Captain John Dix 1796-1879

John Dix was born with an adventure-seeking spirit. Within a year after of his father's death, he shipped out at the age of 16 on a privateer during the War of 1812. That led to him joining the South Pacific merchant trade, and becoming Captain of his own ship. When it was accidentally wrecked in New Zealand, he returned to America, married a girl from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and founded Dixboro in Michigan Territory, and never went to sea again. Ten years later, Dix once more got the urge to move. He ended up in Stephen Austin's Texas Colony, where he fought in the initial battles of the Texas War for Independence at San Antonio de Bexar. During the Civil War, as loyal Unionists in secessionist Texas, Dix and his wife suffered until war's end. That was when he was sworn-in as the County Judge and became the Nueces County Assistant Agent for the Freedmen's Bureau, a position held until his death in 1870, where he helped former slaves make the transition to becoming useful American citizens.

Dan R. Manning Dan R. Manning has written several scholarly works which have appeared in SouthwesternHistorical Quarterly, and Military History of the West. Other articles have appeared in Texas Ranger Dispatch, Missouri Life, Ozarks Mountaineer, American West, Old Mill News, and Farm Collector magazines. Through research and personal experience, Dan has gained knowledge about 19th century grist milling techniques, early agricultural machinery and methods, including the raising and training of draft horses and mules. Dan's most heart-felt project, which he has spent three decades researching and writing, is the biography of John James Dix, his wife's great, great grandfather. Dan was raised in a Central Kansas farming community, and now resides with his wife, Betty, in the Missouri Ozarks.