Leonidas Camden Dickerson was born on a farm in Floyd County on April 19, 1869, to Burdine and Nancy Sowers Dickerson. Burdine served four years in the Confederate Army and was Captain of Company A, Fifth Virginia Infantry. He spent the last months of the war as a prisoner on Johnson’s Island. Upon his return home after the war, Burdine Dickerson managed the Shelton farm and served on the local school board.
Leonidas was the oldest of seven sons born to the couple, the others being George Worthington, an employee of the Norfolk & Western Railroad; Wade Hampton, a farmer and blacksmith on the Dickerson farm; Charles Edgar, an optician in Baltimore; Henry Ashby, a secret service man at Callaway, West Virginia ; James B., a merchant at Oak Hill, WV; and Lafayette Vance, who died in 1903. Leonidas’ sisters were Vada who married Charles Woolwine; Sonora Ann who married Harris Hylton; and Nancy Adeline who married Charles Thomas Spangler.
Leonidas Dickerson’s first teacher in Floyd County was Miss Florence Graham. His second teacher was John Webb Simmons, who became a well-known doctor in Martinsville. Leonidas was also under the tutelage of T. D. Sowers. After Leonidas graduated from Floyd High School, he taught school for six years, and when not engaged with his duties in the school room, he worked on the farm and cut timber. For two years he also held the office of Deputy United States Marshal. Leonidas began his medical education at the College of Virginia, at Richmond, and subsequently entered the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee, where he graduated January 1, 1901, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During his senior year, he had begun his medical practice at Meadows of Dan and remained there after graduating until September 1901 when he moved his medical practice to the town of Stuart.
Dr. Dickerson was very athletic and fond of all outdoor sports. He was a proficient boxer and wrestler and played baseball and football in college. On October 15th, 1902, the young doctor married Miss Caroline (Carrie) Leigh Moore, the daughter of Judge John Rucker Moore and Sallie Lou Rucker Moore.
Dr. Dickerson and his wife Caroline’s first child, Audrey Lybrook, was born on the 23rd of July 1903. Audrey became a schoolteacher and married Jesse Guy Davis, who managed a commercial orchard and later taught school. The Dickerson’s second child, Vivian Moore Dickerson, was born on the 7th of March 1905. Vivian married Elbert Carmen Price of Roanoke, and the couple lived in Queens, New York for many years before returning home to Patrick County to retire.
Caroline and Dr. Dickerson’s third child was born on the 31st of January 1907 and only lived twelve days; the infant is buried at Stuart Town Cemetery. The couple’s fourth child, Nancy Sowers Dickerson, was born on the 12th of December 1908. Nancy married Dr. Lewis Raymond Semones, a Radford dentist.
Leonidas Camden Dickerson, Jr. was born on the 18th of October 1911. He joined the United States Navy and was stationed on the ill-fated Reuben James, the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by enemy action in World War II. According to nationalarchives.gov., the Navy destroyer sailed from Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, with four other destroyers, escorting eastbound Convoy HX 156. At dawn, on the 31sr of October 1941, it was torpedoed near Iceland by German submarine U-552 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp.
The Reuben James had positioned itself between an ammunition ship in the convoy and the known position of a German “wolfpack”, a group of submarines poised to attack the convoy. The destroyer was not flying the Ensign of the United States and was in the process of dropping depth charges on another U-boat when it was engaged. Reuben James was hit forward by a torpedo meant for a merchant ship and her entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded. The bow sank immediately. The aft section floated for five minutes before going down. Of a crew of seven officers and 136 enlisted men plus one enlisted passenger, 100 were killed, leaving only 44 enlisted men and no officers who survived the attack. Leonidas Camden Dickerson, Jr. did not survive, he was thirty years old. An interesting trivia note: Woody Guthrie wrote a song about the sinking of the Reuben James and its’ crew.
The sixth child of Dr. and Mrs. Dickerson, John Rucker Dickerson, was born on the eighth of December 1917. When John was fourteen years old, he had a gangrenous appendix, contracted peritonitis, and died. I imagine this was doubly sad for Dr. Dickerson when he was unable to save his own son. It is heartbreaking to think how many young people died unnecessarily before the availability of antibiotics in the 1940s.
The seventh and youngest child of the Dickersons, George Divers Dickerson, was born on the sixth of August 1919. George married Miss Nell Pace, served in WWII, and was the owner of Stuart Motors and later, general manager of Stanley Chevrolet Inc.
Dr. Leonidas Camden Dickerson, Sr. passed away at Stuart Hospital, Friday, May 22, 1931, at 12:30 o’clock, following an illness of two days’ duration. In addition to his professional duties, he was president of the Peoples Bank of Patrick. The following is an excerpt from his obituary: “Dr. Dickerson was fond of hunting with a good bird dog and growing game chickens at his beautiful little estate in Stuart. He was a Democrat and a member of the Knights of Pythias. He enjoyed a wide practice here and in adjoining counties, and the fruitage of his untiring labor was manifested by the love and esteem from those he came in contact with. One had only to witness the deep sorrow his passing brought to those in the humblest as well as the higher wakes of life to fully realize that he was a friend to all and that his labors for the good of humanity won him unlimited friends. Dr. Dickerson had suffered for a number of years with diabetes, and several years ago his condition was considered so critical for weeks that the outcome was very doubtful. He recovered sufficiently, however, to resume his practice, and has been very active until last Thursday morning when a return of the old malady took such a grave turn from the first that no hope was held out for recovery.”
Caroline Moore Dickerson outlived her beloved husband, Dr. Leonidas C. Dickerson, Sr., by over forty-nine years, passing away at the age of ninety-nine in 1981. She was the oldest living member of Stuart Baptist Church at the time of her passing.
Thank you so much to Dr. and Mrs. Dickerson’s granddaughter, Sara Leigh Dickerson Collins, for helping with the article. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 682-9626.
