This one is our first one. It is an outgrowth of the Dillard Family Association, which was formed at the Fiftieth Anniversary Reunion of the descendants of Lt. John Dillard (1755-1842) of Rabun County, Georgia at Dillard, Georgia on June 9, 1991.
What is our purpose? This can be explained by noting those in attendance at the reunion included many more lines of Dillard descent than just the one descended from John Dillard of Rabun County, Georgia, and included lines of Dillards descended from Washington County, Tennessee, Laurens County, South Carolina and the Spottsylvania County, Virginia. Several experienced family historians thought they might be in heaven, only to be frustrated that there wasn't enough time to take in and absorb all the opportunities. It underscored the genuine interest in "roots" of present day Dillards who are reaching back for the values of the past.
This newsletter, recognizing this interest, and being an arm of the Dillard Family Association, is for the purpose of promoting and preserving the heritage, culture and fellowship of all Dillards anywhere - and not necessarily just the descendants of John Dillard of Rabun County.
We hope our newsletter will serve as a means of the exchange of responsibly proved and scholastically sound historical information about Dillards, as well as information about what Dillards are doing now and what fun people Dillards are.
You, the reader, will decide what direction we will take. Hopefully, our first one will not be the last one. Let us know what you think about Dillard Annual. If you would like to contribute an article or news item, please send it to us.
The following persons were elected officers and directors of The Dillard Family Association formed with by-laws and permanent existence at the 1991 Reunion on June 9, 1991:
Barnard Malcolm Dillard President (Fairburn, Georgia) Louise Dillard Coldren Vice-President (Dillard, Georgia) Rachael Dillard Scott Treasurer (Pendleton, SC) Janelle P. Knight Secretary (Resacoa, Georgia) Edward Rush Dillard Director (Dillard, Georgia) Dr. Howard V. Jones Director (Cedar Falls, Iowa) John M. Dillard Director (Greenville, SC)
If you are not already a member of The Dillard Family Association, send your check for $15.00 to Rachael Dillard Scott, Treasurer, at 218 Indian Trail, Anderson, South Carolina 29625, and come to the 1992 Dillard Reunion. Any person related to a Dillard anywhere by descent or marriage is invited to join. The address of our President, Barnard Malcolm Dillard, is 31 Valleybrook Drive, Fairburn, Georgia 30213.
Malcolm Dillard and his officers have announced plans for the 1992 Dillard Reunion on Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7, 1992, at Henry's Playhouse, Dillard, Georgia. Henry's Playhouse is located directly behind Dillard City Hall, and is a large natural wood and rock lodge which was constructed last year as a place for large meetings and conventions as a part of The Dillard House facilities.
Registration will take place at Henry's Playhouse on Saturday, June 6 at 1:00 P. M. The cost will cover dues to The Dillard Family Association, reunion expenses and a 6:00 P. M. Saturday afternoon Barbecue, catered by John Dillard of The Dillard House, who is well known for his barbecue cooking.
Two simultaneous events are planned for Saturday afternoon, the orientation for which will start at 1:45 P. M. You can take your pick.
One is a natureland hike on foot through remote forests, mountain and waterfall areas for those in suitable physical condition for the purpose of viewing Rabun County, Georgia as it was when it was pioneered by John Dillard and his children about 1821.
The other is a historic homes and landmarks, mostly riding, tour of the northern part of Rabun County, where the Dillards settled, including homes originally built by the Dillards and their neighbors and kinsmen, the Yorks, Dickersons and others. Many of these homes and landmarks have been in the continuous possession of the Dillards since the 1820's until the present date.
A business and other program of The Dillard Family Association will take place at 7:30 P. M., followed by fellowship from 8:30 P. M. on.
On Sunday, June 7, all persons are recommended to attend 11:00 A. M. Sunday services at Head of Tennessee Baptist Church or Dillard United Methodist Church in both of which Rabun County Dillards have been historically connected.
Sunday lunch will be on your own with more time for fellowship and visiting on your own. Starting at 2:00 P. M. an optional program of Dillard family genealogy and history will be given by speakers whose names and topics will be announced later. At 4:00 P. M., we will adjourn until 1993.
If you would like to register now, please call or write Malcolm Dillard or Rachael Dillard Scott. A later reminder will be sent which will give the cost of registration, including the barbecue, and a list of area motels and restaurants.
For those of you who missed reunion day last June, you can obtain a videotape of the unabridged program, including all the speakers and the group singing, plus a cemetery tour of the Baptist Church with Dillard graves from Jim, a professional photographer, at (404) 292-8591 for $20.00.
