DILLARD ANNUAL

Copyright © 1998 by the Dillard Family Association.

E-mail John M. Dillard at: dillard@netside.com.

9:00 A.M. Registration, Henry's Playhouse, the Dillard House

10:00 A.M. Eighth Annual Dillard History Session, Henry's Playhouse

Joel T. Skinner, Curator and Executive Director, Confederate Museum, Sons Confederate Veterans, of Greenville, South Carolina

Wayne Pailloz, of Rabun County, Georgia displaying Confederate uniforms and artifacts

Anne M. Dickerson and Odell K. Hamby of Rabun County Historical Society presenting local biographical sketches of descendants of Revolutionary John Dillard and related kin who served in the Civil War

1:00 P.M. Fellowship and lunch on your own

2:00 P.M. Encampment by Georgia and South Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans Reenactors on grounds of next door City Hall from Friday night through Saturday

5:00 P.M. Business Meeting, Dillard Family Association. Election of 1998-99 Officers after report of Malcolm Dillard, Chairman, Nominating Committee

6:30 P.M. Reunion Dinner with Bluegrass band and square dance.

9:00 P.M. Fellowship and Adjournment

The 1998 Dillard Reunion has been moved one week from the usual second weekend in June to June 20 in order that the Dillard City Hall grounds would be available for the encampment of the Confederate Reenactors, who will join us at the Saturday night reunion dinner and square dance. Please make room reservations on your own. We recommend early reservations. Please complete the registration form on the last page and mail it back to our secretary treasurer with you annual dues to let us know you are coming for our planning purposes. Tickets for the Saturday night Dinner and Square Dance may be purchased at the Dillard House desk after you arrive.

Hiking, swimming, riding, golf, fishing and numerous scenic attractions are available at our meeting place and in the Dillard, Georgia, area.

If you have a Dillard ancestor who served in the Civil War, or artifacts or records of that period, please contact us in order that we may obtain the details to share these with others at the 1998 Reunion History Session.

For those who stay over Saturday night, arrangements may be made for those who are present connected with the reunion to sit together in the Dillard House for Sunday lunch.

The annual meeting of the Dillard Family Association was held at Henry's Playhouse at the Dillard House, Dillard, Georgia, on Sunday, June 15, 1997, at 2:00 o'clock p.m. immediately following the Sunday luncheon.

B. Malcolm Dillard served as Chairman of the meeting and John M. Dillard, in the

RESOLVED, that the Dillard Family Association extend appreciation to John Dillard, Jr. and John Dillard, Sr., and the staff of The Dillard House for hospitality and excellent food extended to us during the 1997 Reunion.

WHEREAS, Rachel Dillard Scott has unselfishly and loyally served with distinction as Secretary/Treasurer of the Dillard Family Association since its inception, and was instrumental in its founding and organization, for whose may long house we are the beneficiaries, and is unable to attend because of bypass surgery from which she is recuperating well.

RESOLVED, that the Dillard Family Association extends its appreciation to Rachel Dillard Scott for her loyal work as Secretary/Treasurer of this Association, and further extends its best wishes for her speedy and complete recovery from her recent surgery in order that she can serve as Secretary/ Treasurer for many more years.

WHEREAS, Jim Dillard, of Dillard, Georgia, who meant so much to so many people in so many different ways, who was a developer, produce and resort expert, and historian, and who lived life to the fullest every minute until the time of his recent death in his eighties, was a strong supporter of the Dillard Family Association, its objectives and values, and without whose support the Association would never have succeeded, and whose death is a great loss to the members of this Association.

RESOLVED, that the Dillard Family Association express gratitude, appreciation and thanksgiving for the life of Jim Dillard of Dillard, Georgia and extend sympathy to his wife, nieces and nephews for their great loss.

The report of the Treasurer, Rachel Dillard Scott, was given by John M. Dillard in her absence. Counting funds which had been received for registration fees and memberships, after payment of all expenses, its was reported that the cash of the Association was approximately $600.00.

Following discussion that the Dillard Annual was more expensive in 1997 than in previous years the following Resolution was enacted:

RESOLVED, that the dues of the Dillard Family Association be changed in 1998 to the sum of $15.00 per family unit.

It was reported that 54 persons attended the Seventh Annual Dillard Family History Session and 58 persons were in attendance at the Saturday night dinner.

Officers elected for 1997-1998 were John M. Dillard, President, Edward B. Singleton, Vice-President, and Rachel Dillard Scott, Secretary-Treasurer. The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

The following are the speeches of the 1997 Dillard Reunion speakers, who were Dorothy Dillard Hughes, Hugh S. Johnson, John T. Dillard and Almeda Hutchins Burns:

I can't think of a more delightful spot than Dillard, Ga. today. I'm honored to be a part of this family reunion.

I would like to share a little background on the events leading up to my presence here today. During the past couple of years, I have had occasion to sell some timber. To accomplish those sales to my best advantage, I called upon Barnard Malcolm Dillard (who we fondly call "Chick") to help me. He and Mrs. Dillard were residing in my hometown of Fairburn at the time, and Chick is known as the best professional timber man anywhere. During the course of our business relationship, I probably bored Chick to tears with stories about my family in their early days in Alabama. I also told him that in doing some genealogical research certain Dillard names kept cropping up.

When Chick asked me to come up here to share some of this information with you, I replied that everyone here would have vastly more knowledge about the Dillards than I have. Chick replied, "yes, that's true, but come on up anyway." I believe he invited me because he just likes to hear a flatland version of history occasionally. Anyway, here goes.

I have focused upon happenings in early Alabama because that's where both my maternal and paternal ancestors wound up. I have also found that some Dillards were also key players in this early Alabama scenario.

The first territory in Alabama was acquired about 1814 following the Creek Indian Wars at which time the military strength of the Creek Nation was broken by United States troops under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Talapoosa River in Talapoosa County, Alabama. The Federal Government maintains a military park at this site today.

Immigration into Alabama started soon after the Creek Indian War, and the Dillard family was apparently represented in Alabama very early by a female member. The Rev. George E. Brewer, in his 1832 History of Coosa County, Alabama, which I found in

"Among the earliest settlers of Coosa County, one of its public spirited men was Capt. Reuben Jordan. If not himself born in Virginia, his family were Virginians claiming descent from Pocahontas, the Princess of the Powhatans, the savior of Capt. John Smith.

In 1818 Reuben moved from South Carolina to Montgomery County below Wetumpka bringing his wife, a Miss Dillard with the children, the Negroes and a good many Negroes of his uncle Elmore Jordan for whom he was to make a crop preparatory to the future coming of his uncle to Alabama.

By his first wife, Miss Dillard, he had five children: John A., James A., Lucinda P., Mary E., and Pocahontas. John A. Became a prominent physician in Alabama and moved to Texas before the Civil War where he added to his medical reputation. He left a son and two daughters."

One year after the Jordans moved to the state, Alabama became a part of the Union but its geographic configuration was nothing like it is today since most of the Eastern part of Alabama was still in the possession of the Creek Indians.

In 1832 at Cusseta (now in Chambers County directly west of West Point, Georgia) negotiations were entered into with the Creeks to cede to the United States all of their land East of the Mississippi River in exchange for land in present day Oklahoma.

Time does not permit me to go into all of the fighting and treachery which took place on both sides leading up to this point. Suffice it to say that the native American naturalistic way of life was doomed from the outset when it was confronted and finally engulfed by the structured economy and technology of the European immigrants to these shores.

The final act leading to the removal of the Creek Indians to the West was accomplished in 1832 by their chiefs at Washington in the presence of the following Georgians and Alabamians: William R. King, C.C. Clay, John Tipton, William Wilkins, Samuel Bell, John Crowell, and John Hunt Broadnax. A daughter of John H. Broadnax, Rebecca, is my Great, great, great grandmother.

This Washington Treaty of 1832 gave to Alabama all of that part embraced in the counties of Coosa, Talladega, Calhoun, Etowah, Cleburne, Tallapoosa, Randolph, Chambers, Lee, Russell, Barbour, Bullock, Macon, and Clay. This was a new Alabama with its present geographic configuration.

After the final Treaty of Removal in 1832 the Federal Government provided for a survey of all of the newly acquired Alabama lands dividing the lands into townships and ranges. Each township and range has 36 sections. Each section is one mile square.

Under this treaty, each Indian head of household was granted by the Federal Government about 300 acres which they were free to sell. The land not granted to the Indians was sold at public auction at the land office in the district in which the lands were located, with the notable exception of special military reserves set aside for military land bounties and salt works given to the State. All public land acquired under the Treaty of 1832 was sold at public auction.

Ruth Royal Crump the present historian of Chambers County, Alabama has diligently copied every original land sales transaction which took place in Chambers County. She has published these transactions in a book entitled, The Original Tract Book for Chambers County.

This book lists the following transactions involving persons named Dillard:

In Township 21, Range 25, Sections 29 and 35, George W. Dillard purchased at auction in 1836 478 acres and in the same year Samuel Morrell and Lorenzo D. Dillard purchased 40 Acres.

In Township 22, Range 25, Sections 28, 31, and 33, Lorenzo D. Dillard and a person known variously as Samuel Morrell and Lemuel Morrell purchased together 238 acres in 1838.

Additionally, Lorenzo D. Dillard was awarded a grant of 39.66 1/2 acres from the Federal Government for his service as a private soldier in Capt. Young's Company of Alabama Volunteers in the Florida War against the Seminoles. This was in 1852.

In 1840 George W. Dillard purchased from E-Far-Emarthle or E-Molly (a Creek Chief) 320 acres.

Nathaniel Dillard in December of 1834 purchased 160 acres in Township 23 North; Range 26 East, Section 23. This makes him one of the earliest purchasers.

I was interested to find that adjoining the land of Nathaniel, Robert, James S., John, Jabez, and William Johnson purchased altogether about 1000 acres between 1834 and 1839. James S. Johnson Was my great, great grandfather. The lands of Nathaniel Dillard and the Johnsons was situated around Macedonia Baptist Church about four miles North of Lafayette, Alabama. I recently visited this community. The church is still active and it's still beautiful land.

