The 1996 Reunion will be held the second weekend of June, 1996 at Dillard, Georgia. Carlton M. Dillard of Augusta, Georgia who published in December, 1993 Back to Old Virginia with Dillard, Daniel and Kin, has agreed to be our principal speaker at the Fifth Annual Dillard History Session. Attendance at the history session is optional. Reunion details will be furnished in a subsequent mailout closer to the time of the reunion.
Further information including membership in the Dillard Family Association at dues of $8.00 per year per family unit should be addressed to Mrs. Rachel Dillard Scott, Secretary-Treasurer, 218 Indian Trail, Anderson, South Carolina 29625, telephone (803) 287-3944.
Queries about Dillard genealogy for consideration by Dillard researchers should be directed to Dr. Howard V. Jones, President, 18 Winter Ridge Road, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613-4782.
A Dillard reunion was held in 1941 at Dillard, Georgia by the descendants of John Dillard of Pittsylvania County, Virginia who died in 1842 a resident of Rabun County, Georgia, on the occasion of the unveiling of a monument to his grave as a Revolutionary soldier. A fifty year revival of this reunion was initiated in 1991 and has since been held on the second weekend of each June.
The Dillard Family Association was organized with by-laws and officers in 1991. It was then decided that the Association should include all Dillards in the United States for the purposes of preserving Dillard history, culture and comradeship. Attendance each year continues by a substantial number of Dillards of all family lines of Dillards from all over the United States not directly connected with the Rabun County set of Dillards.
A part of each annual reunion program is a one half day Dillard history seminar with speakers rendering research results on Dillard history topics. A number of Dillard genealogists participate in the history sessions and exchange Dillard historical information with all present. The 1995 Dillard Annual, down-scaled from those previously published, contains only the addresses of the 1995 Reunion speakers and limited news material.
Officers of the 1995-96 Dillard Family Association are Dr. Howard V. Jones, President, Malcolm Barnard Dillard, Vice-President and Rachel Dillard Scott, Secretary-Treasurer.
Each reunion is an enthusiastic affair held in the scenic mountains of North Georgia at the headwaters of the Little Tennessee River at Dillard, Georgia. Attendance each year has averaged approximately 150 persons. It is held at the Dillard House, owned and operated since the Civil War by a line of the descendants of Revolutionary soldier John Dillard, with excellent food, motel accommodations and a large modern lodge for holding meetings. Other ample accommodations and activities, such as golf and fishing, are nearby in this tourist area. All Dillards and kindred are cordially invited to attend and participate.
A membership application is included as the last page in this newsletter.
The Dillard Family Association held its annual reunion the second weekend in June 1995 at Dillard, Georgia. On Saturday, June 10, members of many Dillard families gathered at Henry's Playhouse where registration began at 9:00 A.M. Delightful refreshments were provided, compliments of the Dillard House.
The History Session began at 10:00 A.M. and was concluded at 1:00 P.M. We were fortunate to have three interesting speakers. The first was Mrs. Jewel Eller, manager of Rabun County Library. Her topic was "The Genealogical and Local History of the Rabun County Public Library". John M. Dillard's topic was "McKinneys and Other Dillard Kin Transplanted from Buncombe County into Rabun County". "Dilliania" was the topic chosen by Dr. Howard Jones, Retired Professor of History at Northern Iowa State University.
After a lunch break, the group gathered for a time of sharing and exchanging of information. Dorothy Dillard Hughes used her portable computer to retrieve Dillard ancestry for family members. She is requesting more descent forms to add to the data already compiled.
The Dillard House served a bountiful buffet dinner at Henry's Playhouse on Saturday at 7:00 P.M.
On Sunday, June 11, the Dillards again gathered at the Playhouse for a time of fellowship, followed by a delightful buffet meal.
A short business session was conducted by Vice President Howard V. Jones in the absence of the president.
John M. Dillard made a motion that we dispense with the reading of the minutes. He further moved that the dues be reduced from $15 to $8, starting next year. Motion carried. Fifteen members paid $15 for this year.
The following persons were elected to serve for 1995-96:
President - Dr. Howard V. Jones
Vice Pres. - Malcolm Dillard
Sec.-Treas. - Rachel Dillard Scott
No plans were made for publishing The Dillard Annual. The group heard several suggestions for next year's reunion. Adjournment of the business session was at 2:20 P.M.
It's good to be back again, and it's great to be with you all once more. I only wish that the reunion time was not so short, so that I could have a better chance to really know you. I also feel very honored to be asked to give this talk--you've had me up here so many times that I'm running low on things to talk about.
At one of our meetings, I urged all those present to bring in stories about the Dillards, their ancestors and relatives. I said that surely there must be some choice anecdotes that have been carried down in the family, perhaps for generations. For example, did anyone here ever hear talk about what kind of man old John Dillard was? Didn't anyone ever talk about his wife?
I think that telling those stories would make a most fascinating part of this reunion, and so I'm thinking of passing around or posting a sign-up sheet, where those who have stories could let us know about them. You could tell the stories to the reunion yourself, or if you're a bit bashful, you could tell them to someone like me and I'll relay to the reunion session.
Let me add that it would be a splendid addition to the Dillard collection forming in the Rabun County Library if those stories were on deposit there too--either written, or in tape recorders.
Think about it!
So, after all that, I thought I'd better come up with a story myself. I can't tell you one about anyone actually named Dillard, for I'm a Dillard only through a great-great-grandmother and I never really knew my Dillard kinfolk.
But I do have a story about my great-grandmother Eliza E. Snow Freeman. She's half a Dillard, for her mother was Mary Love Dillard, a granddaughter of old John Dillard. The story is that when grandmother Freeman came to live with my grandparents, she had taken to smoking a pipe -- she said It was for her "dyspepsia", and she carefully sewed a pocket in her skirt to carry her pipe and tobacco. Even if medicinal, smoking, she thought, was not something to do in the presence of men.
