Benjamin Homer Dixon (1819-1899)

He was born at Amsterdam, Holland. His brother married a daughter of U.S. Vice-President George Mifflin Dallas and their sister was the chatelaine of The Grange. He succeeded his father as Consul-General of the Netherlands at Boston but resigned on his removal to Canada after his first marriage in 1858. He was created Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion by King William III and in 1862 was appointed Consul-General of the Netherlands at Toronto. In 1858, he purchased The Homewood from George W. Allan on the northwest corner of Wellesley and Sherbourne - on the site of the current Wellesley Hospital. There he kept, "an extensive and valuable armory, such as the tourist looks upon with interest at Abbotsford, but could little anticipate on the shores of Lake Ontario". Homer Dixon was married three times: (1) Catherine, daughter of Chief Justice Sir James Buchanan Macaulay, who died without issue (2) Frances, daughter of William Beverley Heward, by whom he had six children (listed). (3) Emilie, daughter of George Caston, of Basingstoke, England, by whom he had a daughter (listed).