The wedding of Maria and Thomas Dickinson took place June 7, 1810, two years after the death by drowning of Maria's father, Robert. The bride was 18, the groom 22. Because Maria was not a Quaker, Thomas faced censure from his fellow Quakers. He was condemned for marrying contrary to the discipline. Maria, however, soon adopted the religion of her new husband, and in very little time was as staunch a practitioner as he of the Quaker traditions. Their first home in Ohio was on a small piece of land in Jefferson Township. It was located on the Mad River at the foot of Mitchiner Hill near the town of East Liberty. About this time (1811) Thomas became famous for a "100 mile run" (perhaps a bit of an exaggeration) to warn a nearby town of an impending Indian raid. It was because of the proximity of their cabin to such unfriendly Indians that in early 1813, the couple moved to Bellefontaine near the headwaters of Cherokee Creek where they again built a home. After that home was destroyed by fire they bought 160 acres from famed Indian fighter Simon Kenton and began improving the land. About this time, the war with England (the War of 1812) was under way and Thomas decided to try his hand at soldiering, even though as a Quaker he was forbidden to kill. He enlisted February 21, 1813, in the Minutemen under Captain Schooler where he served for two years as a guide with the rank of third sergeant. He was later rewarded for his service with a government pension. The bad luck with land the family had experienced before the war was not yet over. They learned that Simon Kenton had not held valid title to the land he had sold them. Fortunately, however, Thomas and Maria were able to recover their purchase money, but lost their labor in improving the land. Thomas had been earning a living after the war driving an ox team and as a hand for General Duncan McArthur, a local land speculator (and later an Ohio governor). General McArthur placed the family on a hundred acres of land near Zanesfield, which later became theirs. In appreciation of the General's generosity, the couple named their tenth child after him. In 1817, Thomas was elected to the post of "Fence Viewer" for Jefferson County and he would later serve as a "Township Trustee".
- SOURCE: DESCENDANTS OF JOSEPH LOWE by Marilyn Roesti, Toledo, Ohio