The day was beautiful, the food was excellent and fellowship was enjoyed by young and old cousins, many of whom had never before met. Notwithstanding problems with the proper functioning of the restrooms, the Dillard City Hall, a converted school across the road from the Baptist Church, afforded a comfortable auditorium. Only 80 made advance registrations, and only 116 signed the registry in the midst of the confusion, but we counted at least 137 in attendance. Many were from as far away as Texas, Florida, Iowa, California, Kentucky and elsewhere. The Dillard House, located next door, furnished beverages and lunch for those who could not bring basket lunches.
Opening services were conducted by the Reverend Tommy Lamb, Pastor of the Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church, the site of the 1941 Reunion. John M. Dillard of Greenville, South Carolina, presided over the formation of The Dillard Family Association and the election of its officers. The hat was passed for dues, resulting in $189.00 given to our treasurer.
After lunch, the Reverend John Sharp, Chaplain of the Rabun Nacoochee School at Dillard, led group singing. Dorothy Dillard Hughes, of Lubbock, Texas, Dr. Howard V. Jones of Cedar Falls, Iowa and Miriam Dillard Klar of Tampa, Florida, each spoke on selected topics about Dillard family history. Though perhaps too long, we had the benefit of some of the best available Dillard historians.
Coverage was given to us before and after the Reunion by the Clayton Tribune. We appreciate the efforts of the owners and staff of The Dillard House for their help. We thank you for completing and returning lineage forms with other family information.
Saturday evening before the Sunday reunion, a buffet dinner hosted by Louise Dillard Coldren attracted a large group of Dillard kin, particularly those from distances away.
As a result of an article which was published about the reunion and The Dillard Family Association in Family Puzzler, a genealogical magazine, we received a volume of mail which we could not answer, and for which we express appreciation. Some of those letters were genealogical inquiries, but all expressed strong interest in the concept of The Dillard Family Association.
While the turn out of local Dillard descendants appeared to fall short of the 1941 reunion, it wasn't bad at all for the first try in 50 years, and looks very promising in the future.
A list of those who registered at The 1991 Reunion and who joined The Dillard Family Association is attached. If your name was left off, please accept our apologies and let us know.
A flint and steel musket loading rifle, mechanically modified to make it percussional, with its original barrel and stock, and which John Dillard brought from Virginia in 1782 is now on display under glass in The Dillard House Lobby. This rifle, now owned by Barnard Malcolm Dillard, was passed to him through his great-grandfather, William F. Dillard, whose home still stands in the uptown of Dillard. William F. Dillard was a son of James and grandson of John Dillard (not to be confused with William F. Dillard, a son of John).
Family tradition holds that John Dillard used this rifle in the Revolutionary War in Virginia. After the death of William F. Dillard at
Bernice D. Spier of 54 Iowa Drive, Fort Walton Beach, Florida 32548, wants to know where Amanda Dillard, who married Joseph T. Spier came from, and who at one time was in Fayette County, Georgia.
Patricia R. Brown of 108 Edwards, Terrell, Texas 75160, wants to verify who was the father of Indiana Dillard who married Robert Martin on February 19, 1899.
Maria Dillon of 6 Kevin Court, Mansfield, Texas 76063, a descendant of Nicholas Dillard, who lived in Edgefield County, South Carolina, and fathered sons, Phillip and George, wants to contact other Nicholas Dillard descendants, and find out where Nicholas came from.
Dr. Howard V. Jones of 18 Winter Ridge Road, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613, wants to contact the lady who called The Dillard House prior to the 1991 Reunion and stated she was a descendant of Major Dillard of Laurens District, South Carolina.
Marcy R. Pond of 136 Coconut Road, Delray Beach, Florida 33444-4304, a descendant of Col. John Dillard of Henry County, Virginia, who served in the American Revolution, wants to know how he is connected to John Dillard of Rabun County, Georgia.
Betty Dillard of 307 E. Sul Ross, Alpine, Texas 79830 wants to know from whom her great-grandfather, James Howard Dillard, (born 1815, Tennessee, died 1880 Robertson County, Texas) is descended.
Frances C. Weathers of 7 Beattie Street, Laurens, South Carolina 29360 wants to know from whom in Rabun County, Georgia, Thomas Dillard (born about 1880 Clayton, Georgia, married Norah Ray, who later settled in Laurens County, South Carolina) descended.
