The business of F. T. (Frank Tisdale) and W. L. (William Lord) Dean, general traders, operated on the corner of Pownal and Water Streets, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. It is listed in Teare's Directory of 1880-81 although the exact dates of its establishment and demise are unknown. The Deans appear to have had an extensive business shipping produce to places such as Newfoundland, Boston, and England.

Previous to the partnership, W. L. (William Lord) Dean is listed in Lovell's 1871 Directory as a general merchant on Water Street. The Dean family had been in business in Charlottetown for many years with W. L.'s father, William Bradford Dean, operating a flour, tea, and wholesale business on Water Street near Pownal in the 1860s and listed as a merchant on the 1841 census. W.B. Dean was an American and the connections with the United States may have been maintained as W. L. and F. T. seem to have left the Island by the mid-1880s. Both returned later in life and died in Charlottetown. William Lord Dean died in 1936 at the age of 80 and Francis Tisdale Dean died in 1940 at the age of 89.