So, one fine day, grandma Freeman was puffing away at her pipe, when suddenly her son-in-law, my grandfather, came in from the fields unexpectedly. Grandmother quickly ditched her pipe into her pipe pocket and looked very innocent. However she did not have time to put the pipe out, and a few minutes later, she suddenly called out to grandfather, "Laws-a-me Emmet, I'm on fire!."
Apparently, they were able to put out grandmother's pocket without further difficulties, and no one was hurt--although I am sure that grandmother was deeply embarrassed. But she lived on to a reasonable age although not as long as her father. However, she might have lived longer if she had not gone riding bareback in the rain and caught a cold which turned into pneumonia. So, she died at the age of 75.
For my main topic today, I thought I'd tell you a bit of American history, a rather interesting story, I think, and one in which John Dillard and family were probably involved--although I can't prove it. Certainly one of their close relatives was deeply involved.
So, we're going to start back at the year 1783, and we're going to visit what was then Washington County, North Carolina.
The Dillards have recently moved here from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, for reasons unknown. There's quite a family cluster present, probably headed by Capt. Thomas Dillard, Jr., his wife Martha Webb Dillard, and nine of their ten children -- the eldest son, Benjamin,
However, along with that family of Dillards is also our John Dillard, with his wife, and several small children. Remember that years earlier, John Dillard had been bound out to Thomas Dillard Jr., apparently creating a stronger bond between the families than might be expected from their blood relationship -- John was probably first cousin to Thomas.
Still another boy had been bound out to Thomas Jr., and that was William Gregory, who also was part of the family cluster, married (his first wife soon to die), and with seven children, all young.
It's through William Gregory that the major family player in our story enters the family cluster. Robert Love later said that he came to this area with William Gregory, and lived with him a year until his marriage. How or why he came with Gregory is one of those mysteries, especially since he describes Gregory as a "near neighbor, when the Loves lived in Montgomery County, something over a hundred miles from the Dillard-Gregory settlement in Pittsylvania County. Did the Gregorys leave early from Pittsylvania and live for a time in Montgomery County? If so, were any of the Dillards with them? We have no answer.
At any rate, when Robert Love married, in our year of 1783, he married Mary Ann Dillard, daughter of Thomas Jr. When his father-in-law died soon afterwards, Robert Love became one of his executors and from the records, pretty much managed the estate thereafter. In the next few years, he also brought down siblings and got them married too others of the Dillard clan -- Winniesophire Dillard married James Love, and Martha married Thomas Love. Thomas Dillard III married Dorcas Love, who may be a sister.
Robert Love seems to have been a very energetic young man (he was only 23 in 1783), very much on the make, and destined to be very successful. He had already seen military service ever since he had gone north to join Washington's army in 1776, and at the end of the war, he was a lieutenant-colonel despite his youth. As we will see he got into politics early, and his whole career is filled with action, adventure, and much prosperity.
In fact, some have raised an eyebrow at Robert Love's handling of the Thomas Dillard estate. Thomas had been a prominent man in Pittsylvania County, and presumably was very well off, so that his estate should have been a considerable one. It is interesting that in later years, the sons of Thomas Dillard Jr. seem to be very poor, while the Loves, Robert and also his brothers, prosper most mightily. Bad management by the Dillards? Or too expert management of the estate by the Loves?
So there is the cluster of Dillards, Gregories and Loves living in Washington County, North Carolina, in an area with the not very attractive name of Greasy Cove. They are about to be in the middle of quite a bit of activity.
It is 1783, and the Revolutionary War has ended, successfully. The former colonies have become states, and are loosely, too loosely, tied together under the Articles of Confederation, which leaves each state very much sovereign, and proud of it.
One of the questions for the new country which came up was what to do about the western lands claimed by some of the states. The original grants which established the colonies had been without a very sound knowledge of American geography -- e.g. Connecticut could claim a strip of land right across New York State and including even some counties in northern Pennsylvania.
The southern states of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia were particularly central in this problem, for all three had grants which extended their western borders "to the South Sea (the picture of a North Carolina stretching from sea to sea is a fascinating one). Of course, nearly all the land west of the mountains was still unsettled and still the property of the Indians, However, the land-locked states were jealously inclined towards having the national government take over the lands beyond the mountains, to create new states when the population warranted It.
As of 1783, there were not very many settlements beyond the mountains. Kentucky probably was the largest, especially if we count southwestern Virginia. There was also the Cumberland settlement, the people in the area of present day Nashville, and then, of course, the Watauga Settlement, which was in North Carolina in what later was the northeastern corner of Tennessee. Washington County and Greasy Cove were part of this settlement.
The people in these western settlements were not enormously happy with the states to which they allegedly belonged. There were complaints about tax money draining eastward with no benefits for the counties of its origin, about having to travel too far to do official business--in particular, court business, and about being neglected by the easterners, particularly in matters of defense and dealing with the Indians. Not publicly specified was another argument for separation: the lucrative disposal of the public lands, constantly expanding as the Indians were pushed back by force or by treaty (or both).
By 1783, there was plenty of talk along the frontier about setting up new states, but the old states were in no rush to give up their potentially profitable western reaches.
In April, 1784, the North Carolina legislature passed an act of cession, in which they offered to give up their western lands, but only with a lot of conditions. Congress would have to accept all these within one year, or the cession would be off.
When the news came out to the Watauga settlement, the westerners were thoroughly happy. Most of them came from Virginia and had little loyalty to North Carolina from the
So, in August, 1784, a convention of delegates from Washington, Greene and Sullivan Counties met at Jonesborough. The convention declared independence from North Carolina and formed an Association to be their temporary government. A second convention was to follow in September (it actually did not meet until November).
During the summer of 1794, there had been much politicking through North Carolina about the cession issue, and a newly elected state legislature met in August (without much representation from the western counties, who considered themselves independent after all -- and whose convention met in the same month).