Bennie Dee Dillard of Post Office Box 232, Roaring Springs, Texas 79256, who was present at the 1991 Reunion, needs to connect his grandfather, James Andrew Dillard, (born Gadsden, Alabama 1862, died in Floyd County, Texas 1944, married Mary Elmira Love) into a possible Marion Dillard (born 1830) or other Dillards.
Marseille Dillard Sabin of 101 Primrose Court, Orlando, Florida 32803, who was also present at the 1991 Reunion, needs to connect her grandfather, Barney Dillard, Sr. (born 1864 in Harrisonville, Georgia, died 1962, Volusia County, Florida, married Alice Gibson Sherrill) into other Dillards in Georgia, Mississippi or elsewhere.
Several articles appear herein written by Dillard researchers for your pleasure, whose writers are:
Dr. Howard V. Jones, a John Dillard through his son William F. Dillard descendant, is a retired Professor of History at University of Northern Iowa. He received his B.A., M.A., and PHD degrees from Harvard University and has been for many years compiling in Wordperfect Dillard genealogy. He was a speaker at the 1991 Reunion.
Dorothy Dillard Hughes, also a 1991 Reunion speaker, is a retired teacher, a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a M.A. from New Mexico Highlands University. She is a well known leader of genealogical workshops, and is published. Her area of interest is pre-Revolutionary Dillard Virginia genealogy. She is descended from Nicholas Dillard of Caroline County, Virginia and Halifax County, North Carolina.
Anne Grist Dickerson is a life long resident of Rabun County, Georgia and a John Dillard descendant. She attended Rabun Nacoochee School and Young Harris College. As a housewife, she is active in Rabun County historical ventures. She is on the committee for publishing a new Rabun County history.
John M. Dillard, a sporadic researcher, is a John Dillard descendant through John Barnett Dillard. He is a graduate of Furman University and Duke University and has practiced law in his hometown, Greenville, South Carolina, for the past 35 years.
Sources of materials have been minimized for the sake of brevity and readability, but will be supplied upon request. Reprinting of any article is prohibited except by permission from the writer.
When John Dillard came to Rabun County around 1820, only his wife, his son, James, and his daughter, Mary Rebecca Dickerson, accompanied him. This was not by any means his entire family, but his other children had already gone off in quite different directions and they may have lost touch with their father. When John died in 1842, a claim in his pension papers says that the only children surviving were James, Mary Rebecca, and Ruth, wife of James Dryman, who apparently lived up in Macon County, North Carolina. However, not only were there pretty certainly other children of John Dillard, but some of them were still very much alive in 1842.
In fact, census records show John with a typically good-sized pioneer family. In 1790, John has three men under 16 living with him, and four extra females. By 1800, another boy (James) and another girl (probably Ruth), born since 1790, have been added. There are still more children in the household in 1810 and 1820, but considering the age of John and his wife, these are surely grandchildren, perhaps including the two Eller children whom John is rumored to have adopted.
Unfortunately, these census records do not tell us who these people were. They could be other relations, or even people not related at all. For example, the four women in the 1790 Census might include John's mother, mother-in-law or an Ann Dillard assumed to be his sister. Where indications of age are given, as in the boys of the 1790 Census and the two children added between 1790 and 1800, we know they were children -- but they could be someone else's children. However, it is more logical for John to have more than just three children.
There appear to be three sons besides James, and we know of three Dillard men who surely are these sons (although we cannot yet prove it absolutely). All three are in the right place at the right time, their birth dates fit the census records, they lived next door or close to John when they set up their own households, and they were associated with John in various records. Perhaps, most important, there is no other Dillard anywhere on the scene to father them. The three other sons were:
The daughters are much more problematical, since those who lived to maturity probably married and moved out of their father's house, and the very incomplete marriage records give no help. Mary Rebecca Dillard Dickerson was born in 1786, and we'd guess that Ruth Dillard Dryman was the youngest daughter, the one born after 1790, since the family still remembered her in 1842. That leaves three extra women born before 1790, two of whom are gone from the census records by 1800, and the third by 1810. Therefore, it is possible that there are as many as three more daughters for John.
To date, only one likely candidate has turned up: Sophia Dillard. Stacy Dillard, daughter of John's cousin, Thomas Dillard, Jr., married Gabriel Elkins, and when she died, Gabriel is said to have taken Sophia Dillard as his second wife. Alas, we don't know Sophia's exact birth date, death date, or even the marriage date. However, what we do know indicates that she was the right age to be John's daughter. Some descendants are positive that her father was John Dillard, and if so, our John is the only John properly placed geographically and chronologically to be that father. The Elkins family moved to Warren and Cannon Counties, Tennessee, and late in life, to Texas, so they also were not very near Rabun County.
