Timothy Dexter

"Lord" Timothy Dexter

"Lord" Timothy Dexter (January 22, 1748 – October 26, 1806), as he was sometimes termed by admiring contemporaries, was an eccentric American businessman noted for a series of lucky transactions and his writing.

Biography

Timothy Dexter exported Bibles. He made his fortune by investing in Continental Dollars during the Revolutionary War, when they could be purchased for a tiny percentage of their face value. After the war was over, and the U.S. government made good on the dollars, he became wealthy.

People jokingly told him to "ship coal to Newcastle", which he did, and through sheer luck there was a miners' strike going on at the time, and his cargo was sold at a premium. At another time, practical jokers told him he could make money shipping gloves to the South Sea Islands. His ships arrived there in time to sell the gloves to Portuguese boats on their way to China. Someone told him to send warming pans (used to heat sheets in the cold New England winters) to the tropical West Indies - an unlikely market. However, his captain successfully sold them as ladles for the area's burgeoning molasses industry, and again Dexter made a significant profit. Dexter bought an estate in Chester, New Hampshire. He also bought a new house in Newburyport where there was a mausoleum for himself and a garden of 40 wooden statues of famous men, including George Washington, William Pitt, Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson and himself. It had an inscription I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western World.

"Lord" Timothy Dexter House, Newburyport, Massachusetts

At the age of 50 he wrote a book about himself - A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress. He wrote about himself and complained about politicians, clergy and his wife. The book contained 8,847 words and 33,864 letters, but no punctuation, and capital letters were seemingly random. At first he handed his book out for free, but it became popular and was re-printed in eight editions. In the second edition Dexter added an extra page which consisted of 13 lines of punctuation marks. Dexter instructed readers to "peper and solt it as they plese".

Dexter announced his death and urged people to prepare for his burial. About 3,000 people attended Dexter's mock wake. The crowd was disappointed when they heard a still-living Dexter screaming at his wife that she was not grieving enough. Timothy Dexter actually died in 1806.

Dexter's Newburyport house became a hotel, then a library. Storms ruined most of his statues, the statue of William Pitt being the only identified survivor. His "littel book" remains his primary legacy to this day.

References

• Samuel L. Knapp (1858). 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. Boston: J. E. Tilton and Co.
• Dexter, Timothy; Quince, Peter (1881). A pickle for the knowing ones: or, Plain truths in a homespun dress. S. A. Tucker. 36 pages. Retrieved 19 May 2011. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)

External links

• The Official Virtual Seat on the "Noue Systom of Knollege & Lite" Assigned the Notable and Most Noble Lord Timothy Dexter
• Complete transcription of "A Pickle for The Knowing Ones; or Plain Truths in a Homespun Dress" ~ with translation and annotations
• NPR’s "Weekend Edition": The 'Literary' Legacy of Lord Timothy Dexter
•  Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)