after being in the “horse business” for three years. There was someone else using Fish Creek, and this man was a bully. The malcontent went by the name Henry Clay Fenstermaker. This man was rude to all and was known around town to bully anyone who got in his way, but the young Dixon was not the type of man to back down from a bully.
So it came to pass, and the inevitable happened. Tom was informed that Fenstermaker had been catching Tom’s young, unbranded foals and putting the Fenstermaker brand on them. This was never proven, but Fenstermaker had also made an agreement to cut hay which grew in abundance on the banks of Fish Creek for “shares” with Dixon. Apparently, Fenstermaker decided to keep all the hay for himself. The 27-year-old Tom Dixon carrying his Colt 44, left Eureka and rode to Fish Creek to confront Fenstermaker about the matter. It was quite a ride. Thirty-five miles on horseback is a long way even for someone who is continuously in the saddle.
Fig. #1 – Add from Eureka Sentinel showing Dixon brands (the 1870s). A “JK” on the front shoulder and a dripping “p” on the hip.
Fenstermaker was living with an ex-dance-hall girl, and restaurant waitress from Bavaria named Anna Long who was later to become his wife. Fenstermaker “acquired” the log cabin on Fish Creek by intimidating its former owner, an Italian immigrant named Joe Gennitti. Fenstermaker told Gennitti to vacate his land and cabin or be promptly beaten and then shot. Gennitti left his homestead and never returned to the area. The following account comes from the Eureka
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Sentinel Newspaper dated November 24. 1874 and accounts from the Fenstermaker trial a few months later.
Tom Dixon, upon encountering Fenstermaker, dismounted his trusty steed and began a heated discussion with Henry. Dixon while walking away from Fenstermaker was immediately confronted by a hail of bullets. Fenstermaker fired seven shots from two pistols and then grabbed a double-barreled shotgun and unloaded its contents on Dixon. Dixon was hit twice. One was a flesh wound on his arm, but the other was a more serious wound to his foot. Luckily for Dixon, Fenstermaker was panicked and firing wildly. In contrast, Tom remained relatively calm. The young man drew his Colt 44, carefully took aim, and fired three shots at his assailant. Two struck Fenstermaker. Both hits inflicted serious wounds. One bullet penetrated Fenstermaker’s abdomen, and the other struck his shoulder.
Fenstermaker was able to crawl back to the log cabin to be cared for by his future wife. Tom Dixon wrapped his bleeding boot in his bandana, mounted his horse, and rode the 35 miles back to Eureka.
The town physician, Dr. Williams, went to Fish Creek to examine Fenstermaker after treating Dixon’s wounds. From the description Tom had given him, Dr. Williams fully expected to find Fenstermaker dead. Upon arriving at the log cabin, Dr. Williams's suspicions were validated. Fenstermaker was close to death. The doctor did as best as he was able but left with little hope his patient would recover. As Dr. Williams was departing, Fenstermaker asked him to summon a lawyer so he could dictate a “ last will and testament.”
The following day, November 25th, Dr. Williams with a lawyer in tow returned to the log cabin. Miraculously, Fenstermaker’s condition had improved. The physician told the patient that if he didn’t get an infection, he had a good chance of recovery. At this point, Fenstermaker reverted to his old persona and shouted for the lawyer to “get the hell out of his cabin.” The wounded man shouted, “ I am not going to pay a damn lawyer the fee for a will if I am not going to die!”
Dr. Williams and the lawyer left the cabin vowing never to return. A few weeks later, attempted murder charges were filed against Fenstermaker by the Eureka County district attorney. However, at the trial, Fenstermaker repeatedly lied and said that Dixon shot first. With only two witnesses, it was one man’s word against the other and Fenstermaker was acquitted in March of 1875.
Unfortunately, Fenstermaker married Anna in October of 1875. The union produced three children. Henry had a severe drinking problem. In his alcoholic rages, he beat Anna and the children. Finally, in 1884 the marriage ended in divorce and Anna was set free from the abuses of this notorious bully.
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Fenstermaker died in 1892 at the age of 56. Only his abused adult children attended the funeral. He was buried near the cabin at Fish Creek.
Dixon continued to have trouble with his foot after the gunfight. Sometime in 1874 or early 1875, he left Eureka for medical treatments in San Francisco. According to the newspaper, when he returned, he brought a thoroughbred trotting mare (probably a standardbred) and a young Shire stallion. They were to be used in his horse breeding business.
At this point in Tom Dixon’s life, only speculations can be introduced due to a lack of documentation. The next two years of this young man’s life are not known.
If Tom Dixon did go to Delhi India, at this point or another juncture of his life, why did he do it? Why would a 27-year-old man go to India in the 1870s? There are several possibilities. All are total speculation.
Dale E. Woolly, an author and historian of the Eureka and Lander County areas of Nevada, speculated that the young Dixon traveled to India before the gunfight at Fish Creek in the early part of 1874. The month of February has been proposed. In 1874, such a voyage would have taken at least six months. There was a notice in the Eureka Sentinel newspaper dated August 19, 1874 listing the names of citizens of Eureka with unclaimed mail. Tom Dixon was listed among them.