As for other daughters, who knows? What about those Eller children whom John Dillard supposedly adopted? Could they actually be orphaned grandchildren mothered by an unknown daughter? Are there families thought to be kinfolk whose relationship could best be explained by their descent from a lost daughter of John?
One final question: Why did John Dillard's elder children, split away from their father's family and move to such different and distant places? Why did the Rabun County family apparently lose all remembrance of them? It may not have been easy to send letters back then, but it could be done, and visits involving greater distances were made in some families. Nevertheless, by 1842, the Rabun County Dillards seem to have lost touch with John's other children. Why?
One theory comes from the rumor that John Dillard married twice, first to Ruth Vaughan, second to Ruth or Ruth Jane Terry. I frankly doubt that there were two marriages, and certainly no evidence for them has surfaced. Nevertheless, could it be possible that the older children had a falling out with
It would be nice to have a friendlier solution than that, but we may never know the full story. All we can be sure of is that that John Dillard had a lot more descendants than those in Rabun County.
The records of the Head of Tennessee Baptist Church show that James Dillard gave the land for the cemetery and the church. This church, in the early 1820's, was a mission of the Franklin, North Carolina Baptist Church. As it was a 20 mile trip, in 1827 Dillard residents formed their own church. In later years, as the Methodist circuit riders came through this area and held revivals, some of the Dillards and their kin joined the Methodist Church. Land was given to them and they formed Wesley Chapel Methodist Church, which still exists.
Buried in Baptist Cemetery at Dillard, Georgia is John Dillard, born 12 August 1755, died 5 June 1842.
We do not know when John's wife died. They were both listed on the 1840 Census for Rabun County. Near the marker of John, given by the DAR, are the graves of James and Sarah Barnard Dillard and Obediah and Mary Dillard Dickerson. Another daughter married a Dryman. These are the three children who came into this area with John.
Mary was born in 1786 and died in August, 1873. James Dillard was born in December, 1792 and died 18 July 1861. He and Sarah Barnard Dillard had eight children, who were as follows: (1) Caroline Dillard was born 27 August 1817 and died 30 December 1842. Her burial place is unknown. She was living in Franklin, North Carolina at the time of her death. She married William M. D. Lambert; (2) Ann Marinda Dillard, born 16 July 1819, died 27 March 1899, is buried in the Baptist Cemetery. She married Andrew Jackson Martin; (3) Cynthia Arzelia Dillard, born 10 January 1822, died 25 May 1892, is buried in Penland Cemetery at Otto, North Carolina. She married Horatio Conley; (4) Albert G. Dillard, born 21 April 1824, died 14 June 1890, is buried in the Baptist Cemetery. He married Elizabeth Ann McKinney; (5) John Barnett Dillard, born 1 May 1827, died 24 October 1895, is also buried in the Baptist cemetery. He married Rachael McKinney; (6) Nancy Dillard, born 10 November 1829, date of death unknown. It is not known where she is buried. She married John Thomas and lived in North Carolina; (7) William Frank Dillard, born 20 June 1833, died 15 January 1863. He died in a hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia during the Civil War. Pictures of his grave have been made by family members. He married Jeanette Gibson; (8) Margaret Dillard, born 9 April 1836, died 3 January 1903. She is buried in the Wesley Chapel Methodist Cemetery. She married J. M. Neville. All the children of Margaret Dillard Neville and William Dillard are buried in the Wesley Chapel Cemetery at Dillard.
The Dillard family has always supported its churches with its presence and has given land at different times to enlarge the church property. To this day, Dillards are being buried in both cemeteries.
Numbers of people trace their Dillard lineage to a man living about Revolutionary War times. The frustration begins when these researchers look for the father of a particular James, John, George, Thomas, Nicholas, Edward, or another Dillard of that era. Several books have brief sketches of Dillard ancestry. Invariably they name James Stephen Dillard as second (or first) of the Dillard surname in Virginia. Yet there is no Virginia record of a James Stephen Dillard. So the logical question, then, is: Was James Stephen Dillard, of Virginia, a myth -- or was he a real person?
