John Dickens John Dickens John Dickens (21 August 1785 – 31 March 1851) was the father of English novelist Charles Dickens and was the model for Mr Micawber in his son's semi-autobiographical novel "David Copperfield". The son of William Dickens (1719–1785) and Elizabeth Ball (1745–1824), John Dickens was a clerk in the Royal Navy Pay Office at Portsmouth in Hampshire. On 13 June 1809 at St Mary le Strand, London, he married Elizabeth Barrow, with whom he had eight children. He was later transferred to London and then to Chatham, returning to live in Camden Town in London in 1822 to work
Dickens in America came in 1976 there was a massive white flight. Today the streets are empty. One can rent a store on the main street for a dollar a year. It is still, “dismal Cairo.” Miriam sees no hope for the town. Ranger Bob Moore of the US National Park Service tells Miriam that many today think Dickens was rather snobby when describing St. Louis of 1842, but he thinks Dickens was just being honest about what he saw and experienced. Dickens visited an American Free School in St. Louis and Miriam visits a 9th grade class at the Duchesne High School