Franklin Joseph Dickman was born Aug. 22, 1828 in Petersburg, Va. to Joseph and Mary Foster Bartlett Dickman. He studied at the Petersburg Classical Institute and Brown University in Providence, R.I., where he graduated in 1846. Dickman then read law with Chief Justice Charles S. Bradley of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and Charles F. Tillinghast in their law offices. After two years of study, he was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1849.

In his first foray into public office in 1857, Dickman was defeated in a bid as the Democratic candidate for Rhode Island Attorney General. In 1858, President Buchanan appointed Dickman to the board of visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Dickman served as secretary of the board, whose responsibility was to administer annual examinations to cadets. Later in 1858, he moved to Cleveland.

During the Civil War, Dickman espoused the cause of the Union and was elected by a large majority in 1861 to represent Cuyahoga County in the Ohio House of Representatives as a Democrat. In November 1865, he and Rufus P. Spaulding founded the legal firm of Spaulding & Dickman and they practiced together until 1875. On March 25, 1867, President Andrew Johnson nominated Dickman as U.S. district attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. The U.S. Senate approved his nomination on March 28, 1867. With the election of President Ulysses S. Grant in November 1868 and knowing that President Grant wished to appoint his own people to the various government posts, Dickman resigned in March 1869.

On Feb. 15, 1883, the Supreme Court of Ohio petitioned the Ohio General Assembly to appoint a commission to help clear its backlog of undecided cases. This two-year commission had the same powers, jurisdiction and duties of the Supreme Court. Gov. Charles Foster appointed Dickman to the commission, on which he served from April 17, 1883 to its expiration on April 16, 1885. His decisions are in volumes 40 and 41 of Ohio State Reports.

Gov. Joseph B. Foraker appointed Dickman to the Supreme Court on Nov. 11, 1886 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Justice William W. Johnson. Dickman won the election in November 1887 to fill the remaining two years of Johnson’s unexpired term. In November 1889, he was elected to a full five-year term. He served as Chief Justice from Feb. 9, 1894 to Feb. 9, 1895. The opinions he rendered on the Court are in volumes 45 through 52 of Ohio State Reports. He retired from the Court upon the expiration of his term on Feb. 9, 1895.

In the 1894 case State ex rep v. Jones, Auditor, a decision authored by Dickman and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Ohio granted a mandamus action filed by the state board of appraisers and assessors for express, telegraph and telephone companies to compel the Lucas County auditor to distribute property taxes of The National Express Company to various cities, villages and townships inside the county.

On June 22, 1892, Brown University, his alma mater, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.