When the Johnsons and the Dillards purchased this land the Indians were still present. In 1836 there was an Indian uprising.

Governor George R. Gilmer, who was Governor of Georgia during this era in his book entitled Some Sketches of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia published in 1855, describes

"In 1836 I left home in Lexington, Oglethorpe County for Alabama. During my absence I was nominated by the States-Rights Party as a candidate for elector of the President and Vice President of the United States. As we traveled from Columbus, Georgia toward Montgomery through the Creek Indians we found them in the greatest excitement on account of the near approach of the time for their removal from the country they occupied to the territories provided for them beyond the Mississippi and also by the great frauds practiced by the whites in purchasing the reservations secured to them by the terms of the Treaty between the Government and the Tribe. They were ready for murder and preparing for war. We found them drinking and carousing at every stage coach station on the road. A few miles beyond the village of Tuskegee we passed late in the evening three Indian males standing by the side of the road in a deep hollow and near a swamp with rifles in their hands. I saw from their look that the devil was in them. I requested my wife not to look back or show any concern, then we drove as fast as possible. That night a family of white people living close by were murdered by the Indians. Another group of travelers by stage out of Montgomery were fired upon. They cut the horses from the stages and fled on their bare backs. The Indians burnt the stages and the baggage they did not want."

If it sounds like the wild west - it was!

Moving forward in time, my great, great grandfather, James S. Johnson, didn't remain in Alabama very long before selling out and moving to Texas. Quite a few settlers in Chambers County did likewise about this time. In addition to the Indian uprising in 1836, farm prices crashed in 1837.

But things began to improve. Governor Gilmer writes about the lure of Texas in his book. He writes:

"one of my Georgia relatives couldn't resist the temptations of the rich lands in Alabama where he acquired a large tract of land of the greatest fertility, and made money beyond example. His land increased in value until he was offered $10 an acre for it. He heard that land of equal value and production could be purchased in Texas for $.25 per acre. He left his home and family to search for land in Texas then inhabited by Spaniards and Indians and was the receptacle of all sorts of robbers and cutthroats. This money madness was so contagious in Alabama that I overheard my carriage driver offering to bet another driver $40,000."

James A. Michener writes further about this Texas mania in his book The Eagle and the Raven. He writes: "Davy Crockett a Tennessee Whig, after serving three terms in the National Congress refused to kowtow to the dictates of his fellow Tennessean President Andrew Jackson a Democrat. His fiery independence cost him his seat in Congress. Upon returning home he told the voters "You may all go to hell, I'm going to Texas." And like

Crockett was killed along with 185 others (mostly from the southern states) in the Alamo. This happened in 1836.

My great, great grandfather, James S. Johnson, and his wife Elizabeth Ann and Thomas Johnson didn't remain long in Texas. While fighting with the armed forces of the Republic of Texas, he was seriously injured. With their two sons, Joseph Jerimiah and Thomas Layfayette, they returned to Coosa County Alabama and settled near my grandmother's people who by this time were operating a rather large slave generated cotton operation in Coosa County, near a community named Equality.

Moving quite a bit further ahead in time to the War between the Union and the Confederacy, my great grandfather, Joseph Jerimiah, was 22 years old. In 1862 he enlisted in the 53rd Alabama Partisan Rangers, a cavalry unit of the Confederate Army. He served until wounded and captured in November of 1864 near Sandersville, Georgia where General Joseph Wheeler and his meager cavalry forces were pitted against Sherman's 160,000 plus army marching to the sea. My great grandfather spent the last year of the war in the notorious camp for Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout, Maryland. He survived and returned to Alabama.

During the war and after the war my great grandfather cherished the friendship of three boys who served with him in the 53rd Alabama. They were: Louis Allen, Jim Davidson, and Henry Dillard. This information was supplied to me by my great aunt.

I have tried to get more information about them from the Confederate military files of the Alabama Department of Archives but have so far been unsuccessful since the muster rolls for the 53rd Alabama are missing.

The story goes that Louis Allen was mortally wounded at the Battle of Brices' Cross Road in northern Mississippi. Before dying he made my great grandfather promise that he would name his first son for him. Well, his first son was a daughter and they named her Lou Allen Johnson. I am told also that he remained in contact with Davidson and Henry Dillard throughout his life. If anyone can shed any further light on Henry Dillard, I wish you would.

In summary and in closing, the journeys of our families are amazingly parallel. I take great pride in knowing that families like ours have made a substantial contribution toward making this the great country that it is.

I would certainly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the Dillards I have mentioned this morning. If you can help me, please do. I greatly appreciate this opportunity to meet each one of you and share in this great reunion.

My talk this morning deals with the descendants of William Dillard who came west by way of Kentucky. We do not know much about William, who died at the Battle of Eutah Springs in 1781. I will conclude this talk with a summation of current work being done on him and his wife, Mary Norman Dillard. I would like also to acknowledge some Dillard researchers who have done the bulk of work that makes this talk possible. Lucile Johnson, Howard Jones, Irene Fulton and Dorothy Dillard Hughes have contributed a lot of material which deals with William. My father, John H. Dillard did the work that resulted in his book, William Dillard Who Was Killed in the Revolutionary War, His Parents, Their Family, His Family and Some Descendants. Without his work, this talk would not be possible.

I would like to make a correction to his book as to who were the parents of William of Eutah and James of Laurens. My father and other researchers had placed them as sons of George Dillard of Muddy Run in Culpeper County. This was done despite the heirs of William not being mentioned in George's will of 1790. This past year Lucille Johnson turned up some information indicating that there were indeed two James Dillard in that generation and it became highly unlikely that James of Laurens could have been a son of George of Muddy Run. Dorothy Dillard Hughes believes these two may have been sons of John Dillard of Broomfield Parish on the Hazel Fork of the Rappahannock.

I will comment here on the features of Culpeper County. The Rappahannock and the Rapidan Rivers form most of the boundaries of Culpeper County as well as define many of its interior features. Mountain Run raises in central Culpeper County and flows east to the Rappahannock. Muddy Run heads a bit further north and flows east into the Little Fork of the Rappahannock. The Little Fork bisects the northern third of the county east to west. Where the Little Fork branches in northwestern Culpeper County, the northern branch becomes the Gourdvine or Thornton's River. The southern branch is the Hazel River from which splits the Hughes River. The Hughes River is part of the county line between Culpeper and Rappahannock Counties. I find it convenient for myself to refer to these various Dillards by where I know them to have had property in the county.

To continue, then, with the point of this talk, I will return to William and Mary Norman Dillard. Their children were as follows: William, Jr. (1771-1829), John (1772-1833), Mary Wharton called Molly (1774- 183?), George (1775-1840), Sarah Lansdown called Sally (1776- 1818) James, my ancestor, (1777-1852), Nancy Norman (1778-1830) and Elizabeth Baldwin called Betsey (1781-1830). I am listing their probable birth dates as reference for the current John T. Dillard work I will discuss a bit later in the talk. The three older boys went to South Carolina with their Uncle James of Laurens and spent their lives there.

James went to Kentucky about 1810 with his in laws, the Robert English family. James has been credited with having up to three wives but it is my feeling that he only had two. The first was a widow, Jane English Edrington. The second wife was Cynthia Ann Haywood, who was reputed to be part Indian.

James and his first wife had at least seven children before she died. Their children were Nancy Matthis, John, Sarah Raine, Mahalda Love, Jane Allen, Mary Raine and Matilda Moore. I will point out here that where I can I refer to daughters by their married name. Another trick that makes it easier for me to keep relatives straight is to follow in laws. I can find no clear date of when Jane Dillard died but it was after they came to Kentucky in that at least two of their children were born there. I think we can assume she died in either 1812 or 1813, most probably 1813.

James then married Cynthia Ann Haywood, daughter of John Haywood. We believe Cynthia's mother's name may have been Rachel but we have no proof for that. Cynthia was probably born about 1800. She and James were married in August, 1814. They had nine children between 1814 and 1839. Their children were James Madison, William, Rachel Kendall, my ancestor Samuel, George Washington, Thomas, Mariah Brown, Martha Kendall, and Daniel Hayden. James died in 1852 and is buried on the family farm near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Cynthia died in 1872 and is buried in the same private cemetery.

Over the years the children of the two marriages went their own separate ways. Several did go west. Phillip and Joseph Raine who were probably brothers who married Sarah and Mary from the first family which went into Northern Missouri. Samuel followed them buying property from a Raine on Bear Creek in the Fairmont District of Clark County, Missouri.

Two of Sam's brothers also went west. Thomas and Daniel H. went to California and then back to Nevada which was in a boom in 1860. Thomas spent the rest of his life in the Virginia City and Wadsworth area. D. H. took up land in Churchill County and became a successful rancher. His property is now part of the Naval Air Station at Fallon. Both brothers are buried at the Wadsworth cemetery. Wadsworth was a major Nevada city from the late 1860's until after the turn of the century when the Southern Pacific moved its roundhouse and yard operation to Sparks. Today it is just a small ghost town.

Both D. H. and Thomas had children who moved on to California around the turn of the century. Thomas had at least ten children. My father visited with one of Thomas's sons in Salinas, California in the 1960's. D. H. had six children. Here, again, contact has been lost over the years.

Samuel married Mary Robinson in 1846. They moved to Northern Missouri in the early 1850's, probably 1854 judging by where their children were born. They had ten children. They were Maria E. Tull called Lizzie (1847-1916), Sarah Anderson called Sadie (1850-?), Mary Francis Fifer (1853-1881), Nancy (1855-1856), Cynthia Ellen Dillard (1856-

Sam died in early 1865 as the result of smallpox. He had been wounded and left for dead by a Union militia group operating in Clark County in late summer of 1864. He was an invalid for the rest of his life. He and a daughter died of smallpox. Family tradition is that the neighbors dug the graves on the farm and built the caskets but the family had to place the bodies in the caskets, take them to the grave sites and bury them. That was how strong the fear of smallpox was in those days. The other children who died in their youth are buried at the Bear Creek Baptist Church about two miles from the farm.