The legislature promptly repealed the act of cession, and rejected a bill to allow the west to become a state. The only concession was to form a new judicial district in the west.
Nothing daunted the westerners. They had their second convention in November and December, and once again moved to form a "separate and distinct State independent of North Carolina at this time." They also passed a temporary constitution for the new state, which was named the State of Franklin.
How did the Dillard cluster feel about all this? The only indication we have is that Robert Love, who may have sat in the first convention and certainly was in the second convention, later was much against the establishment of Franklin. But nothing is recorded of his views at this time.
In March, 1785, the first state assembly of Franklin met at Jonesborough. John Sevier, who had been chosen temporary governor, was elected again. Sevier, born in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1745, was an early settler in Washington County, and had a considerable career already as a soldier, with special praise for a major role at Kings Mountain. He also was famed as an Indian fighter. The Assembly also established a judiciary, and a set of laws passed to replace the laws of North Carolina. The second session, in August, continued the work and called a convention to adopt a permanent constitution, which met in November, 1785.
Robert Love was a member, and a follower of a major leader of the anti-Franklin forces, John Tipton, also a Virginian and with a previous career in the military. Tipton had supported the State of Franklin at first, but changed soon, some said because of jealousy. He and John Sevier soon became bitter enemies.
During 1785 and on into 1786, there was a paper war between the Franklinites and the government of North Carolina -- proclamations and manifestos page after page -- but without conspicuous result. Both sides stood firm, and what resulted was often two governments in the counties.
County courts were held in the same counties under both governments; the militia were called out by officers appointed by both; laws were passed by both Assemblies and taxes were laid by the authority of both States.
When a county court was sitting at Jonesborough in this year, for the county of Washington, Colonel John Tipton with a party of men entered the court house, took away the papers from the clerk, and turned the justices out of doors. Not long after, Sevier's party came to a house where a county court was sitting for the county of Washington, under the authority of North Carolina, and took away the clerk's papers and turned the court out of doors.1
(We don't have any record of the land John Dillard must have had in Greasy Cove. Maybe the record got lost in this scramble).
In July, 1786, elections were held. Franklin held its election, but Tipton arranged for a North Carolina election instead.
Violence would probably have come sooner, except that both sides were concerned with possible Indian troubles. In 1786, the national government had concluded the Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokees, a treaty which gave to the Indians a good deal of land in Franklin, including the site of the capital, Greeneville. The Franklinites were able to negotiate their own more favorable treaty soon afterwards, but there was still much tension along the frontier (John Dillard was commissioned an ensign in May, 1787, probably in preparation for a campaign against the Indians which did not take place).
Although in May, 1787, Franklin authorized a commission to negotiate peace terms with North Carolina, all efforts to compromise were rejected, and the August elections in Franklin were marked by disorder and strife.
There is no need to detail all the continuing problems of his situation. The Franklinites came close to being recognized by the national congress at one point only to be thwarted because under the Articles of Confederation, it took a three fourths majority of the states to pass anything. The Franklinites sought help from Georgia and Virginia, but never got it. They probably also intrigued with Spain, whose control of the mouth of the Mississippi made her an actor in affairs of the people beyond the mountains.
One of the most famous episodes of this tangle came in 1788. Col. John Tipton held North Carolina authority as colonel of Washington County, and he was endeavoring to destroy the state of Franklin by in effect closing down its courts--moving in and confiscating the records. He had also seized a number of John Sevier's slaves and was holding them.
1Samuel Cole Williams, History of the Lost State of
Franklin, 108, quoting Ramsey's History of Tennessee.
Therefore, Sevier decided to capture Tipton and put a stop to his activities . With a force of something over 150 men, Sevier went to Tipton's house, near the present Johnson City, on February 27th, 1788 and summoned Tipton to surrender. Tipton, with a guard of some 45 men, in turn ordered Sevier to surrender.
Sevier then, as it were, besieged the house, attempting to cut off all entrance or exit from it. However, Col. Robert Love managed to escape under cover of darkness and headed for Greasy Cove for reinforcements. En route, he met his brother Thomas with a dozen or so men, and they returned to the Tipton house, easily eluding Sevier's guards, who had returned to camp because it was too cold to stay out in the open.
Negotiations the next day led to no results, and the Sevier forces were alarmed to hear that the militia of Sullivan County would soon arrive to rescue Tipton. An attempt to block the Sullivan County forces failed when Sevier's troops refused to go further in the cold.
The Sullivan troops arrived and the Tipton forces sallied out of the house and a real battle began. The Sevier troops were expelled from their camp, leaving behind a small cannon with which they had threatened the Tipton house. A few people were killed, a few more were wounded, but it was noted that some men where firing in the air -- probably it was all right to yell at each other over the politics of Franklin, but quite another matter to kill people. Then a blinding snowstorm came up, the battle fizzled out, and the Sevier forces, uncertain as to how big the Tipton forces now were, finally beat a retreat,
In the confusion, Tipton captured some Franklinites, including some young members of Sevier's family. On the intercession of Robert Love, they were permitted to leave, on parole, and later, when Tipton wanted to hang them, he was dissuaded by a delegation which included Thomas Love.
In July 1788, Governor Johnston of North Carolina issued an order for the arrest of Sevier on charges of treason, but the local authorities took no action at first. In October of that year, a council of militia officers was held in Jonesborough to discuss a campaign against the Chickamaugas (Robert Love was there). Sevier came into Jonesborough late in the day, after the council had broken up. Sevier stayed in the home of the widow of a friend, but when the news came to Tipton of his presence, Tipton gathered some men and went to arrest him. Sevier surrendered to Col. Love, and Tipton ordered him taken across the mountains to North Carolina, over the objections of Col. Love. Love escorted him with much politeness and courtesy as far as Greasy Cove. Sevier was taken on to Morganton, but nothing came of the arrest, since a group of his friends and relatives came to Morganton and took him back across the mountains without opposition.
