Timothy Dexter (January 22, 1747 October 23, 1806) was an American businessman noted for his writing and eccentricity.Dexter was born in Malden in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He had little schooling and dropped out of school to work as a farm laborer at the age of eight. When he was 16, he became a tanner's apprentice. In 1769, he moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts. He married 32-year-old Elizabeth Frothingham, a rich widow, and bought a mansion.At the end of the American Revolutionary War, he bought large amounts of depreciated Continental currency that was worthless at the time. At war's end, the U.S. government made good on its notes at one percent of face value, while Massachusetts paid its own notes at par. His arbitrage enabled him to amass a considerable profit. He built two ships and began an export business to the West Indies and Europe.