By September of 1874, Dixon had returned to the area and declared his candidacy for White Pine County Clerk. He lost the election. The gunfight with Fenstermaker occurred two months later. Whether Dixon traveled to India before or after the gunfight cannot be proven definitively. If he did indeed travel to India, it would probably have been in 1874.
Ships from California normally docked at the port of Bombay, and Dixon could have traveled from Bombay to Delhi by rail. The question still remains, “Why?”
It is doubtful that he would have traveled halfway around the world following a rumor about the existence of some cold-weather horse. So there had to be some other very compelling reason. For an unmarried man of 27, the first thing that comes to mind is “love.” There was a family in Monaghan close to the Dixon farm named Stewart. Tom may have gone to school with their children. The Stewart family had a daughter, Mary Ann Stewart (born January 17, 1853). Several members of this Stewart family joined the British Army to serve in India. We know that John Stewart of Monaghan joined the 3rd Bengal Regiment in 1853 and rose to the rank of Lance-Sargent. It is not known if Mary Ann’s father, Francis Stewart, also joined. In 1874, Mary Ann Stewart would have been 21 years old. If by chance she could have resided in India in 1874, that could certainly be a compelling reason for Tom Dixon to travel to India. Stewart is a common Scottish
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name and many Scotch-Irish families would have had that last name. It may be a coincidence, but a little over two years after Dixon’s return to Eureka, assuming he went to India before the gunfight at Fish Creek, he married Marry Ann Stewart in Eureka on October 28, 1876. If Dixon left after the gunfight, it could have been less than a year before his marriage to Mary Ann, who went by the name “Annie.”
Other possible reasons that could have compelled the young Dixon to go to India involved close family members. Tom’s brother, James, became a physician. To help pay his medical school expenses, it is possible he agreed to serve in the British Army for a specified number of years. He could have been stationed at a British Army hospital in Delhi. There was also an Irish Presbyterian mission in a village near Delhi. Being very devout Presbyterians, one of Dixon’s three married sisters may have accompanied her husband to India as a missionary. It has been noted that employment opportunities in Ireland were very limited in the 1870s, and many Irish protestant families found employment in the Indian British Civil Service to advance their economic and social status. To reiterate, these theories are all speculation. Dixon’s youngest sister, Sarah Ann, was only twelve at the time. She was obviously too young to be in India in 1874.
Unfortunately, the marriage to Mary Ann Stewart was a tumultuous one. They stayed together for less than a year. In June of 1877, Dixon put the following notice in the Eureka newspaper, “ Notice is hereby given, that as my wife, Annie Dixon, has left my home, and a suit of divorce is now pending. I will not be responsible for any debts of her contracting.”
In April 1879, Dixon married again. This time to Elizabeth M. Blaze of Oswego, New York. Sadly, Elizabeth passed away in 1892 at the age of 45.
This left Dixon a widower for the next 35 years of his life.
So looking at newspaper articles and legal records from the time, the only time Tom Dixon could have traveled to India would have been either early in 1874 or possibly early 1875. This corresponds to Dale E. Wooly’s estimate of the trip’s date.
What is not in dispute is that sometime during the decade of the 1870s, Tom Dixon brought three curly-coated horses to Eureka, Nevada. Two of the horses were pregnant brown mares, and the third was a sorrel stallion. Dixon kept the curly-coated horses at special stables just south of Eureka. These special stables were used for Dixon’s domestic breeding stock. The pregnant mares gave birth to two curly-coated stud colts. When the colts were 3 or 4 years old, Dixon released them with some mustang mares in areas to the northeast of Eureka in the Red Hills region of the Roberts Mountains and south of Eureka not far from Fish Creek.
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Dixon enjoyed the curly-coated stallion and was frequently seen riding him through the streets of Eureka. An interesting side note involves a brown knee-length coat made from the winter coat of a curly-coated horse. He wore the coat for many years and said he bought the coat from the horse trader in India that sold him the three curly horses. The coat was sold for $15 at the Dixon estate sale in 1927 to an unknown buyer.
Upon inquiring through Russian sources about curly-coated Lokai horses in Tajikistan in 2017, it was related that the main purpose of curly-coated horses produced in state-run Lokai horse breeding farms was for meat and hides. The breeding farms existed in the 1950s but are no longer in operation. The meat was used for human consumption, and the winter hides of Lokai horses with curly coats were used to make a traditional Lokai winter coat. A coat that was similar to the one owned by Tom Dixon. Lokai horses with a curly winter coat trait only comprise around 10% or less of the total Lokai horse population. We do not know if Lokai horses with this trait still exist.
Photo #2 - Curly-coated Lokai horse in Tajikistan history. After the “nine Years War that ended in 1603, King James I of England made a policy decision that would cost countless lives in the succeeding 400 years. This policy involved confiscation of all lands owned by Irish Nobility in the Ulster province of Ireland. The lands then would be given to English and Scottish Protestants who would replace Irish Catholics. Most of the Scottish settlers were Presbyterian.