However, these events to some extent mark the end of the State of Franklin.
The government of Franklin continued on into 1789, with Sevier still as governor,
but the steam behind the movement was gone. North Carolina ceded the territory
to the United States
So, that is a brief summary of the history of the State of Franklin, and as promised, Robert Love, whose wife was a near relative of our John, was prominent in the activities which accompanied the state's brief history. I cannot believe that John Dillard, William Gregory, and perhaps others of their families were not involved too. Perhaps John Dillard was one of those who came to rescue John Tipton when he was besieged in his home.
One wonders if perhaps the involvement with Franklin may have been a reason for the Dillard-Gregory-Love move to Buncombe County at the end of the 1780's. We might ask whether life in Greasy Cove became uncomfortable because of lasting animosities stirred up by the conflict, even though our people were on the winning side.
However, the answer more probably is that our people just saw a better land deal in Buncombe County. After all, Martha Webb Dillard stayed in Greasy Cove the rest of her life, and her children moved out at varying times, clearly not part of any mass migration.
Robert Love had a nose for profit and perhaps he was the instigator of the move to Buncombe Co. He prospered there too; founded the city of Waynesville, served in all sorts of positions, political and otherwise, until his death in 1845.
One story about him makes a good close for this discussion. Col. Robert Love, a lover of horses and horse racing, made a half-circle, half-mile racing track near his home in Greasy Cove, in what is today Erwin, Tennessee. His famous horse, "Victor of All", had a huge reputation, which caught the attention of 21 year old Andrew Jackson, newly arrived across the mountains in 1788 to establish a law practice. Jackson, also a lover of horses, challenged Love to a race.
News of the event spread all through the area, a large crowd began to gather early in the morning and there was much drinking, betting, and general celebrating until the contestants arrived in the afternoon, Jackson with a group of friends from Jonesboro, Love escorted by followers from Greasy Cove.
At the last moment, Jackson's jockey was unable to ride. One version has it that he had fallen sick some days earlier; another, that Col. Love had seen to it that he had a plentiful supply of liquor the night before (whereas Love's jockey was locked up under guard). Jackson chose to be his own jockey.
The race apparently was extremely exciting, neck and neck most of the way. However, towards the end, Victor By All forged ahead and won by a length.
Jackson was a sore loser, perhaps with some knowledge that his jockey had been
tampered with. He became furious with Love and called the Loves a band of land
pirates. Robert Love, then called Jackson "a long, gangling, sorrel topped soap
stick". A duel was
If so, I imagine that there was some profit in it for Robert Love, our cousin by marriage, and a close companion to John Dillard of Rabun County.
Modern day people frequently move over long distances. Even though their modes of transportation were primitive, our ancestors of the first decades of the 1800's were also mobile. One striking difference then and now is that when an early family moved, parents, brothers, in-law related families, friends and neighbors moved with it. When John and James Dillard migrated from Buncombe County, North Carolina to Rabun County, Georgia about 1823, Barnards, McKinneys, Hoppers, Andersons and Dickinsons came with them or shortly thereafter. These families were already or would soon become interrelated. Rabun County, Georgia would appear as though Buncombe County, North Carolina had been transplanted.
William McKinney was one of the first settlers in Rabun County of the Valley District at Betty's Creek between 1820 and 1830. He was married to Margaret (Elvira) Anderson McKinney known as "Peggy". Ritchie indicates both emigrated from Buncombe County, North Carolina. Censuses verify that both were born in North Carolina.
One of the daughters of William and Margaret Anderson McKinney, Elizabeth (Betsy) Ann McKinney, married Albert G. Dillard and another, Rachel Matilda McKinney, married John B. Dillard, both sons of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard. Georgia McKinney, a granddaughter of William McKinney and Margaret Anderson McKinney, married Hiram Dillard a son of William F. Dillard of Rabun County who, in turn, was a son of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard. Ritchie, pages 192 and 193. These marriages make most of the descendants through the three sons of James Dillard also descendants of William McKinney and Margaret Anderson McKinney.
William McKinney was not shown on the 1830 Rabun County Census, but from an early deed reference there is no doubt he was there at that time. He was listed as "William McKenny" on the 1840 Rabun County Census with four sons and two daughters with a wife up to age 40 with no slaves. He was also shown on the 1850 Rabun County census as 52 years of age with a wife, age 48, as both born in North Carolina with children Rachel M., Charles L., William M., Doctor T. and Margaret C. McKinney ranging in age from 19 down to 8 years of age.
William McKinney died one year before the 1860 census, which listed Margaret McKinney, age 58, with children Marshall, age 23, Doctor T., age 20 and Margaret, age 17. Margaret Anderson McKinney was listed as the owner of two slaves in 1862. Margaret Anderson McKinney was for reasons unknown not listed in the 1870 Census. She was listed on the 1880 Census as a 78 year old mother-in-law residing with Leander M. Beavert, then age 50, a former captain in the Confederate Army and Sheriff of Rabun County, and his wife, Margaret C. Beavert, then age 36, with Ella Lawrence, age 25, "a servant" born in North Carolina and Minnie M. Lawrence, age 4, her daughter. Margaret Anderson McKinney lived to the ripe old age of 92 and died on March 25, 1893.
No McKinney is shown on the 1900 Rabun County Census. In fact, no William McKinney family member by that name now resides in Rabun County, Georgia. The line of this family had died out or moved away from Rabun County except for the descendants of its daughters.
William McKinney was an appraiser of an estate and the purchaser of personal property in 1838. His name is frequently mentioned in the early minutes of the Court of the Ordinary of Rabun County in that he served as a judge on the Court of the Ordinary from 1845 through 1849.