Another related family which came into Missouri with Samuel was Mary's sisters family, the Herbeths. They took land on the Fabius River bottom about two miles away from Sam and in Knox County. I would like to call attention to Cynthia Ellen Dillard. She married a cousin, John Wilson, who was a son of James Madison Dillard. She was the only one of my grandfather's immediate family that my father knew as they lived close to them in southern Missouri when my father was a boy.

Maria married Joseph Tull. Tull, his brother Ed, and a son in law, Jim Owen, moved west in the late 1870s. They went first to northern California at or near the mining camp of Oro Fino. Oro Fino was west of Yreka in the Scott River Valley. My wife and I went to it a few years back. You can not tell there was a mining camp there. It is now a mountain meadow sprinkled with Ponderosa pines. They moved on to near Bly, Oregon on the Klamath-Lake County line. They took homesteads on the headwaters of Sprague River near the foot of Quartz Mountain.

Maria and her husband as well as some of their children are buried in the cemetery at Lakeview, Oregon. Their daughter Mary Eugenia called Jenny married Jim Owen. Daughter Nora L married Fred McKendree. Jenny and Jim Owen had four children, two boys and two girls. The girls married ranchers and the boys went to logging.

Fred and Nora had no children and are buried at Grant's Pass, Oregon.

John Morgan and a cousin George Herbeths came west to Nevada in 1885. George stayed in Nevada to become a successful store owner. He died in Reno in 1938.

John Morgan came on to Oregon where his sister was. He homesteaded south of Bly along the Barnes Valley Creek. This is in high country, nearly all of it being about 5000 feet in elevation. His 160 acre homestead was stacked, one 40 atop another following the creek meadow. He was about thirteen miles airline from his sister.

Sam's widow, Mary came west about 1890 and took a homestead on the back side of the Middle Fishhole meadow. This put her eight miles from her daughter and five from her son. These are airline miles. Road miles tend to be a bit further. Mary returned east and died in Kentucky in 1901 at the home of her daughter, Cynthia near Rineyville.

John Morgan stayed in Klamath County and purchased more land along Barnes Creek from a fellow rancher known as Horsefly Miller. This land was a bit lower than his homestead but not much. We have records of him making pine butter buckets that were used to store and transport butter to the market.

John Morgan married Minnie Belle Bussey in 1898. Her family had come to the Lorrella area of Klamath County in the early 1880's. Her father, Henry Garland Bussey, was born at Zebulon, Georgia about 1850 and went west to the Red River Valley of Texas where he married A. C. Dayton Haynes. They decided that section of Texas had too many diseases and was in a poor climate to raise a family. They came west to near Portland, Oregon. They decided that land had too many stumps to either dig out of the ground or farm around. Klamath County was found to be more to their liking.

John and Minnie had six children. All except the two youngest were born on the Horsefly property. Their children are Oren Bussey(1900-1931), Florence Alice Ogle (1902-1956), Eva Grace Bowman (1903-1988), Zena May Barks (1904-1986), John Henry (1908) and Uel Sterling (1910-1973). They left Oregon and moved to near Mountain Grove, Missouri in 1907. John Morgan died there in 1918 of the effects of diabetes and measles.

In 1919, Minnie brought her family back to Klamath County where her family was. Her son, Oren, died as a young man in 1931. The other five married and raised families. My generation has thirteen cousins, all still living. We have a total of 31 children, 29 of which are alive. I did a rough count on grandchildren and came up with about twenty-one. I do not believe that there are any great grandchildren as of yet. Minnie Bussey Dillard died in 1963 and is buried beside her son, Oren, at the Merrill IOOF Cemetery.

I would like to close this talk by returning to William and Mary Norman Dillard and give a quick brush over on research in progress. We have some puzzles there. Mary, widow of William, received a pension for his service from 1792 until her death about 1815. She died in possession of 300 acres which her children sold. That sale was completed in 1818. The Culpeper county government obviously recognized her claim to the property when they assisted the heirs in making the property ready for sale and then allowed the heirs to sell it.

The heirs of Mary's brother James sued the owners of the property in 1830 claiming that it should have gone to their father as the oldest son of Joseph Norman. The court did not find in their favor. But, the depositions raise some questions.

Molly Wharton, the oldest daughter, stated that she was about sixty-five years of age.

She further deposed that Joseph Norman had given William and Mary that property when they got married. Molly's statement that her age was sixty-five means she would have been born when William was twelve years old by the records we have on him. Norman family records show that James Norman was born in 1732 and died in 1828. A lifetime of ninety-six years. Possible, but not probable. We need to do a lot of study on the family of Joseph Norman. What I have seen indicates that he had children by two wives over a forty year span. Again, possible but not probable.

We have a good many questions to ask about the ages of William and Mary Dillard. If we assume that Mary and William are close in age and that both were born about 1752, the Norman family has a gap between her and her brother, James, of about twenty years. If Molly's stated age is correct, then Mary and William must have been born in the 1740s. Perhaps there is census information out there which can help us.

The three hundred acres. Joseph Norman owned 238 acres near Hickman's Mountain in Broomfield Parish which we can prove he owned. He willed his grandson, Issac, 100 acres of it. What happened to the other 138 acres? John Dillard, who may have been the father of William and James, owned 466 acres in Broomfield Parish. There are 326 acres of that property that can not be accounted for. There is a strong probability that John, his daughter, Elizabeth Strother, and his son in law, Robert Strother, sold out and left Culpeper County about 1794. Lucile Johnson thinks they may have gone to Kentucky near where James Dillard landed later. Certainly, the Dillard-Strother connection needs further investigation.

When we total the land involved in the 1830 suit, it comes to 340 acres. It is obvious that there still needs to be more research done to find where Mary Dillard's property came from. Did Joseph own more than 238 acres there? Did the property come from John Dillard? Or did the property come from both Dillard and Norman? I don't know. Only this past spring have I been able to start placing Dillard property in old Culpeper County with any level of comfort. I am hopeful that more research on property records in Culpeper and Rappahannock Counties may answer some of these questions. I have been able to place Broomfield Church which narrowed the area which Broomfield Parish covered. The Parish went out of existence in 1801 but I got very lucky in the courthouse and driving around the county. It was on property that John Dillard and Robert Strother were involved with and is in present Rappahannock County. I am of the opinion that I will find Hickman's Mountain is also in Rappahannock. Perhaps by this time next year I can locate some answers to some of these questions.

June 19, 1997: This is a little follow up to my talk at the reunion. First, thanks to Irene Fulton and Lucile Johnson for making available the following extracts from Hope A. Hilton's Edwin and Elander Hickman, Some Progenitors and Descendants, Early Pioneers of Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri and Utah, third edition, August 1978, publisher unknown, which reads at pages 31 and 32:

"In September 1967 when I visited in Rappahannock County, I was told where 'Hickman Run' was located. (see map at end of chapter). 'Hickerson Mountain' also on the map was formerly 'Hickman Mountain'. I drove 1 1/2 miles north of Flint Hill, Virginia where the road intersects 'Hickman Run', a small stream of clear water 3 - 6 feet across."

At page 39 it is stated: "In the 1770's this mountain was called 'Hickman Mountain'. When the name `Hickerson' was substituted is unknown."

Second, thanks to Dorothy Dillard Hughes for the wonderful map of "Old Culpeper County" which she has put together. "Old Culpeper" contained all of today's Culpeper, Madison and Rappahannock Counties. Madison was split off in 1800 and Rappahannock was formed in 1833. So in the time frame we are dealing with all three existing counties were together.

When Lucile sent me the excerpts from the Hilton book, I went to a Virginia road map and located Flint Hill. It is well inside modern Rappahannock County. Another lead for me to work with in pinpointing Hickman Mountain. At the reunion Dorothy illustrated her talk with the map she had assembled from Virginia County road maps that are put out by the state Department of Transportation.

After her talk, I went froward and examined the map. There was Flint Hill. There was Hickerson Mountain and just above it was Hickman Run. This is not positive proof of where my ancestors may have had property in Old Culpeper but I believe it is a giant step forward. I am hopeful that by next reunion that Hickman's Mountain will be proved by land records.

Again, thanks are due Irene Fulton, Lucile Johnson and Dorothy Dillard Hughes for this advice.

When this project was started, my intention was to pay tribute to and honor my great aunt, Margaret Rosette Wikle, for her unselfish dedication of her life and resources to bringing up my mother, Rose Mary Dillard Hutchins, and her sister, Almeda Dillard Hood, from infancy. She also provided a shelter in a time of storm for Barham and Joe Dillard in their pre-teen years. While not uncommon for the Dillards to generously take orphaned family members into their homes, I am sure that very few situations resulted in such caring and loving lifetime relationships.

With the encouragement and assistance of John M. Dillard, I started to gather bits and

My bits and pieces do not always fit together well. My sketch has become, like a patchwork quilt, more a collection of scraps of this and that which I hope will be of interest.

Margaret Rosette Dillard Wikle, my great aunt, was the second child of John Barnard and Rachel McKinney Dillard. She was born April 18, 1854. We know very little about her as a young girl growing up in Rabun County during the Civil War years, but we can be certain that she and her older sister, Sallie, were kept busy helping with household tasks, and caring for eight more brothers and sisters who arrived regularly every two years afterwards.

Zette, as she was affectionately called, must have grown up to be a very attractive young lady. She caught the eye of George W.C. Wikle, a bachelor 24 years older than she, who returned to North Georgia around 1870 after seeking his fortune in the California gold rush. Their wedding picture shows a very tall older man and a petite girl in a fancy hat who looks young enough to be his daughter.

There are many tantalizing clues about the life of G.W.C. Wikle that will be fun to explore at a later date. Among them are a deed to a California gold mine bought for $50.00 in 1865; an autographed copy of the memoirs of George W. Williams of Nacoochee Valley and Charleston published in 1871, a handwritten summons to appear in court in Atlanta to answer federal charges that the taxes of $428.40 had not been paid on products in a distillery owned by William Alley, George Wikle and Leander Beavert in 1875 and a deed to a farm near Sautee. Life with G.W.C Wikle would definitely not have been dull for Zette, no matter how old he was. They were married.

