Timothy Dexter

Timothy Dexter (born January 22, 1747, Malden, Massachusetts [U.S.]—died October 23, 1806, Newburyport, Massachusetts) was an American businessman known for his eccentric personality. He grew extremely wealthy through schemes that should have bankrupted him, and he performed outrageous stunts that alienated him from the upper class.

Dexter had little formal education. At age eight he began working on a farm, and six years later he became an apprentice at a tannery. While in his early 20s, he married a well-to-do widow, and her money helped him open a leather shop in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Dexter did well in his business, and he eventually began to engage in speculative enterprises, earning enormous profits. Most notably, he bought up Continental currency—the first paper money that the Continental Congress issued—after too much was printed and it was discontinued during the American Revolution. Paying just a few cents for each dollar, he collected the currency with the hope that it would one day be put back in circulation. In the 1790s the U.S. Constitution provided that all Continental money could be traded in for bonds, an act that made Dexter rich.

Dexter was also known for reaping profits from highly unusual business endeavors, often suggested to him by acquaintances who were trying to ruin him. On one occasion he reportedly was encouraged to sell coal in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, not realizing that the city had its own profitable coal mine. When he traveled there with a shipment of coal, Dexter discovered that the Newcastle miners were on strike. He was thus able to sell his coal at a great profit. Another time Dexter’s associates were said to have convinced him to sell warming pans (to heat beds) in the West Indies, although Dexter did not realize that the islands’ warm climate meant that the pans would be useless. Upon arrival, however, Dexter had the pans adjusted and called them ladles, selling them at a high price to the owners of the numerous sugar and molasses plantations. The veracity of these claims, however, has been disputed. Given the hyperbole surrounding Dexter’s life, it is often difficult to sort fact from fiction.

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Dexter tried to win acceptance from the sophisticated upper-crust citizens, but he always fell short under their disdain and snobbery. He openly courted attention, whether good or bad. He lived in a lavish mansion that featured minarets and a gold eagle on the roof. The surrounding grounds were adorned with wooden statues of such prominent men as George Washington and Napoleon. Dexter also had two statues created in his likeness, one of which had an inscription that read, “I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western world.” In addition, he insisted that his servants call him Lord Timothy. At one point, Dexter staged his own funeral to see who would mourn his death. Some 3,000 people attended, and the ruse was kept up until he began to beat his wife (who knew about the stunt) because he did not feel she was sufficiently mourning him.

In 1802 Dexter published a short book, A Pickle for the Knowing Ones; or, Plain Truths in a Homespun Dress. The work—somewhat of an autobiography in which he not only brags about his accomplishments but also lists complaints against his wife and others—contains no punctuation, numerous misspellings, and random capitalization. A commenter later described the work as “a jumble of letters promiscuously gathered together.” The book opens with:

To mankind at Large the time is Com at Last the grat day of Regoising what is that why I will tell you thous three kings is Rased Rased you meane should know Rased on the first Royal Arch in the world olmost Not quite but very hiw up upon so thay are good mark to be scene so the womans…

After receiving complaints about the lack of punctuation, Dexter revised later printings to include a supplemental page that featured rows of periods, commas, question marks, and other punctuation marks. Following his death in 1806, an obituary referred to him as “one of the most eccentric men of his time” and further noted that his intellectual ability was not “of the most exalted stamp.”

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