William McKinney purchased Lot Nos. 178 (except 50 acres sold to Joseph Anderson), a part of Lot 179 and a part of Lot 158 (not heretofore sold to Thomas McKinney) in the Second District of Rabun County containing 450 acres from William Owens on November 28, 1837 in Deed Book B, Page 135 in the Rabun County Clerk's Office. Witnesses to this deed were Thomas Kelly and O.T. Dickerson. This property from plats of the original land lots into which Rabun County was divided is located in the Betty's Creek area a short distance west of present Dillard, Georgia.
William McKinney purchased another 175 acres of land from William Gaines, Sheriff of Rabun County on October 7, 1845 in Deed Book C, Page 222 in a judicial sale. This property was a part of Lot 148, which seems to be located near or a part of the present property of Rabun Gap Nacooche School. A 25 acre portion of this property was quitclaimed to Amos McCurry in February 21, 1846 in Deed Book C, Page 337 in what appears to be a property line settlement.
The William McKinney 1837 deed calls for lots less portions sold off to
Joseph Anderson and Thomas McKinney. William D. Anderson had earlier purchased
a 125 acre part of Lot 176 in 1831 in Deed Book A, Page 231, which called for
adjoining property of William McKinney and James Dillard. This deed was witnessed
by William McKinney. This property appears to be the only intervening property
between what William McKinney owned and the property owned by James Dillard.
In Deed Book A, Page 232, this property was sold by William D. Anderson to Joseph
Anderson. Witnesses to this deed were William McKinney and James Anderson. These
instruments prove William McKinney was in Rabun County at least by 1831. Questions
are presented as to whether or not the Thomas
A few months before his death on September 7, 1859, William McKinney divided most of his real estate among his sons. A part of Lot No. 159 (for which there is no deed into William McKinney indexed of public record) was conveyed to Charles L. McKinney on March 26, 1859 in Deed Book E, Page 420. Lot No. 158 containing 200 acres was conveyed to Charles L. McKinney on the same date in Deed Book E, Page 422. Witnesses to the deed were Mason Grist and G.W.A. McKinney. Charles Lafayette McKinney conveyed both of these properties to his brother in law, John B. Dillard, on March 4, 1860 in Deed Book F, Page 165, which calls for Betty's Creek Road as a part of the description.
On August 5, 1859 William McKinney conveyed to his sons William Marshall McKinney and Doctor T. McKinney part of Lot 148 containing 172 acres in Deed Book E, Page 424. While no deed is indexed from William McKinney to G.W.A. McKinney, a sale of 100 acres from William M. McKinney to Jesse H. Rickman in Deed Book F, Page 554 in 1866 calls for a conditional line between William and G.W.A. McKinney. This is an indication not all the deeds into and out of William McKinney and his son, G.W.A. McKinney, are indexed or recorded.
The "estate settlement" deed from John B. Dillard and others to L. M. Beavert dated January 7, 1870 recorded in Deed Book M, Page 453 for the "undistributed real estate of William McKinney, deceased" indicates that William McKinney owned more property than is shown by deeds of public record in Rabun County. In the 1870 "estate settlement" deed one-half of Lot 160 and Lot 177 were conveyed. No deed into William McKinney for one-half of Lot 160 and Lot 177 is indexed.
The 1870 "estate settlement" deed verifies that in addition to his sons, William Marshall McKinney, Doctor T. McKinney and Charles Lafayette McKinney, William McKinney had daughters, Rachel, the wife of John B. Dillard, Elizabeth A., the wife of Albert G. Dillard and Margaret the wife of L.M. Beavert. This deed further recites a division for a son, G.W.A. McKinney. Witnesses to the deed included Jasper Hopper, a son of the sister of William McKinney who first name is unknown and who migrated into Rabun County at Betty's Creek from Buncombe County with his father, Samuel Hopper.
Margaret C. (McKinney) Beavert, the wife of L. M. Beavert, the grantee in the 1870 deed who died January 23, 1907 conveyed this same "undistributed real estate of William McKinney" along with all her personal property, furnishings and livestock, on December 27, 1908 to Mary Love Beavert and Annie Fay Beavert in Deed Book Y, Page 106 in consideration of $25.00 per year for support and furnishing "the dwelling house where she now resides". These grantees were the child and grandchild of Mary Ella Lawrence who, though listed as a "servant" on the 1880 census, was the adopted daughter of L. M. and Margaret McKinney Beavert and who later used the name Beavert instead of Lawrence.
On the above described property was the William McKinney homeplace on Betty's Creek Road facing the expansive bottom lands of Betty's Creek at the foot of mountains on both sides directly opposite of the present Dillard Elementary School. It was used as a residence by William McKinney and his wife, Margaret Anderson McKinney during their lives, and by their youngest child, Margaret McKinney Beavert for her lifetime. Following the death of Margaret McKinney Beavert on June 9, 1916, it was used by Romulus (Rom) S. Burrell and his wife, Mary Love Beavert Burrell as their home until 1935. Remnants of the McKinney land are today occupied by the Norton family who are Lawrence (Beavert) descendants. This includes the present residence which replaced on the same site the log, mitred corner story and one-half residence originally built by William McKinney upon his arrival in Rabun County with interior wall of cherry paneling (added to on the rear with additional rooms in later years) which was demolished about 1935 by Rom Burrell and his son-in-law, Jay Norton.
A family Bible, reported by Nancy J. Cornell in "The First White Man Born in Rabun County" in the North Georgia Journal of History, p. 353 as the William McKinney family Bible, gives the names, dates of birth and death of members of the McKinney family. This Bible was published by the American Bible Society in New York in 1853 which makes it very unlikely it was the family Bible of William McKinney who died in 1859. It appears from the earliest handwriting entered therein that it was the Leander M. Beavert family Bible. This Bible contains William McKinney family information which can reasonably be relied upon as authentic in that this Bible was in the possession of Margaret McKinney Beavert until her death in 1916. The information coincides with the information indicated by the above mentioned deeds of public record about the William McKinney family.
