Dickinson was a successful frontier businessman, cultivating garden seeds on his 21 acres and shipping them throughout the United States. But Dickinson's most important contribution to the Salem area was as a pioneer preacher. He was minister of First Congregational Church in the 1850s and 1860s, and his tenure was embroiled in controversy because of what was referred to as "negro sympathy."

He invited blacks into the church, baptized them and married them, and he was criticized for being so brazen. He continued to preach about the sins of slavery, despite recommendations that he stop.

Dickinson was a major figure in Oregon black history, according to Dr. Darrell Millner, a professor in the black studies department at Portland State University.

"I think he's also been a lost and neglected figure," Millner said. "Most people don't know his story. He was far ahead of his time."

Dickinson took a stand long before the civil rights movement of the 1950s, and the backlash he suffered is well-documented in newspaper archives.

The Oregon Statesman newspaper referred to the church as the "Nigger Church," and Dickinson was personally attacked in editorials by Asahel Bush, a powerful politician.

"The church withstood a lot from the community," said Willie Richardson of Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers. "I think Dickinson and First Congregational Church, more than any other entity at that time, really unveiled the kind of hatred and racism that was pervasive in this community."

Jeanne Humphreys, a member of the First Congregational Church congregation since 1945, is caretaker of the church's historical documents. Among the treasures is a leather-bound journal containing notes from early meetings, including names of people received into the congregation and details of plans to build a new church. The elegant script writing on the yellowed pages is thought to be from Dickinson's hand.

Dickinson arrived in Oregon in March 1853. He and his wife were newlyweds when they embarked on a 17,000-mile journey around Cape Horn. They traveled with seven other couples from the New England-based American Missionary Society, all assigned to minister in the western territories. It took the Dickinsons 18 days to get from Portland to Salem and cost them $194. Among the charges were $131 for freight and $35 for boarding in Oregon City while awaiting a boat. Dickinson arranged to hold the first church meetings in an abandoned log cabin schoolhouse.

He described the room in his writing as "dirty almost as a pig sty, its floor covered with mud."

He sent quarterly reports to the home mission, reports that today are among the archives at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University. Author Egbert S. Oliver compiled many of those reports for the book "Obed Dickinson's War Against Sin in Salem."

In the foreword, Oliver described Dickinson's reports as "the most discursive, most comprehensive, most honest and complete" of those by any of the early Congregational ministers sent to Oregon.

Dickinson was the target of further contempt after presiding over America and Richard Bogle's wedding in January 1863, and hosting a reception for the black couple. The fallout came at an inopportune time for the church, which was trying to raise money for construction of a new building. Members asked Dickinson to wait until the new church was finished before preaching on such an "exciting" topic.

The Oregon Statesman, in the wake of the wedding, reported: "The continuation of Mr. Dickinson's anti-slavery and negro sympathy preachings was calculated only to prevent the growth of the church, and retard the spread of religion."

Dickinson didn't flinch, not even when fundraising came to a halt.

"He was totally dedicated," Humphreys said. "I think we should give his wife some credit. I would have been out of there."

Ministering in the frontier was not a glamorous job and the pay was paltry. Obed and Charlotte lived on little or no income.

"Not a crust of bread nor a baked potato has been lost," Obed said. "Everything has been cooked in some way for our food."

He reported often to the home mission how broke they were and asked for assistance. "I am now so much in debt," Dickinson said, "that I almost feel ashamed to meet a man in the streets."

Their poverty continued until he left the ministry. Obed launched his seed business while still serving the church.

In September 1865, according to Oliver's book, Dickinson hired the Statesman to print 1,000 labels for seeds and 800 leaflets listing what he had for sale. It didn't help matters that Charlotte was in poor health, suffering from what her husband called a "spinal problem."

He reported to the home mission that he had ordered bottled petroleum for her to use as a medicinal salve. The Dickinsons suffered additional hardship at home because three of their four children died at a young age. Charlotte did her part to further her husband's cause, teaching four young black women in the evenings at their home. She had been a schoolteacher before coming to Oregon.

The controversy surrounding Obed Dickinson's abolitionist views was prevalent throughout his ministry. But it may have lessened after fury over the wedding died down. In his last report published in Oliver's book, dated June 6, 1865, Dickinson wrote: "Opposition on the part of the church on account of my abolition sentiments is all done. The church now believes I was right, though nothing is now said either by themselves or by me …"

Less than two years later, Dickinson resigned from the church and turned his attention toward expanding his business. He also spent time as a director in public schools and a trustee for both Willamette and Pacific universities. He opened his seed store, the one documented in the black and white photograph, and it continued to thrive even after his death in 1892. He was 74. His wife died the following year and is buried next to him.

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On the Net:

Oregon Online History: http://www.salemhistory.net/places/first_congregational_church.htm

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