The usual order of research is to look first in printed material and then try to verify it by actual records. Printed sketches in available books begin
In more than sixty photostatic copies of printed Dillard sketches or pedigrees, those which trace a Dillard line back to the 1600's have the same first three generations, none documented, but often in the same words as the 1902 clipping: George Dillard, his son James Stephen Dillard (born in 1658), his son James (or James Stephen, Jr.). Credit is occasionally given to Hill's Henry County, which is itself undocumented and therefore not an adequate source.
Several records of George Dillard appear in Nugent's Cavaliers and Pioneers, from the first one when he was a headright of Capt. Moore Fantleroy on 22 May 1650 (p. 195), through his acquisition of land in New Kent County, which fell into King and Queen County when it was created in 1691. We learn that he had a wife when the two sold 76 acres of New Kent County land in 1679. The 1704 Quit Rent Rolls, published in several books, are really a census of Virginia landowners. Every landowner had to pay the King an annual quit rent of one shilling per fifty acres. Names included were Nicho. and Edwd. Dillard and Thomas and Geo. Dillard in King and Queen County and William Dolerd in New Kent County. (Isle of Wight County records show that Henry Dullard was Henry Bullard.) Dillard/Dolerd names were found only in adjoining counties of King and Queen and New Kent. Yet none of the Dillard landowners except George are in genealogies published before 1960. When a researcher attempts to verify the existence of James Stephen Dillard and his son James -- since printed statements are not necessarily true --the trouble begins. No James Stephen Dillard is in any early Virginia record in any county. No James Dillard appears until 1758 -- a hundred years after James Stephen's supposed birth -- when a James Dillard patented 269 acres, part in New Kent and part in James City County, Virginia; hence the frustration of Dillard researchers.
Because no county records exist for New Kent or King and Queen County until 1865, Church of England records are vital. Parish registers and vestry books are really official records, since vestries of the various parishes had certain civil duties. From 1735 the same names -- George, Thomas, and Nicholas Dillard -- appear in King and Queen County; and Edward, from 1733 in adjoining Middlesex County. There is no James Stephen Dillard. There is no James Dillard.
So is James Stephen Dillard a myth? The successful researcher must go beyond the obvious. Spelling was not standardized, and the handwriting of the 1600's and 1700's was different from today's. Names were written as they sounded to the record keeper. St. Peter's Parish Register, New Kent County, lists three families. William Dollard with wife Sarah had sons William in 1704 (father of Thomas in 1736) and Francis in 1709, the year William died; and James Dollard, with no wife named, had Elizabeth in 170_ and James in 171_. John and Susannah Dollard had James (1736), Edward (1739), Lucy (1754), and Susann (1757). James (1758), Edward and Thomas (1782) Dillard -- not Dollard -- appear in New Kent records. The key to the mystery is in changed handwriting. In the 1600's and 1700's the letter e was often written like an o with a loop at the top. Thus William, James, and John Dollard were meant to have the surname Dellard. Often short e is pronounced like short i and Dillard is often pronounced in such ways that it could be spelled with any first vowel.
On 6 September 1978 at the Virginia State Library, to make sure of the appearance of the letter transcribed as an o, I had the photostatic copy of the parish register and vestry book brought from the stacks. I was disappointed to see that the o was definitely an o. But David Mossom, rector from 1727 past
When people tell remembered things about ancestors, they often remember names and events but forget dates. The strong tradition of a James, son of George Dillard, with son James seems a logical memory, especially since the Dollard/Dellard men -- James with son James -- existed and are in official records.
But James Stephen Dillard? Augusta B. Fothergill, an authority on Virginia records, wrote Terry Moorman Dillard that during the supposed James Stephen's lifetime, said to be from 1658, double forenames were not used. (Katherine Reynolds, The Dillard Family, p. 83.) Anyone can verify this in Virginia records of that time. Not even the governor, Sir William Berkeley, or the greatest landowners used double given names. This, then, seems to be the answer: There was no James Stephen Dillard, but there was a James Dillard of record, who very well could have been George Dillard's son. This James Dillard had a son, James, also of record, who probably was the ancestor of some later Dillards, but he was not the progenitor of all later Dillards, as a number of printed genealogies imply. Dillards with other given names also had children.
Recorded deeds in Buncombe County, North Carolina, tell interesting facts about John Dillard and his family who resided there some thirty-two years. That is longer than John Dillard lived in any other place, including Culpepper and Pittsylvania Counties, Virginia, Washington County, Tennessee or Rabun County, Georgia. Only Flat Creek deeds will be herein considered, and we will leave other artifacts of John Dillard in Buncombe County until another day.