When the William McKinney household passed into the hands of their adopted daughter, Mary Ella (Lawrence) Beavert after 1916, the Bible passed with it. Mary Ella Beavert lived until 1925. Beavert descendants, including the Rom Burrell family, continued entering Beavert and Burrell family information into this Bible.
The seven children of William McKinney and Margaret Anderson McKinney as shown in the Beavert family Bible are:
(1) George Washington Anderson McKinney, alleged to be the first white child born in Rabun County on April 14, 1826 in Nancy J. Cornell, who died in Polk County, Georgia on July 26, 1901. He married Margaret Ellis McClure on December 12, 1846 and left a large number of descendants. He enlisted as a private in Company B, 65th Regiment of the Georgia Volunteers in the Confederate Army in 1860, served as an army nurse at Frank Ramsey Hospital in Cassville, Georgia and was discharged upon his appointment as Clerk of the Inferior Court for Towns County in 1864, after which he re-enlisted for service. His military record describes him as blue eyed with dark hair, fair complexion and five feet eight inches tall.
(2) Elizabeth Ann (Betsy) McKinney born November 10, 1828 and died February 28,
1919 in Rabun County who married Albert G. Dillard on December 3, 1849, raised a
large
(3) Rachel Matilda McKinney born June 3, 1831 married John B. Dillard, and raised a family of ten children in Rabun County, Georgia. She is the great grandmother of this writer, and has been described in family folklore as a high tempered redhead who had no problems in controlling seven sons on the family farm which was the southernmost one-third portion of the James Dillard 1000 acres. Her homeplace stood directly in front of the still standing residence of her late son, Beavert Rush Dillard.
(4) Charles Lafayette McKinney born April 24, 1834 and died in Towns County, Georgia on September 21, 1863 at 29 years of age, married Lucinda Caroline Corn on November 9, 1854. His descendants are numerous.
(5) William Marshall McKinney, born January 16, 1837 married Nancy Kelly a daughter of John L. Kelly and moved away to Texas where he died at an unknown date in 1903. According to an undated obituary in the possession of Rose Burrell Norton, William M. McKinney was 66 years of age on his death, a Methodist and a Mason. Considering the 1900 census information, he left Rabun County prior to 1877. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery at Dallas, Texas. He was a first corporal in the Confederate Army on August 21, 1861 and reported as deserted on October 1, 1861. The 1900 United States Texas Census lists William M. McKinney, age 63, born January, 1837 in Georgia in Tarrant County, Texas with his wife Nancy, born February, 1838 in Georgia, age 62 with the following as members of the household: Dock McKinney, age 31, born February 1869 in Georgia, and George W. McKinney, age 23, born February, 1877 in Colorado. Considering the ages of the parents in 1900 there were possibly other children already emancipated from this household not shown on the census. Their names are unknown. To be distinguished from the above is another William M. McKinney, born in Texas in June, 1854 was residing in Ellis County, Texas also shown on the 1900 United States Texas Census.
(6) Doctor Tatum McKinney born February 10, 1840, served in the Confederate Army as a 2nd corporal in Company E, 24th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry comprising the "Rabun Gap Riflemen" in which service he died unmarried at 22 years of age in December, 1862.
(7) Margaret Caroline McKinney, born March 17, 1843 married Capt. Leander M. Beavert, had no children, and died on June 9, 1916. Interesting Civil War letters between Margaret Beavert and her husband, Leander Beavert, who served as a captain in the Confederate Army, describing life and thoughts at that time are in the possession of Rose Burrell Norton.
Much more McKinney written documentation, according to Mrs. Norton, was destroyed in a barn fire while Rom Burrell was residing in the William McKinney residence.
The burial places of William McKinney and Margaret Anderson McKinney are unknown and have not been found after search and inquiry. Ritchie reports at page 192 that Doctor Tatum McKinney is buried in "the cemetery" at Dillard, but his grave has not been found. It is possible that Ritchie was referring to and that all of these persons are buried in now unmarked graves in the Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church cemetery at Dillard, Georgia.
How do we connect William McKinney with McKinneys back into Buncombe County, North Carolina? No property is found indexed in Buncombe County as deeded to William McKinney. He is shown as the head of a household on no Buncombe County census. However, William McKinney, then age 17, along with his apparent brother, Thomas McKinney, were witnesses in Buncombe County on a 1816 deed to their father, Charles McKinney recorded in Deed Book 11, Page 73 on the Buncombe County Registry. It is probable that this Thomas McKinney prior to 1837 resided in Rabun County, Georgia with his brother, William McKinney as indicated in the 1837 Rabun County deed to William McKinney in Deed Book B, Page 135.
The proof of the Buncombe County family relationships is a 1851 Buncombe County deed in settlement of the estate of Charles McKinney recorded on the Buncombe County Registry in Deed Book 132, Page 467. William McKinney on May 15, 1851 along with other heirs conveyed to John McKinney of Buncombe County their undivided interests in property which "fell" to them on the death of Charles McKinney of Buncombe County. This deed was not recorded until October 28, 1903. It is not specified when Charles McKinney died. The property conveyed was 250 acres on both sides of the Ivy River in the Ivy River community of Buncombe County east of the present Flat Creek community near the present town of Barnardsville, North Carolina.
The property conveyed by William McKinney and others in this estate settlement is the same 250 acres conveyed by John Anderson to Charles McKinney on January 25, 1816 in Deed Book 11, Page 73 which as was witnessed by William McKinney and Thomas McKinney. Charles McKinney was also granted 150 acres on December 20, 1803 in Grant No. 1298 from the State of North Carolina in Deed Book 3, Page 289 which he entered on December 15, 1801 which recites as adjoining property already owned by McKinney. In Grant No. 1261 the State of North Carolina conveyed to Charles McKinney 100 acres on Mud Creek "joining his own lands where he now lives" entered October 27, 1801 recorded in Deed Book 3, Page 290.