Evidence that the couple lived in Rabun County in 1890 is provided in the obituary of Albert Dillard, son of James. Uncle Albert had attended a Farmers Alliance meeting at the Baptist Church in Rabun County on Sunday morning, went to dinner at the home of G.W.C Wikle, returned to the meeting where in the afternoon, he died. If this makes us wonder about Zette's cooking. We don't have to look far to learn that she was noted for her culinary ability as well as her sewing skills.

Sometime after 1890, the Wikles had moved to a remote farm community near Monroe Church in Nacoochee Valley where they were living in l895.

It was in March of that year that Zette's younger brother, George, wrote a happy letter to the Wikles, which was saved for posterity.

"Rosette, the first thing I have to tell you is this A.M. we had a fine little daughter. She is two weeks old this morning and is just as fat as she can be and has dark eyes and hair," he wrote. "I don't think any of your bros. or sisters have ever honored you with a namesake and now I have decided to give you one".

When the baby, my mother, was six months old George proudly took his wife, Elizabeth Hyberger, called Mollie, and their daughters, to visit his family here in-North Georgia. They traveled in early winter from their home in Timber Ridge, Tennessee. Accounts of travel in those days lead us to believe that the trip was difficult in the best of weather and must have been unbelievably hard when the weather was bad and with two babies.

George found his mother ill, and after they had been there a short time, his father also became ill. Mollie and George pitched in to help with the nursing and Zette also came to assist, as did other family members. John Barnard died Oct. 24, 1895. During this time Mollie became ill with rheumatic fever so it was impossible to go back to Tennessee that winter.

Zette's next letter from George is dated March 1, 1896. His Mollie had just died the day before. "What can I do with my darling children?", he wrote. "Dear sister can't you come to see me at once?" In a P. S. he urgently asks, "Please come to see me, I will go home with you and spend a few days".

G.W.C. Wikle was 66 years old, Rosette was 42. They had no children of their own. Of course they went to the rescue. Meda was 3 years old and Rose just 11 months. Temporary arrangements were made which soon became permanent. George departed for Oklahoma and Rose and Meda were soon called "the little Wikle girls".

It is not hard to imagine the challenges Rosette faced with her new and unplanned family. She and her elderly husband devoted themselves to the task of rearing and educating the children.

Rose Mary Dillard Hutchins, my mother, was the niece named for her Aunt Rosette. In her memoirs, "The Story Of My Life" she tells us of happy times growing up with Aunt Zette and Uncle Wikle on their farm. She remembers Uncle Wikle as an old man with wonderful stories of gold mining, Indian fighting and traveling in the west.

"This period of our lives at the farm home holds many happy memories .... also some sad ones. We lived in a thinly settled, isolated community. But there were beautiful laurel covered hills, brooks to wade in, a fish pond to gaze into, purple mountains to wonder about, trees to climb, and animals to love. The pets we loved most were Dinah, the gentle mule we could ride, the herd of goats that played in the lane in the evenings; the pet kids that chewed on our hair ribbons; Crackus, the Maltese cat; Ring, the hound dog that guarded us; and Him-Fine - Fellow, the chicken that didn't have any feathers for which we made clothes. Our uninterrupted play hour during Aunt Zette's nap after the noon-day meal

"An important chore was the care of the milk and butter which was always plentiful on the farm. The fresh milk was carried to the spring-house where the containers were placed in a trough of cold running water. Part of the sweet milk was for drinking, and part was allowed to sour and clabber for churning After about 30 minutes of patient dashing, the butter came to the top my aunt salted and molded it into round cakes, ready for use.

"Pills, and most medical supplies were very scarce, as well as doctors. About all I can recall, was Aunt Zette making me take a dose of caster oil every Saturday night-whether I needed it or not. As a gesture of hospitality my uncle kept a bottle of Mountain Dew on the mantle in the kitchen. This locally made whiskey was served to all visitors-preachers included!

"The only church in the vicinity was Munroe Methodist Church, several miles distant, where my Uncle and Aunt were members, and where I was baptized. I have a faint recollection of the preacher holding me in his arms. When I was older I enjoyed riding mule-back on a saddle blanket behind Uncle Wikle. Aunt Zette, mounted atop her side-saddle, followed with Meda seated behind her Sometimes we drove to church in the buggy which had a huge umbrella on top, and on important occasions we used the surrey, driving two mules.

"Not all of life was drudgery in those days. There was fun, too. Corn-shucks were important community events. It was customary for any one who found a red ear of corn to kiss the lady or gent of his or her choice. At noon a delicious dinner, which had been prepared by the women was served. When the shucking was completed, there was dancing, solo, and square- no waltzing!

"The women assembled in their homes for quilting parties where they made beautiful quilts. When a member of a family married, a quilt was given as a wedding present. I was the heir to several of these lovely pieces of art which I value highly and still use. Our Aunt and Uncle were determined that we should have all the education they could afford to give us.

"When Meda was seven they took the school teacher to board (his name was Mr. Black) so we didn't have to walk the two and one-half miles to the school house alone. It was a one room then log building with wooden shutters. The school year was five months duration. In winter regular attendance was impossible because of the snow, mud, and cold. We attended this school about two years. There was a better school, at Providence, only three miles distant if one followed a foot path across the mountain. On these long treks my imagination

About this time Presbyterians were establishing a school in Nacoochee Valley, six miles away. Rev. J. T. Wade, a Presbyterian minister, and a Mrs. Blake, wife of a gold mine executive, came to their home looking for prospective students. As a result of their visit, it was decided the girls would be enrolled at Nacoochee Institute. They entered fifth grade the following fall.

Again I quote from my mother's story: "Aunt Zette was an excellent seamstress and dressed us alike and becomingly. She cut up as many of Mama's clothes as were suitable and made them into dresses for us. We wore them proudly, and didn't suffer by comparison with other children. The teachers noticed our clothes and soon inquired if our Aunt would sew for them. This she gladly did, and her earnings as a seamstress were a great help to supplement the farm income which was getting less and less as Uncle Wikle now had to depend on tenants to operate the farm. Her sewing was the means of our having lessons in art and music."

"When Uncle Wikle was no longer physically able to operate the farm, he and Aunt Zette moved to the Valley, too. For several years we lived in cottages near the school. During this time Meda developed into a lovely young lady. On the other hand, I was self-conscious about my appearance and shy, but I made friends easily.

"There followed dark days. Disaster, sickness and death came thick and fast. Meda's marriage to Leonard Hood, her sickness and death when she was only sixteen, Uncle Wikle's failing health, and his death four months later, and the final breakup of our home seemed the end of the world."

Although Rosette was terribly shaken by these sad experiences she accepted the challenge of starting a new life for herself. At about this time the wife of her brother, Dock, also died. Again Zette to the rescue! Barham and Joe Dillard came to live with Zette and Rose The boys were 14 and 11. Rose was 14 and Aunt Zette was 56. There was a small income from the farm, Uncle Dock paid a reasonable amount for the boys board so they had the necessities of life. Close friendships formed between cousins which lasted all their lives. In 1933 just before Aunt Zette's death, my mother wrote a letter about her failing health to Barham. She reminisced "we must have been a handfull for her in those days."

Nacoochee Institute was changing hands with Rev. John Knox Colt as the new President. He persuaded Rosette to go to the new dormitory to live where she would be employed as one of the matrons of the girls. Rosette once again had a house full of young people to love and care for. She lived and worked there until my mother finished tenth grade which was the highest grade taught.

With the assistance of Mr. Colt, my mother entered Georgia Normal and Industrial College in the fall of 1912 to prepare for a teaching career.

Aunt Zette sold her farm and some mountain land, bought a ten room boarding house in Robertstown and launched a new career at 60. She was happy to be in her own home again. She lived there the rest of her life.

Aunt Zette would be uncomfortable if a big fuss were made over her virtues or if she was praised for doing the things that she considered as necessary normal actions. Telling you a few aspects of her life is simply my way of saying - I am very proud to be your great niece. "Thank you for always being there when your family needed you."

It is wonderful to be in Dillard, Georgia, again at this reunion. Dillard House has long been famous for its hospitality and delicious food. It's delightful to see those I've met at previous reunions, and to meet new Dillard descendants, particularly those I've corresponded with but am seeing in person for the first time, and to see my first cousin Dillard Smith. Tom and I have enjoyed his hospitality in Hixson, near Chattanooga, and at his summer home at Highlands. I'm especially happy both my son Tom, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and my daughter, Barbara Buzzell, are here--Barbara for the first time. She is librarian and reading teacher at the elementary school at Sabillasville, Maryland, and lives at Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania--at the northern end of the mountains just west of here. The many snow days made yesterday the last school day in her school.

This Dillard Family Association is an important means of learning and passing on our Dillard history. I know we're all grateful to John Marshall Dillard, Rachel Dillard Scott, Malcolm Dillard, and others who keep it going. John's Dillard Annual and the Rabun County Library in Clayton play important parts in preserving Dillard lore. Dillard research is never easy. Even so, we've made considerable progress in changing the Dillard Family Tree from a weeping willow--with only undocumented and unreliable printed traditions available--to a flourishing, sturdy oak, with actual records collected about several Dillard lines. The tree's not fully grown yet, but developing, with a growing bibliography of preserved material on the Dillard family in America. A brand new book is Carlton Dillard's second volume telling about Fielding Dillard's many descendants. It includes the families connected with Georgia's great Senator Russell, one of the fifteen children of Blandina [Ina] (Dillard) Russell.

My talk today concerns an 81-page book I wrote about the four Culpeper County, Virginia, Dillards, some of their descendants who migrated from there to South Carolina, and another Culpeper Dillard identified in South Carolina after the book was completed. Twelve copies of Dillard Research Notes: Culpeper County, Virginia Dillards and Two Related Families of South Carolina were mailed 16 June 1996 to five descendants of those Dillards, four genealogists I correspond with, my son and daughter, and the Rabun County Library.

