Joel Dickinson was born in Northampton County, North Carolina, in about 1738. Later a resident of Dobbs County, North Carolina, he cosigned a petition from Thomas Saint to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1778, regarding a land dispute that emerged from legal restrictions placed on Quakers due to their refusal to swear an oath of allegiance to the state. Dickinson himself was not a Quaker, as his will makes mention of enslaved individuals. Dickinson died in Wayne County, North Carolina in about December 1792.