"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 Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

s. 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.
Dexter bought an estate in Chester, New Hampshire

Chester, New Hampshire

Chester is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,768 at the 2010 census. It is home to Chester College .-History:Incorporated in 1722, Chester once included Candia, set off in 1763...

. He also bought a new house in Newburyport where there was a mausoleum

Mausoleum

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...

 for himself and a garden of 40 wooden statues of famous men, including George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

, William Pitt

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC was a British Whig statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years' War...

, Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 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.
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 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

s, clergy

Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

 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

Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...

. 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

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

, then a library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

. 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.

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