Why should the Culpeper Dillards, who are not my line, be my subject? Little did I expect a book to result when John James Dillard, of Arlington, Texas, inquired about some of my Dillard papers. But when he told me he was grandson and namesake of John J. Dillard, who settled in Lubbock, Texas, in 1896 when the town was only five years old, I was interested immediately. Since I've always been curious about the first Dillard family in Lubbock, it was fun to find all the local information in city directories, town histories, and books published by our genealogical society. He had a great obituary, since he had founded our daily newspaper in 1900. Young John and his wife Sara searched cemeteries and court houses, visited their Lubbock relatives and me, got acquainted with cousins near Houston when they attended a library conference, and altogether made great progress.

Then two specially lucky things happened. In one of my notebooks I found the bio- graphical sketch of W. W. Dillard, the Lubbock John J.'s father and young John's great grandfather. William Wood Dillard told of his Civil War service, gave the names of his ancestors through Alabama and South Carolina back to Virginia, and described his farm and life in the North Texas county of Montague. Some people belittle the "mug books" published in the late nineteenth century, which included a biographical sketch of the person who paid fifty dollars for a copy and furnished family information; but I love them. How else could I have so easily learned of W. W.'s birth in Alabama, his life in Mississippi, his grandfather in South Carolina, the maiden names of his mother and grandmother, and the clue to where to look for his ancestors in Virginia? Of course one expects possible memory lapses and perhaps exaggeration of an ancestors' landholdings or their social position. Statements should, of course, be verified by checking actual records. W. W. was said to be an "agriculturist" instead of a farmer, but maybe he deserved the fancy title. He was successful enough to build a two-story house after his first log house, and he installed one of the recently invented windmills. The account sounded as if his people came from the family of George Dillard, of Culpeper County.

To add to the luck, a letter from Lucile R. Johnson, a dedicated Dillard researcher, brought considerable South Carolina information about W. W. Dillard's ancestors there and about his mother's family, the Bells in South Carolina and Alabama. You may remember Lucile as a speaker at the Dillard Reunion in 1992. My notebooks full of twenty years' research on Virginia Dillards from the early years until some time after the Revolutionary War, added to the new discoveries, had enough material for several months of serious compiling. All records of each individual were in the section about him. No book was intended. It just happened as each piece of information was added to another.

This new information pointed to young John's descent from William and Mary (Norman) Dillard and, as I thought until after the resulting book was mailed, descent from George Dillard, whose Culpeper County will was proved in 1790. Young John's ancestor, William Dillard, was born in Culpeper County, but was killed in the Revolutionary War Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina on 8 September 1781. Another plus was that John Henry Dillard and his wife had traveled all over the country tracing his own descent from this same Eutaw William's youngest son James, and had written his genealogy, a copy of which I have. As a result, in a few short months, young John acquired more solid genealogy than many people can amass in years.

Key words to Dillard history, and that of many other early families as well, are LAND--they wanted it--and MIGRATION--to get it, a young men had to migrate. He often had to leave the home place in the settled area. The Dillard saga, of which the Culpeper County Dillards are a branch, begins 22 May 1650 with the first George Dillard, the immigrant or founder; and with him also began the pattern of migration to land in unsettled country. Few records exist, but these show that George was a survivor, at a time when more than half the new people died. He acquired land. Fifteen years later George patented 250 acres for paying transportation costs for five persons, two of them women. This land adjoined land he lived on in New Kent County. He was married at a time when only one in five new people were women. In 1679 he and his wife--name unknown--sold 76 acres. In 1694 he, or another George Dillard if he was no longer living, patented 139 acres in King and Queen County, created from New Kent in 1691 and located in the Middle Peninsula in the Virginia Tidewater. The only other existing record of George indicates that he served on an escheat jury 2 September 1675. Any other statement about George's origin or activity is open to question.

The second Dillard generation, probably sons found in the 1704 Quit Rent Rolls, the tax payable to Queen Anne, showed four Dillard land owners in King and Queen--George, either the founder or another George, with 325 acres; Thomas with 175 acres; Edward, who may be the ancestor of the Culpeper County Dillards, with 150 acres; and Nicholas, my ancestor, with 150 acres. Not until 1717 did one of these second-generation Dillards migrate from King and Queen County. Nicholas Dillard's 200 acres of "new land" plus 200 more in 1724 in King William County, fell into Caroline County when it was formed in 1727-28.

Early Virginia settlement was up the rivers, and Virginia's rivers were the first roads. At last year's reunion Carlton M. Dillard oriented his ancestor, Thomas Dillard, with Nicholas of the Quit Rent Rolls and the Mattaponi River, the eastern boundary of King and Queen County. The pattern evident here shows a man and his probable sons acquiring land.

Four Dillards--Thomas, George, Edward, and John--formed the second group to leave Virginia's Middle Peninsula and migrate northwest. We know about the families of three of the four Culpeper County settlers. They were probably brothers born in King and Queen County--or at least closely related--and probably the first George's grandsons. Of these Thomas and George first surfaced in Essex County in 1728, a narrow county across

Culpeper County was roughly triangular in shape, its northern point where the Rappa- hannock River, which forms its eastern boundary, joins the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the western boundary. The Rappahannock, one of Virginia's four great rivers, is also the eastern border of Essex County in the Tidewater. The smaller Rapidan and Conway Rivers, which form a jog to the south, are the southern boundary. Later Culpeper County was divided to include present Rappahannock and Madison counties.

The four did not all go at one time. Thomas, later known as Thomas Dillard, Sr., and George led the way. Orange County, newly created in 1734, included what became Culpeper County in 1748. Land there had just been put on the market, and the General Assembly determined that those "who had established themselves by 1st January 1934/35 should be free of country, [meaning the colony of Virginia], county, and parish levies for the next three years." This was a great incentive for a landless young man not long married. Here the first two patented land as soon as possible. They first located the land they wanted, applied for it, had it surveyed, then paid for it and were granted the patent. Thomas patented 550 acres 27 February 1735, paying £2.s15 (possibly about $7.15); and George patented 400 acres 19 June 1735, paying £2 (possibly a bit less than $4).

On 23 November 1737 Edward Dillard paid John Parks o30 for 190 acres in Orange County. We don't know whether this Edward was the older one who had paid quit rent on 150 acres in King and Queen County in 1704 or Edward Dillard, the father of your John Dillard, co-founder of Dillard, Georgia, and known to us as Rabun John for easy identification. We know that Edward, the father of Rabun John, bought 100 acres from George and Priscilla (Major) Dillard on 24 September 1740.

John Dillard, the fourth Culpeper County settler, said to be "of King and Queen," bought his land in 1749 after Culpeper County was formed from part of Orange County in 1748 and after a lawsuit determined that Lord Fairfax owned Culpeper County. Lord Fairfax owned all of the Northern Neck, millions of acres between the Rappahannock River and the Potomac River. This had been given to several who had supported Charles II after Charles I was executed. John thus was the first of the four to buy his land from Lord Fairfax. His land purchases included 300 acres 23 June 1749 on the north side of the Hazel River in the Gourd Vine Fork and 166 acres 4 November 1749 in the Gourd Vine Fork adjoining the first tract and running near the foot of the Grindstone Mountain. On 20 and 21 April 1753 John sold John Gayle and Thomas Poole 50 acres of the 166-acre purchase.

So these Culpeper County Dillards raised their families and helped change new, unsettled land into a county with essential roads, two churches, and a means of making a living. From 1741 through 1746 Thomas was paid 1000 pounds of tobacco per year for reading in the Little Fork church in Saint Mark's Parish. From 1748 through 1752 John Dillard received 1000 pounds of tobacco for being Clerk of the Church in Saint Mark's

John presumably died in Culpeper County, and no will exists. On 17 March 1761 Sophia Dillard and John Dillard witnessed a deed, "Aaron Oliver and Elizabeth his wife" to John Campbell; and thirteen years later "John Dillard, and Sophia X Dillard" witnessed the will of John Brown of Bromfield Parish. This implies that Sophia was John's wife. Did they have children? None are identified in a record, but that doesn't necessarily mean they didn't have any. We'll return to this question later. When John died some time after 1774, what happened to his remaining land after his death is a mystery.

George's will, written 2 March 1790 and proved 20 September 1790 named his children: Major, John, Samuel, James, Ann Freeman, Liza Duncan, Sarah Colvin. His wife, Priscilla Major, was probably already dead, since she was not mentioned. He left his estate to be divided equally among his children, except that he left Major only one shilling sterling (we don't know why) and his daughter Ann Freeman a "brass warming pane." Each son and the husband of each daughter received property valued at 65. As his share of the estate, George's son John received the 190 acres bought by Edward Dillard in 1737. There are different theories about the explanation, but no record has been found that shows how George acquired this land.

Two of the four Culpeper County Dillards didn't stay there long. Some time before 21 July 1752 Thomas, Sr., migrated south to newly created Halifax County, followed later by his two adult sons, James and Thomas, Jr. On 15 March 1749 Thomas and Winifred Dillard sold 1100 acres in Culpeper County. This included a later purchase from Lord Fairfax 24 November 1749 and Fairfax's validation of Thomas's first 400 acre patent from the colony of Virginia. Edward followed three years later after he and his wife Elizabeth sold their Culpeper County land for £20 current money of Virginia on 6 February 1752. This was the 100 acres bought from George and Priscilla Dillard for 5 pas. current money of Virginia on 24 September 1740. From this time these families were in county court, deed, and vestry records of Halifax County and Pittsylvania County, formed from Halifax in 1767.

In April 1755 in Halifax County, Thomas, Sr., had 400 acres and Edward had 320 acres surveyed. Since Edward's son John stated in his Revolutionary War pension application that he had been born in 1755, he was a baby when they moved to Halifax County, and his sister Ann may have been born there. Some accident or illness seems to have disabled Edward. Life during colonial times was fraught with danger. On 30 November 1756 "For Reasons appearing to this Vestry Edward Dillard is Exempted from the payment of Parish Levys for the future." We don't know the reasons. The June Court of 1761 "Ordered that the Churchwardens of Antrim Parish do bind John and Ann Dillard to Thomas Dillard junr in such a manner as the Law directs." Edward died without a will some time before 1779, when Rabun John took up his land.

