The New International Encyclopædia/Dexter, Timothy

​Dexter, Timothy (1743–1806). An American merchant, born at Malden, Mass. He rose to great affluence, but is memorable chiefly for his eccentricities. Assuming the title of Lord Timothy Dexter, he built extraordinary houses at Newburyport, Mass., and Chester, N. H. The garden of the former he adorned with about forty colossal wooden statues of famous men, including himself. He also maintained a poet-laureate, and formed a collection of paintings composed entirely of daubs. He was the author of A Pickle for the Knowing Ones. Having been troubled by his printers in regard to punctuation, he retaliated by writing a pamphlet without a comma or any other point, but displaying at the end half a page of points in a mass, with the invitation to his readers to “pepper the dish to suit themselves.” He also rehearsed his own funeral procession in the most elaborate manner and caned his wife for not weeping at the sight of the cortège.

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