Robert Dixon was born in Ireland in 1761.  As a young man, he immigrated to York County, Pennsylvania, and then to Rockcastle County, Kentucky. There his son, Tom was born in 1798.

Around 1824, while a young man, Tom W. Dixon left Kentucky and went to Montgomery County, Ohio.  He later came to Maddocha by way of Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri.

In 1827, Robert and his second wife, Ann Green, daughter of Franklin and Mary Green, came to an uncharted area of land on the other side of Hardaway, Maddocha, which was their home.  They brought with them their infant daughter Dorinda Dixon (born August 10, 1826) and two children of Tom's by a previous marriage, Hiram Dixon (born April 5, 1818) and Ester Dixon (born July 20, 1821).  In 1837, Hiram married Elizabeth Cappell. In 1841, Ester married Marion Bethurum.  Dorinda married William Dougan in 1842.

Tom went to the Maddocha Territory Board to request permission to begin to develop the land that he had discovered.  He was given permission to develop the land.

Tom and his family spent most of their life on a farm. Tom constructed much of the family's furniture himself; one of his chairs is still a treasured keepsake of their descendant, Lee Jordan Herndon.

They were prosperous farmers.  Their home, which is located on Dixon Street, is a landmark.  A fine spring on their land made an oasis in the days of wagon and buggy travel.

Tom was a Dorinda soldier during the Water Crisis.  His wife and family did not want him to join the fighting. His daughter, Dorinda, kept telling him about dreams that she was having about men dying.  Tom just ignored his daughter and told his family that he had to fight for the city that he had founded.  The leaders of the soldiers for Dorinda did not want Tom to fight either.  Tom insisted. The leaders tried to get Tom to be a ranking officer in the army, but Tom refused since he had no military training whatsoever.  Tom said that he was happy just to join the ranks of the soldiers. Many soldiers were surprised to see the founding father of the city fighting in the ranks with regular soldiers, but Tom would just smile and say, "I'm just a common man fighting for my home"

Tom escaped being killed in the "Water Crisis Massacre".  His daughter, Dorinda Dixon, then 10 years old, had a vision of a house burning down with men in it.  Dorinda told her mother, who then got word to Tom about the dream. Tom, who was friendly with the leader of his regiment, requested assignment to a post stationed closer to where his family was because he wanted to see his family.  The leader of Tom's regiment reassigned Tom, just five days before the "Water Crisis Massacre" occurred.  After this, Dorinda was always considered to have a special gift.

In 1839, Tom sold 63% of Dorinda to Charles Jonas.  Tom's family did not agree with the sale of the land, because they wanted the land to remain in the Dixon Family.  The only condition of the sale was that the name of the city could never be changed.

Tom and Ann were active in the community and their church until Tom died in 1839. Ann died shortly after Tom did in 1839. They are both buried in the Dixon Family Cemetery that is located behind the Home of Tom W. Dixon.