James also moved to Halifax County later. He had bought 664 acres of Culpeper

Thomas Dillard, Sr., James, and Thomas, Jr., are in numerous county and parish records in Halifax and Pittsylvania County. From the beginning, Thomas Dillard, Sr., was Justice of the Peace and Vestryman from 16 July 1752. James became a Vestryman 30 November 1756 and Thomas Dillard, Jr., in 1758. For a number of years all three were vestrymen in Antrim Parish at the same time. It is interesting to read of Thomas, Sr. 's part in the development of Halifax County from a wilderness through all the steps of setting up county government. Thomas, Jr., followed in his father's footsteps. In both Halifax and Pittsylvania County the two Thomases were both Justices, militia officers, and successful and prominent men. All three had suits in county court. James was less successful, beginning in 1760, when he sued and was sued for debt. The two sons were named in Thomas Dillard, Sr.'s 1774 will. Two later court cases in Pittsylvania County went against James Dillard, who "having profanely sworn," was fined 10 shillings in the May Court, 1775. In June Court 1778 in County against James Dillard, he "not appearing (altho solemnly called)" was fined 5 shillings and costs for being drunk. The circumstances of these cases after Thomas, Sr., died make one wonder if perhaps James's father had him named vestryman to keep an eye on him.

Five next-generation Culpeper County Dillards migrated to South Carolina, one shortly before, one during, two after the Revolution (1775-1783), and one before 1800. The first, James Dillard, went to Laurens County, probably about 1773 when he was about 17. He has been accepted as a son of George of Culpeper County during my years of genealogical research. As a younger son, he would not have inherited, and so he needed to set out on his own. No other Dillard seems to have gone with him, but he probably accompanied other Culpeper people. Relatives and neighbors traveled together in those days, and several surnames connected with Dillards in Culpeper records were in the South Carolina 1790 census.

Laurens James's Revolutionary War pension application, granted in 1834, says that he served as a private and a captain from 1775 to 1785 in most of the South Carolina battles. He married first Mary Ramage, a South Carolina girl who became a Revolutionary War heroine. After being forced to give a British and Tory company supper, she made an all-night ride to warn her husband's company that the enemy planned a dawn attack. Laurens James's service after the Revolution was against the Cherokees in the neighborhood of Rabun County. He became prosperous and is found in numerous deed records in which he acted as justice of the peace, witnessed a deed, or bought or sold land. Mary (Ramage) Dillard had seven children, and Mary (Puckett) Dillard, his second wife, who outlived him,

William Dillard, with two other Culpeper County men--Charles Duncan and Phileman Dedright--enlisted for the Revolution on 20 September 1780. William is described as 27 years old, a farmer, 5 10 2/5 tall, with light hair and gray eyes. It is tempting to speculate about why he enlisted at that particular time. War was exciting but had not yet been fought on Virginia soil. The southern battles were being fought in South Carolina. Had adventure passed William by? Or were a wife, Mary (Norman) Dillard, and seven small children and one on the way too much for him? From an 1873 letter to Lyman Copeland Draper, Anne Boyce, one of Laurens James's three surviving children, we learn that William was Laurens James's brother, and that William was killed in the Battle of Eutaw Springs (8 September 1781), in which both brothers participated. Each stated he was born in Culpeper County, Laurens James in his pension application, and Eutaw William when he enlisted. He must have looked forward to seeing his brother again after almost eight years.

Samuel, the third Dillard, moved his family to South Carolina after the Revolution. Samuel is accepted as son of George of Culpeper County. He did not go directly to South Carolina, but went first to Pittsylvania County with his father-in-law, Christopher Hutchin(g)s and his wife Anne's people. A young landless man was often helped by his father-in-law's support for a time. He was listed in both the 1790 Virginia census, really the 1782 tax list, and the 1790 South Carolina census, where he was in Ninety-Six District, Laurens County. There he died before 7 October 1805. Samuel, his children, his lifetime activities from Virginia and South Carolina records, and one line of descent from his son John Dillard are well covered by Marjorie Lee Dildy Holland in Sims P. and Melissa Hendricks Dillard: Their Ancestors and Descendants Through Their Great Grandchildren.

A happy surprise was identifying the fourth former Culpeper man who migrated to South Carolina. For more than twenty years, ever since I first read Dillard names in that 1790 census, I've wondered about the James Dillard with 3 males over 16, 1 under 16, 5 females, no other free persons, and no slaves, who was in Camden District, Fairfield County. And the completely unexpected answer is that he was James Dillard, son of Thomas Dillard, Sr. Two letters, one from Betty Helf (Mrs. Joe F.) and one from John C. Dillard, of Bessemer, Alabama, combined with what I already knew, solved that problem.

Betty Helf sent copies of three Dillard articles--"William Dillard," by Beulah Melton; "Samuel Dillard," by Almond Morris; and "Moses Dillard," by Beulah Melton--from Alice S. McCabe, Gwinnett County Families, 1818-1968 (Georgia), published for Gwinnett Historical Society [pp. 154-160]. If William Dillard was born in 1770 in Halifax County, Virginia, as the article states, he must have been a child of one of Thomas Dillard, Sr.'s sons. This was the only Dillard family in records there at that time. Thomas Dillard, Jr., who named his ten children in his will, listed no son William. No will of James has been found, and a son Thomas was the only one of James's sons who was named in the 1774 will of Thomas Dillard, Sr. So this William probably was a previously unknown son of James.

John C. Dillard was one of five John Dillards at the 1995 reunion and is not here today because of illness. Among a number of copies of South Carolina records, John C. Dillard included an abstract of a deed dated 28 June 1787 from William Hogan, of Chester County, South Carolina, to James Dillard for 160 acres and a 31 December 1791 deed in which James Dillard and wife Percilla Dillard of Fairfield County, sold the same 160 acres to John Foots, of Chester County. No other James Dillard except the son of Thomas, Sr., in my database of more than fifteen thousand names had a wife Percilla, Presilla, or Priscilla or any similar spelling. The Henry County, Virginia, marriage bonds record the marriage of William Hogans and Nancy Dillard on 19 January 1780 and indicate she was "daughter of James Dillard." Howard Jones said that he found James Dillard as a militia captain in Henry County during the Revolution. Henry County was cut off from Pittsylvania County in 1776. James Dillard's probable son John was a prominent Henry County man. Add the fact that the usual care giver for aging parents is a daughter. Put all these facts together, and the conclusion follows that William and Nancy Hogan(s) removed to South Carolina and that Nancy's parents, James and Priscilla Dillard, also resided there. The resulting article and a possible family group chart including those who could have been James and Priscilla's children were sent to those who were thought to be interested.

The last of these Culpeper County Dillards to move to South Carolina was Major, son of George Dillard. Major is found briefly in Pittsylvania County, when he was sued for debt by his cousin, Thomas Dillard, Jr., and in Fauquier County before being listed in the 1800 Fairfield County census as 1 male over 45 with 1 female over 45 and 1 slave. He is thought to have died in South Carolina. Like others, he had gone to where kin lived. Major is the only one of these South Carolina settlers not known to have had children. And this brings us full circle back to the book of research notes on Culpeper County Dillards.

Genealogists like to talk about their successes, but confessing to errors is another matter entirely. No one likes to make mistakes, but sometimes an error leads to ultimate good when it can be corrected and the truth made known. One of the commonest genealogical errors is confusing two people of the same name. Ironically a discovery that seemed so fortunate at the time caused a serious error in the book. As is often the case, evidence that Laurens James and William were brothers became known to genealogists long after the lifetimes of these people. Nancy Boyce's letter of 1873 to Lyman Copeland Draper, compiler of the Draper Manuscripts and long-time researcher of the American Revolution, was found in Katherine Reynolds' book, The Dillard Family in the DAR Library. Nancy wrote that her father "was with General Sumter at the Battle of Eutaw Springs and lost his brother William Dillard who was killed in that battle." This indirect evidence was sufficient proof that Laurens James and Eutaw William were brothers.

Aha! I thought. Great! Here's another son of George no one has known about! He wasn't mentioned in George's 1790 will because he was killed 8 September 1781. What a great discovery! I sent the information to Marjorie Holland, who was then writing her book. She wrote it to John Henry Dillard, who was then researching his ancestry with trips all over the country, and who was descended from this Eutaw William.

It wasn't until I was writing Dillard Research Notes that this conclusion bothered me. For years Captain James Dillard, born in Culpeper County and later of Laurens County, South Carolina, has been accepted as the James mentioned as son of George Dillard in his 1790 Culpeper County will. Some women have even been accepted by Daughters of the American Colonists and Colonial Dames of XVII as descendants of this James and his father, George Dillard, of Culpeper County. George's will disturbed me. Why did he leave nothing to his grandchildren, the children of William? When debts owed to British merchants were being collected after 1800, the British Mercantile Claims collector was told that William Dillard was killed while serving in the American army, that he was a dissipated man, and that his family were in such distress after he was killed that some of his children were taken and supported by friends. Increasingly this bothered me. It was unnatural that a grandfather should ignore his grandchildren's need even if he disapproved of their father. George was prosperous enough to have helped the family. Even so, I wasn't disturbed enough to stop writing.

Lucile Johnson had told me she suspected James and William of being sons of someone else, not George. I challenged her to find an official record to prove that another James was a son of George. I had researched Virginia records in Richmond, Washington, and Salt Lake City to such an extent that I thought I had found everything about Dillards through Revolutionary War times. So I finished page 81 and the introduction, boxed the twelve copies, and mailed them on 16 June 1996, breathing a big sigh of relief that it was finished and I could get on with other things. Later "Errata" and some additions were mailed.