The foregoing is proof that Charles McKinney was in Buncombe County prior to 1801,
and a not too far removed neighbor of John Dillard who came into Buncombe County some
twelve years earlier. Charles McKinney was listed on the 1820 Buncombe County,
North Carolina Census as over 45 years of age, with a female of the same age, with 8
males ranging in age from 0 through 26 and three females from ages 10 through 26 and
one slave. He is also listed in the 1830 Buncombe County census with eight sons and
three daughters and one slave. In the 1840 Buncombe County Census Charles "McKinnie"
is listed as between 70 and 80 years of age (that would make the date of his birth no
later than 1780)
The heirs of Charles McKinney who executed the deed in Deed Book 132, Page 467 in 1851 leave many questions as to who owned what legal interests in the property conveyed and why. Those who signed in the signature spaces were Joseph McKinney, William McKinney (who this deed recites resided in Rabun County, Georgia), Rosannah Ray (of Yancey County, North Carolina) , P. (Pierce) Roberts, C.(Charles) M. Roberts, Levicey M. Williams, Jasper Hopper (of Rabun County, Georgia), Henry McKinney (Sr.) and Thomas McKinney. All were indicated in the granting clause of the deed to be residents of Buncombe County, North Carolina except William McKinney, Jasper Hopper and Rosannah Ray.
Following the description of the 250 acres is recited "the seven and one tenth shares of the aforesaid land (viz) Joseph McKinney, William McKinney, Rosannah Ray, Caroline Roberts (deceased), Henry McKinney. Sr., and one-half of Thomas McKinney's and one-half of Florah Anderson's and all of Charles McKinney's and Jasper Hopper's part and Levincey Williams's part and C. M. Roberts part which fell to them by heirship from Charles McKinney deceased".
According to a North Carolina descendant of Joseph McKinney, Charles McKinney was married to Rachel Inman McKinney. This fact has not been proved, but has been passed down as a part of the oral tradition of the family which was from a brother of William McKinney. The 1851 deed accounts with some speculation for the following children of Charles McKinney and Rachel Inman McKinney:
(1) Joseph McKinney, born September 20, 1801. He is listed on the 1840 Buncombe County Census as up to 40 years of age with a wife, three sons and four daughters. On the 1850 Buncombe County Census he is listed as a farmer age 48, married to his wife, Lydia, age 39 with ten children two of whom were named Charles McKinney and Flora McKinney. His wife was Lydia Bell, according to the tradition of his descendants.
(2) William McKinney, born 1799 and married Margaret Anderson.
(3) Henry McKinney. Born in 1805 and married Elizabeth (Betty) Anderson as his first wife and Lydia Anderson as his second wife. At age 45 he is listed on the 1850 Buncombe County Census with a wife, named Lydia, age 36 with five children from one to 17 years of age.
(4) Thomas McKinney. No information is available about this man, but he could have been the same Thomas McKinney who owned land near William McKinney in Rabun County as evidenced by the above mentioned 1837 deed.
(5) John McKinney. He is listed on the Buncombe County 1850 Census at page 235. He was born in 1812 and married Avaline Greenwood.
(6) Rosannah Ray. Born about 1799 and married the Rev. Jesse Ray.
(7) Caroline McKinney Roberts. Born September 17, 1807 and married Pierce Roberts.
(8) Florah (Flora) McKinney Anderson. Born 1800-1810 and married John Anderson.
(9) unknown Hopper, the wife of Samuel Hopper and mother of Jasper Hopper of Rabun County.
What happened to the other three sons for Charles McKinney listed on the 1820 and 1830 Censuses and why there may be more daughters than is shown on the censuses is unknown. Who Levincy Williams mentioned in the 1851 deed was is unknown. She could be another child of Charles McKinney.
Fifty two years later a legal obstacle to recording this deed was presented. This obstacle was that the witnesses were no longer alive to appear before a notary to declare the deed as having been executed by the named grantors. On October 27, 1903, G. W. Whitte and George V. Cole appeared before the Clerk of the Superior Court of Buncombe County who on oath stated that they were familiar with the signatures of the witnesses, M. Greenwood and Robert H. McKinney, both then deceased in order that this deed could be lawfully recorded in Buncombe County.
Jasper Hopper of Rabun County was the son of Samuel Hopper an early settler on Betty's Creek in Rabun County almost into North Carolina. Ritchie, page 192. The Charles McKinney estate settlement deed proves that his mother was a McKinney and a sister of William McKinney. On the 1850 Rabun County Census Jasper Hopper was listed as a 30 year old farmer born in Tennessee married to Ruth J. Hopper, age 30 born in North Carolina. Jasper Hopper's wife, Ruth, was a daughter of Obediah Terry Dickerson. Ritchie, page 192. Jasper Hopper served in 1838 in the Florida War against the Seminole Indians. Ritchie, page 187. He bought in his father's property in Rabun County in a 1843 Sheriff sale in the case of Pleasant Watts vs. Samuel Hopper in Deed Book C, Page 209 in which the property was described as the"two lots in the 2nd District were Samuel Hopper now lives" with no lots numbers indicated. This property was on Betty's Creek further west than the William McKinney property.
A noticeable fact in the genealogy of the children of Charles and Rachel Inman McKinney is that three of their children married Andersons, who were William who married Margaret Anderson, Flora who married John Anderson and Henry who married an Anderson, with Elizabeth Anderson as his first wife and Lydia Anderson as his second wife.
The John Anderson who married Flora McKinney, a daughter of Charles and Rachel Inman McKinney also lived at least for awhile in Rabun County, Georgia. John Anderson is shown on the 1830 Census of Rabun County as up to age 40 with a wife up to age 30 with another male in the household up to age 30 with one son up to age 10 and five daughters under ten years of age.
