Walter Dickins worked as a clerk and bookkeeper for the W. W. Dodge & Co. in San Francisco, CA from 1867 - 1883. Later he transferred to the lumber business, eventually owning his own company in 1890 in San Francisco, the Dickins-Hobart Lumber Co. until his death in 1909. His father, Thomas W. Dickins, worked as a clerk in the Department of State 1843 - 1845, and later as a legislative clerk in the office of the Secretary of the Senate under his father, Walter's grandfather, Asbury Dickins, from 1845-1861. Afterwhich Thomas W. moved his family of 9 to California. Asbury Dickins spent his career in government, where he worked as clerk and chief clerk in the Treasury Department, chief clerk in the Department of State, and lastly as secretary of the United States Senate. He had one of the longest runs as secretary of the United States Senate at 25 years, and was influential in shaping the role into what it is today. Asbury Dickins' father, John Dickins, immigrated from England and was a Methodist preacher.