Then came the sad aftermath. Two and a half months after I mailed Dillard Research Notes Lucile found the record she needed. It wasn't much, but it clearly showed that another James Dillard was in Culpeper County while Captain James Dillard, of Laurens County, fought battles in South Carolina. I had made an error. Here was a New James! Well, pride goeth before a fall. Raleigh Travers Green wrote in his Notes on Culpeper County, Virginia,

"In a work of this kind, mistakes in the way of omission, and some misstatements, are bound to occur. A work on genealogy without such, is an impossibility." However, I couldn't be too sad about it. We had definitely needed a different James to keep George from being a heart - less grandfather, and Lucile found him. Here is the explanation.

More than twenty years earlier (18 July 1975) I had copied the indexes to the Revolu- tionary War Public Service Claims in card files in the Virginia State Library (now Library of Virginia) but always had too much other searching in Richmond to take time for the court records. My own Dillard ancestor left Virginia even before the French and Indian War. These public claims were impressments made on Virginians for goods needed by the militia and the Continental Line when the Revolution moved into Virginia in February 1781 and culminated in Cornwallis's surrender after the Battle of Yorktown 19 October 1781. Increasingly abstracts of records are being published. Lucile Johnson found "Publick Claims" for Culpeper County printed in Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten's Virginia

Receipts were issued when the goods were collected, and later court hearings before commissioners in every county determined the value of what was taken from each person. The index cards did not tell what was impressed, but the published items about the court hearings did. Property was impressed in March through December, 1781. The following impressments were evaluated in courts in March and April 1782: George Dillard, 325# of beef in Sept. 1781 and 215# beef in Sept. 1781; John Dillard, 660# beef in Dec. 1781; Robert Strother, 350# beef in Dec. 1781. Below are the crucial entries. First is the index entry from the card file. Second is the printed court record. Both are needed for clearness.

Dillard, James (John Dillard, assignee)/ PSC Culpeper Co., Court Booklet I, p. 25. Commissioner's Book II, p. 81.

p. 22: March 5th, 1782. The Court met according to adjournment and made the following valuations.
p. 25: James Dillard pr. doctors cert. April 1781 for 34 8a. whiskey for John Dillard.

That whiskey really did me in! Captain James Dillard's pension application showed that he was in the Battle of King's Mountain 17 October 1780, the Battle of Williams Fort 31 December 1780, the Battle of Cowpens 17 January 1781, and the Siege of Ninety-Six from 22 May until 18 June 1781. The court record clearly indicates that in April 1781 James Dillard delivered 34 gallons of whiskey impressed from John Dillard. Whiskey was traditionally used by surgeons to ease the pain of amputations. And many farmers had stills, because whiskey could be easily transported, and thus the grain became a cash crop. Obviously Captain James of South Carolina was fighting the Revolutionary War when George's son James delivered 34 gallons of whiskey assessed his brother. This James was likely George's youngest child, since the 1787 tax list of Virginia showed that a young man 16-21 lived with George Dillard.

After the error about James was discovered, I probably should have written John M. Dillard and released him from his invitation to me to speak here. However, I expected to find some indication of James and William's parents easily and rewrite Dillard Research Notes almost immediately. It hasn't worked out that way. Reading all possible Culpeper Dillard records, including all deeds on microfilm, then copying and abstracting them and especially the forty-nine page court report of the Norman/Dillard 1830-1831 land case, I became quite involved and thoroughly interested in the Dillard-Norman soap opera that was evolving. These people became real human beings, involved in very human activities to solve problems.

Would the bad guys get the land? Or would our side win? Mary Norman Dillard's older brother thought he should have inherited all his father's land. After his death his children and their spouses instituted a Writ of Right to get the land that Mary had willed her children in 1815. The children had sold the land immediately. The defendants were the people who rightfully occupied the land. Evidence in that case went back many years. In it was a transcription of Lord Fairfax's original Northern Neck grant to Mary (Norman) Dillard's father, a copy of Joseph Norman's 1783-1784 will, and evidence. Well, our side won. The tenants kept the land. The bad guys had to pay court costs. But a great deal of genealogical evidence was disclosed before the verdict was reached.

One item in the index of the Culpeper Court Minute Book really surprised me: "Dillard Colvin remanded to jail 229. " I could hardly wait to find page 229 to learn why this Dillard became a jail bird. (LDS Film #0030974) What sort of crime did he commit? (This was after he had been in the militia during the War of 1812, since it was 1823-1825.) We hadn't had any other jail birds among the Culpeper County Dillards. He was a new Dillard, too. He must have been the son of John and Sarah Dillard Colvin and a grandson of George Dillard.

There's not a lot of humor in most court reports, but I still have to smile at this one on page 229: "Dillard Colvin having made a noise at the Court House in the face & presence of the Court it is ordered that for this same contempt he be committed to Jail untill the rising of the Court this day."

Another incident I found amusing was also in the court case. Two Wilkes County, North Carolina Justices were taking depositions of witnesses, which would be used for the plaintiffs in the Virginia land case. The justices certified to the Virginia court clerk that after they "first publickly Cald and with a loud & audible voice at the court House door three times" the names of the three defendants, who were in at that time in Culpeper County, Virginia. Thus the law was satisfied that the defendants were given opportunity to hear the depositions.

Some records have raised more questions instead of answering them. Those who received the first copies have received mailings with reports of records as I have had time. When will Culpeper Research Notes be rewritten? I can't tell. When or if it is, it will be considerably longer than the first one, even if some of the questions can't be answered.

A serious error is disappointing, but some progress has been made. Using an early state as an artificial parent of the earliest-known Dillard ancestor is an effective device used for locating all known individuals connected with that person. The computer has found parents of several of these who were originally entered as son or daughter of a state. Early states were made artificial parents. Then the earliest known Dillard ancestor of an individual who could trace his ancestors back several generations was entered as a son or daughter of that early state. When a new discovery gives a clue to that person's origin, the computer is especially helpful in finding all those connected with him. The editor of the Clan Ewing

The book should be rewritten, but so much more research has been done that it would be long and time consuming to add it and especially to analyze it to determine what each document adds or what questions it raises. Every time something new is discovered, it seems to add a built-in question or some new problem to solve.

Fortunately one of Eutaw William's descendants, a superb researcher, is working on it. He is John T. Dillard, of Oregon, son of the man who first wrote of the family, John Henry Dillard. Both of them are here today, and John T. is your next speaker. He searches courthouse records in Culpeper County, looking not only for Dillards but also for all surnames that are mentioned in any action connected with a Dillard as spouse, witness to deed or will, or purchaser or seller of land. This is research in depth.

With that kind of research, the continuing help of the Dillard Family Association, our habit of sharing our discoveries, and our increasing ability to find and analyze correctly the facts we discover, we can hope that my 1975 prophecy, written when Marjorie Holland was going to Dallas to talk with Frank S. Powers about George Dillard-Priscilla Major genealogy, and the three of us were sharing records and information, will be achieved.

The 81-page book has a bibliography of five pages listing the sources consulted. These include county deeds, wills, and other primary records as well as secondary sources. Since the speech is based on the book and a later article, it should be unnecessary to list separately all sources consulted. I will supply the sources, however, if requested. - DDH

Culpeper County Virginia Court Minute Book 1823-1830, 1830-1832, 1832-1840. Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah at Culpeper County Courthouse, Culpeper, Va. 2 Sept 1948, Item 1, p. 229, 1825-1828.

Dillard, John C.[Curtis]. Letter 5 Aug 1996, including South Carolina deeds involving William Hogan and James and Priscilla Dillard.

Dillard, John Henry, William Dillard Who Was Killed in the Revolutionary War, His Parents, Their Family, His Family and Some Descendants. Typewritten, including family group

Dillard, John James and Sara Hammett Dillard, data on descendants of William W. Dillard to the present, plus their research in courthouses, cemeteries, libraries in letters and personal interviews from November 1995 through March 1996.

"Dillard, W. W.," A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, Vol 2. Originally Chicago, New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906. Published on demand by University Microfilm., Ann Arbor, MI: 1971. Copy in the writer's files.

Helf, Betty (Mrs. Joe F.). Letter to DDH containing copies of 3 Dillard articles from Alice S. McCabe, Gwinnett County [GA] Families, 1818-1968, published for Gwinnett County Historical Society, pp. 154-160.

Holland, Marjorie Lee Dildy. Sims P. and Melissa Hendricks Dillard: Their Ancestors and Descendants Through Their Great Grandchildren. Tahloquah, OK: Author, 1980. Gift copy.

Hughes, Dorothy Dillard. Dillard Research Notes: Culpeper County, Virginia Dillards and Two Related Families of South Carolina.

Reynolds, Katherine. The Dillard Family, Vol. 1, Vol. 2. Houston, TX: Typescript by author, 1975, pp. 19-21, 22, 312.

Stratton, Eugene Aubrey. Applied Genealogy. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, (c) by author 1988, pp. 127, 51.

Caroline, the oldest child of James and Sarah Barnard Dillard was born August 17, 1817, in Buncombe County, North Carolina.¹ Caroline and her sister Marinda, born 1819, are listed as being born in North Carolina, while the next child, Arzelia, is listed as being born in Georgia.² Caroline probably was little more than a toddler when her parents, sister, and grandfather, John Dillard, moved into Rabun County, Georgia.

Almost nothing has been found about Caroline's early childhood in Rabun County. It can only be surmised that as the oldest child she helped with household chores and the caring of her seven younger siblings. Caroline would have been almost twenty years old when the last child of James and Sarah Dillard was born in 1836 ³, a year before she married.

Caroline was married in Rabun County by her uncle, (Justice of the Peace, O.T. Dickerson), to William Lambert on March 2, 1837.⁴ How did she meet William? He was a tailor in Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina, and census records indicate the Lambert family was in Macon County in 1830.⁵ Were the Dillards and Lamberts known to each other prior to the Dillards moving into Georgia?

It is known that when Orville Barnard died years later (1865), William M.D. Lambert was named administrator of the property owned by Barnard in Habersham County, Georgia.⁶ Then in 1868 when Andrew Barnard died, William M.D. Lambert was again named administrator of the property owned by Andrew Barnard. Both Barnards have been listed as brothers to Sarah Barnard Dillard.⁷ There is strong evidence that William's mother was born in South Carolina⁸, and his father's family lived in York County, South Carolina.⁹ Sarah Barnard Dillard birthplace has been listed as South Carolina.¹⁰ Were the Barnards and Lamberts known to each other in South Carolina?

