Dickson was born in Duplin County in the Province of North Carolina on May 5, 1770 and was educated at Grove Academy in Kenansville.
With his parents, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1795; studied medicine, then practiced as a physician.
[1] Dickson entered politics as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, serving as its speaker from 1799 to 1803.
Dickson died in Nashville on February 21, 1816 (age 45 years, 292 days).
He is interred at a rural cemetery in Davidson County, Tennessee, near Nashville.