Why did Margaret Anderson McKinney name her first born son George Washington Anderson McKinney? We do not know, but we can speculate.
Let us first briefly look at a few other Andersons in Buncombe County, North Carolina. According to Albert Stevens McLean, James Anderson of Scotch ancestry who was born in Northern Ireland about 1740 emigrated to the United States before the Revolutionary War in which he served with the Virginians. He was married to Lydia (Pattie) Mallett Anderson. In 1782 he and his family were in New Jersey, but two years later were living in Delaware. By 1790 James Anderson had moved to Surry County, North Carolina where he is listed on the 1790 Census with nine males and three females. James Anderson came into Buncombe County (in a part now Madison County) in 1795 and settled on the Paint Fork of the Little Ivy River.
James Anderson is said to be one of the first Methodists to settle west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and accumulated 700 acres of land on which he was a farmer and stock raiser. His one and one-half story log home was constructed with gun slots cut through logs to withstand attacks from the Cherokee Indians still then in Buncombe County. His date of death is estimated as between 1810 and 1814.
One of the "known children" of James Anderson and Lydia Mallett Anderson, according to Albert Stevens McLean, was George Washington Anderson who "moved away after 1817". Is he the father of Margaret Anderson McKinney?
Another was Robert Anderson (colonel in the State Militia, member of the House of Representatives from Buncombe County in 1821 who sold his properties on the Big and Little Ivy Rivers and moved to Tennessee). Another was James Anderson, Jr. (whose will dated April 6, 1834 is probated in Yancey County, North Carolina) and Nathan Anderson (justice of the peace who died after 1870 in Madison County, North Carolina). McLean, sections 211 and 211A.
The Dillards always jump back into the picture. Married to William Mallett Anderson, another son of James Anderson (born March 1, 1784) of the Little Ivy River section overlooking Barnardsville, North Carolina was Martha Elkins, a daughter of Gabriel and Stacy Dillard Elkins (a daughter of Colonel Thomas Dillard, Jr. and Martha Webb Dillard of Washington County, North Carolina later Tennessee). William Mallett Anderson inherited and resided on his father's farm in Buncombe County. He purchased the lands of his brother, George Washington Anderson, on the Big Ivy River. McLean, Section 211 and 212.
The relationships in Buncombe and Rabun counties between the Dillards, McKinneys, Andersons, Hoppers, and Dickinsons, like the relationship between the Dillards, Loves, and Elkins in Washington and Buncombe Counties, form an endless circle.
No record has been found substantiating who were the children of George Washington Anderson or where he went after 1817. Several early George Washington Andersons appear in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. All were living about the same time as disclosed by the 1820 and subsequent censuses. Looking for the answer to this one must wait for another day.
C:\WPDOCS\Dillard.His\McKinneys. Post Office Box 91, Greenville, South Carolina, 29602. (803) 271-8610. Revised through October 23, 1995. Endnotes with sources of research and additional information will be furnished upon request.
Mrs. Jewel Eller, Manager of the Rabun County Public Library, was one of the speakers at the Fourth Annual Dillard History Session of the Dillard Family Reunion on June 10, 1995. Mrs. Eller was invited to speak because of the establishment of the Dillard Family Association Library Project in the Rabun County Public Library. Mrs. Eller's remarks are summarized herein.
The Rabun County Public Library, supported by tax revenues and gifts from the public and a part of the Georgia regional library system, attempts to provide a full scope of library services to Rabun County residents and visitors. This includes books, periodicals, newspapers, videotapes, audio recordings, vertical file materials, audio visual equipment and computers for in-library use.
Plans for an expansion of the library are to be implemented in 1996. The expansion includes additional space and materials for the genealogy department of the library. The library now includes materials on Rabun County history and families in addition to basic research materials.
Mrs. Eller extended appreciation to Dorothy Dillard Hughes, Dillard genealogist of Lubbock, Texas, for her contributions of genealogical software and her work product of many years of thousands of Dillards imputed into this software for use by the public. She was also appreciative of the Dillard Family Association in providing through foundation funds and private gifts a computer and printer in order that additional genealogical materials could be housed and used. Dillard materials furnished by others, including past issues of the Dillard Annual and Dillard Doorways, are in the library.
Mrs. Eller indicated that the Library was proud of its genealogical collection and looks forward to its expansion and growth. Hard copies of materials for those who do not use the computer are available for the cost of the copies. More information about the contents of the Rabun County Public Library and the Dillard History collection may be addressed to Mrs. Jewel Eller, Manager, or her staff at Post Office Box 330, Clayton, Georgia, 30525.
(Note: Dr. Howard V. Jones, retired history professor of Cedar Falls, Iowa and Dillard genealogist, subsequent to the 1995 Reunion contributed to the Library Project his Dillard work covering many years of research. With the extensive Hughes and Jones contributions in the Library on the computer, which are not collectively available in any other library or publication, the Rabun County Library is probably the most comprehensive source in one place of Dillard family history covering Dillards all over the country researched through this time.)
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in 1790, and six years later, it became part of the new state of Tennessee. It is worth noting that John Sevier was elected governor of Tennessee no less than six times.
narrowly averted. One story has it that Jackson heard of Love's
formidable reputation as a fighting man and conscious of his own inexperience,
withdrew. It is said that later on the two men became friends.
by John M. Dillard
McKinney was William McKinney's brother, and whether or not Joseph Anderson and William D. Anderson were the brothers of Margaret Anderson McKinney.
family in Rabun County on the northern one-third of the James Dillard 1000 acres. Many of these descendants reside in Rabun County today.
with one female between 60 and 70 and with one other male between 20
to 30 years of age. Subsequent censuses do not list Charles McKinney. This places the
death of Charles McKinney between 1840 and 1851.
HISTORY COLLECTION
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E-mail John M. Dillard at:
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Compiled and edited by John M. Dillard.