Simon A. Dixon (October 12, 1728 – April, 1781) was the founder and prominent member of the community of

Snow Camp, North Carolina Snow Camp is an unincorporated community in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States. History The origin of the name of the community is disputed, but the most commonly accepted story as to how the name came about was that before the Ame ...

. He was also one of the founding members of the Cane Creek Friends Meeting, the first

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

community in the

Piedmont (United States) The Piedmont ( ) is a plateau region located in the Eastern United States. It is situated between the Atlantic Plain and the Blue Ridge Mountains, stretching from New York in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont Province i ...

region of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Biography

Dixon migrated to the area of

from

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County (; ), sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States ...

in approximately 1750. He set up a successful

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

that operated into the 20th century.Dixon, Benjamin Franklin.''The Old Stamping Ground: Some Notes on the Quaker Dixons of Chatham County, Issue 3''.s.n., 1934." As a supporter of the resistance to Colonial taxation and as a member of the

Regulator Movement The Regulator Movement in North Carolina, also known as the Regulator Insurrection, War of Regulation, and War of the Regulation, was an uprising in Provincial North Carolina from 1766 to 1771 in which citizens took up arms against colonial offi ...

, he was a signer of the Regulator Advertisement, and also was present at the

Battle of Alamance The Battle of Alamance, which took place on May 16, 1771, was the final confrontation of the Regulator Movement, a rebellion in colonial North Carolina over various issues with the Colonial Government. The Regulators primarily wanted reforms ...

in 1771. In 1781, his home and mill were briefly seized by General Charles Cornwallis as temporary quarters in the days following the

Battle of Guilford Courthouse The Battle of Guilford Court House was fought on 15 March 1781 during the American Revolutionary War, near Greensboro, North Carolina. A 2,100-man British force under the command of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis defeated Major General Na ...

in 1781.Teague, Bobbie.''Cane Creek Mother of Meetings''. Thompson-Shore, 1995.

Tributes

Simon Dixon is one of the main characters in the 1973 play, '' Sword of Peace'', a dramatic portrayal of the struggles that

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

faced during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. This play is performed by the Snow Camp Outdoor Theater on a site located near his original dwelling.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:DIXON, SIMON 1728 births 1781 deaths People from Snow Camp, North Carolina American Quakers Regulator Movement Military history of the Thirteen Colonies Pre-statehood history of North Carolina People of North Carolina in the American Revolution