Thomas Dickinson and wife Mary Martindale came to Canada in 1826 from Atwick, Yorkshire, England. They had two sons, Matthew and John. Their Lacolle farm at Beaver Meadows included lots on the 5th concession south of domain. This land was
passed on to Matthew, who in 1880 resided in Lacolle and had a postal address in Champlain, New York. He became a citizen of the US in 1888. Matthew's son Thomas H. Dickinson married Matilda Collings at Hallerton in 1878. Thomas H. was a
hardware merchant at Champlain. The family's connection with Champlian apparently predates the 1870 burials of immigrants Thomas and Mary in that town's Glenwood Cemetery.Thomas and Mary's younger son, John, moved on a few miles west of Lacolle settling at Elgin and later Franklin Centre where some descendants still live.
In 1851 Thomas lived with or near David Holder in Lacolle. David's wife, Frances Dickinson, was Thomas' sister.