The proof that we have established the same John Dillard who lived and died in Rabun County, Georgia is in the very last deed he executed in Buncombe County in 1826 to Adam Miller in Deed Book 24, Page 399, in which he was described as "John Dillard of the State of Georgia, County of Rabun". In fact, John Dillard in his Revolutionary pension application represented that he lived in Buncombe County, North Carolina.
An 1821 deed in which John Dillard sold adjoining property to William Pickens in Deed Book 19, Page 358, identifies a 100 acre tract of land in the Flat Creek section of Buncombe County as his original homeplace which he acquired as a land grant from the State of North Carolina in 1789 when it was Burke County, which became a part of Buncombe County in 1791. The Pickens sale makes John's departure into Rabun County about 1821 most probable, with the Miller sale coming five years later.
Flat Creek is a rural community still labeled by that name lying east of present U. S. Highway 23, about ten miles north of present Asheville, North Carolina. It consists of gently rolling hills in a large plain surrounded by higher mountains in the far distance. It is much like the landscape of the Little Tennessee Valley of Rabun County and the wide bottom lands of the Nulachucky River in then Washington County (now Unicoi), Tennessee to which John Dillard was apparently strongly attracted.
Starting with the original 1789 homeplace, John Dillard added a 100 acre tract for a consideration of "50 shillings for every 100" acres in 1799 "lying south of his old survey" (Buncombe County Deed Book 4, Page 347), a 60 acre tract "beginning on his hickory north corner by William Dillard's house on Strother's
What is more interesting is who owned land next to John Dillard's homeplace. Thomas Dillard, beginning in 1806 and continuing through 1808, purchased 220 acres of Flat Creek land in three deeds, one of which was witnessed by William Dillard, and which appeared to touch John Dillard's property (Deed Book 7, Page 650; Deed Book 3, Page 396 and Deed Book 3, Page 461). By 1810, all of the Thomas Dillard land had been sold to third parties, in that he is said to have migrated to Arkansas.
William Dillard, who married Sarah Gregory, a daughter of William Gregory, acquired through his wife's family a 105 acre tract at Flat Creek in 1806 in Deed Book A, Page 311. This tract was called for in John Dillard's 1808 deed as adjoining property. John Dillard was a witness to this 105 acre deed. This property was sold in 1812, the probable date when William Dillard migrated with his young family to Knox County, Kentucky and later to Greene County, Missouri.
An 1812 deed is found where John Dillard, Jr. and James Gregory, described as then of "Knox County, Kentucky", sold out to Zachariah Candler their 200 acres adjoining the original John Dillard homeplace (Deed Book E, Page 74). The 1812 deed, (which is the same land John Dillard, Jr.'s father purchased from Candler in 1820 as above noted) mentions that John Dillard, Jr. acquired this property by land grant from the state at an undisclosed date. This land grant is not indexed and may have never been recorded. It is reported that John Dillard, Jr., after living in Knox County, Kentucky, and Monroe County, Tennessee (he owned recorded real estate there, too) finally resided until his death in Cass County, Georgia near present Calhoun, Georgia, survived by his wife, Rhoda Lee Dillard, and many children.
Finally in 1814, James Dillard, then age twenty-one, purchased 100 acres from a neighbor, John Strother, at Flat Creek. This land appears to be contiguous to the tracts of land which John Dillard purchased in 1794 and 1810. No record is indexed in Buncombe County to whom or when James Dillard sold this property after he, with his wife, Sally Barnard, moved to Rabun County, Georgia, with his father, John.
We may not know the circumstances of why Thomas, William and John Dillard, Jr. left their Dillard kin at Flat Creek, but we can safely conclude that by 1821, John Dillard, then 66 years of age, probably decided it was better to leave his Buncombe County of thirty-two years and follow the younger children into Rabun County, Georgia, rather than be left behind without any of his children in Buncombe County, North Carolina.
Our spotlight in this newsletter is on 35 year old wildlife artist Stephen M. Dillard of Greenville, South Carolina, son of Robert and Dot Dillard who were present at the 1991 reunion. Steve has provided wildlife prints for South Carolina Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited and the Southern Sportsman Exposition. Steve was the 1987 South Carolina Wildlife Stamp winner, and the winner for West Virginia in 1988. His work appears in Duck Stamps and Prints, Complete Federal and State Edition.
Steve is a descendant of Samuel Dillard, a son of George Dillard of Culpepper County, Virginia. Samuel Dillard migrated to Laurens District, South Carolina near the Revolution and was first cousin to John Dillard of Rabun County.