← Back to the front page

How Timothy Dexter Turned Ridiculous Ventures Into Riches

Khalid Elhassan November 22, 2024 13 min

Dexter - Timothy Dexter — Timothy Dexter. New England Legends

18. Humble Beginnings

Timothy Dexter was born in 1747 in Malden, Massachusetts, into a family of Irish descent and modest means. Young Timothy received little education as he grew up. His education ended at age eight, and he was indentured as a servant in a nearby farm. When he turned fourteen, he headed to Charlestown to become apprenticed as a leatherworker. At the end of his apprenticeship, when he was twenty, he met and married a widow, nine years older than himself and with four children. She was rich. Dexter moved into her home in one of the posher parts of Charlestown, and she helped him set up shop in her basement, where he sold leather trousers, gloves, and hides.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.