William M. D. Lambert and an age appropriate female for his spouse are enumerated on the 1840 census of Macon County, North Carolina. One male aged ten to fifteen years is also listed.¹¹ It is not known who this boy is, perhaps a relative or worker. James R. Lambert, born December 21, 1842,¹² was the only known child of Caroline and William Lambert. This child would have been born over five years after their marriage. Were there other children who died young? Caroline knew this child only briefly, as she died nine days after he was born. The obituary for Caroline states:

In Franklin, Macon County, on the 30th ult., Mrs. Caroline, wife of Mr. Wm. Lambert, aged about 25 years. She was an acceptable member of the Methodist E. Church, and left an assurance to her bereaved friends and relations that their loss is her gain; and that she has gone to those mansions which Christ has in reserve for the finally faithful."¹³ It is not known where she is buried.

Few family stories sifted down from James R. Lambert. The writer remembers her father and an elderly aunt relating that when their father was two weeks old, his grandmother rode forty miles on a mule to bring young James R. Lambert to her home.¹⁴ Which grandmother was not known, and it would be almost one hundred fifty years after Caroline's death before it was discovered that it was Sarah Dillard who brought him to her home in Rabun Gap. (Twenty miles to Franklin and twenty miles back!) For whatever can be derived or read into the following, it states that on January 5, 1843 (about two weeks after young James was born), James Dillard sold a young negro boy, Isom, aged 10, to William M.D. Lambert for three hundred dollars.¹⁵ This Bill of Sale was filed some ten years later in Habersham County, Georgia, where William had remarried in 1846 and was living there.¹⁶ Why was this filed years later? Does it really mean anything? Answers to these questions probably will never be known.

Oddly, James R. Lambert appears on the 1850 census twice! Once in the home of William M.D. Lambert in Habersham County, and also in the home of James Dillard in Rabun County.¹⁷ The writer's brother recalls a family story of a mean step-mother. This story and the 1850 census is the only evidence that James R. might have lived a short while with his father. On the 1860 census of Rabun County, James R. Lambert is the only person listed with James and Sarah Dillard.¹⁹

James R. Lambert, who never knew his mother, did not name any of his daughters Caroline. However, his youngest son, the writer's father, was named Jesse Dillard Lambert. So far as it is known, my father, who was always addressed as "Dillard," never knew for whom he was named. The name Caroline has not been found in the ancestry among earlier Dillards, Lamberts, Barnards, or McDowells. Though among Caroline's descendants there are several Carolines, with one born as recently as 1992. One other oddity relating to names concerns the second family of William M.D. Lambert. The youngest child of this family born in 1858 in Habersham County was named John Dillard Lambert!²⁰

The writer is indebted to James Dillard for naming James R. Lambert in his 1861 will "...my grandson James R. Lambert son of my daughter Caroline Lambert wife of William M.D. Lambert..."²¹ This is the only civil record found that anchors James R. Lambert with his Dillard grandparents. The 1850 and 1860 census records do not list his relationship. Thus, because Caroline died very young, little information has been found concerning this oldest child of James and Sarah Barnard Dillard. It is only from researching those about her

¹Family history sheets in possession of Malcolm Dillard, Dillard, Georgia.

²Family group sheets in possession of Anne Dickerson, Dillard, Georgia.

³Ibid.

⁴Marriage Book A, Record of Marriage Licenses, 1820-1849 Rabun County Courthouse, Clayton, Georgia.

⁵1830 Census Record, Macon County, North Carolina.

⁶Deed Book T, pages 143-144 (1865), Habersham County Courthouse, Clarkesville, Georgia.

⁷Deed Book U, pages 254-255, Habersham County Courthouse, Clarkesville, Georgia.

⁸Research by Frances Hebert, Mission Viejo, California and by Kay Cunningham, Plattsmouth, Nebraska.

⁹1850 Census Record, Macon County, North Carolina.

¹⁰1800 Census Record, York County, South Carolina. Estate settlement of Samuel Lambert, York County, South Carolina. Estate Papers.

¹¹1840 Census Record, Macon County, North Carolina.

¹²Family Bible in possession of Cheever Harold Lambert, Galveston, Texas and family history sheets in possession of Malcolm Dillard, Dillard, Georgia.

¹³The Highland Messenger (Asheville, North Carolina) 13 January 1843.

¹⁴Jesse Dillard Lambert, (1897-1966), father. Lillie Belle Lambert Johnson (1884-1965), aunt.

¹⁵Deed Book RR (1848-1871), Habersham County Courthouse, Clarkesville, Georgia.

¹⁶Ibid.

¹⁷1850 Census Records, Rabun County, Georgia and 1850 Census Records, Habersham County, Georgia.

¹⁸J.D. Lambert, Lafayette, Louisiana, brother.

¹⁹1860 Census Records, Rabun County, Georgia.

²⁰Tri-County Advertiser, Clarkesville, Georgia, Thursday, March 1, 1934, page 1. "...John Dillard Lambert, death occurred Friday afternoon, February 23, 1934..."

²¹Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book, Volume 84, page 33.

Researcher Anne G. Dickerson of Dillard, Georgia found and made a copy of the following news account which appeared in The Franklin Press (Franklin, North Carolina, a few miles north of Dillard, Georgia) on July 21, 1897, in column one of the editorial page with spelling, capitalization and punctuation unaltered:

"Robert L. Dillard of Dillard, Rabun County, Ga., was killed on Wednesday morning, July 14, 1897. From a special correspondent we have the following account:

On Wednesday morning about 3 o'clock, the quiet slumbers of the people living about the store and Dillard P. O., were broken by loud screams, at the late residence of J. B. Dillard, deceased; and hastened to learn the cause. On arriving it was found that Mrs. Robert Dillard was screaming and saying "Lord have mercy. Bob has killed himself." she was in her night clothes, bareheaded and barefoot, running toward Mr. J. M. York's her brother in law and calling him. Mr. York met her and carried her to him home and then went back to see what "Bob" had done. he in company with three or four others went into the house where a dim light was burning and into a back room and found the lifeless body of R. L. Dillard on a bed with a bullet hole in his right temple. I, in company with Dr. Green arrived about this time, and the body was straightened out, his people were hastily sent for, and also the Coroner was sent for, but he was away from home, so if an inquest was to be held the Justice would have to do it, but he was in doubt as to his duty, so he went to Clayton for advice, and the next morning the inquest was held. The substance of the evidence was about as follows: Bob and his wife had not been getting along together for quite awhile, he had been dealing in whisky and drinking hard for some time. On Monday before he had told Mr. York that the way Albert and Anna (his wife) were doing he could stand it no longer and would kill somebody, had given his wife a severe beating on Monday evening, and when his brother Bead interfered, said he would kill her if she did not behave herself, she also had said that if he ever struck her again she would kill him, had said this different times, he had threatened to kill himself several times. When found was lying on left side with bullet hole in right temple, eyes and mouth perfectly closed as if asleep, was covered up all but arms and shoulders, right hand open left closed, pistol lying about six inches from right hand; bed had appearance of but one person occupying it, the blood had all run down

"The verdict of the jury was: "Deceased came to his death by a pistol in the hands of an unknown person".

Column three on the same page captioned "Tennessee Valley News" reads as follows:

"About 3 o'clock last Wednesday morning the alarm was made that Bob Dillard had killed himself. In a short time six or eight men were gathered and found him lying on the bed with his brains shot out, lying as if he had been asleep. There was a lamp burning in his room. It seems that there was no one present that night but himself, his wife and two children. His wife gave the alarm, and was gone from the room before anyone got there. An inquest was held, and 12 or 15 witnesses were examined. It seems to be a complicated matter. The verdict of the jury was that he killed by a pistol shot fired by an unknown hand. A pistol was found lying on the bed. There was a great deal of excitement about the matter........

....."Mr. G.W.C. Wikle and wife, Mr. Geo. M. Dillard, Mrs. Jno. H. Corn and son, Mr. Sumner Berrong and wife, attended the funeral of their brother, Bob Dillard, last Thursday. The services were conducted by Rev. W. S. Whitmire, of Clayton....July 19, 1897. A.G.D."

Editor's note: the public records of Rabun County prove that Albert Lafayette Dillard (1864- 1907), a former sheriff of Rabun County and brother of Robert L. Dillard, served as conservator of the property of his mother, Rachel McKinney Dillard, who was judicially declared incompetent in July, 1897. Albert Dillard also served as executor of her estate two years later in 1899. Albert L. Dillard about 1900 moved to Westminster, South Carolina. South Carolina censuses show that prior to his late in life marriage, he lived in the house of his brother, William McKinney Dillard. He married Callie Hull (later Owens by remarriage). He died and was buried in Westminster at age 43 survived by a daughter who was born two days prior to the date of his death. This daughter was Alberta Calhoun Dillard (Thurman) Scarborough who resided in Atlanta, Georgia and died childless. Anna Sams Dillard left her native Rabun County for employment in Greenville, South Carolina after the above incident occurred. Lillie Dillard (Fowler) and Robert Dwight Dillard, the two children of Robert L. Dillard and Anna Sams, were taken in and raised for a year or two by Beavert R. Dillard and Fannie Green Dillard. The descendants of these two children regularly participate in Dillard reunions. Anna Sams Dillard later married David M. Layne by whom she had two more children, resided, died and was buried in Forest City, North Carolina.

If any reader is interested in submitting a genealogical query to the Dillard Annual, please forward it to our Secretary Treasurer for submission to one of several Dillard historians and rely.

Lt. Col. William Robert "Bob" Lambert, of Mineloa, Texas died October 27, 1997. Bob attended Dillard reunions and was a great grandson of Caroline Dillard Lambert, daughter of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard. He was a B-52 bomber pilot in World War II and served in the Korean War. He was a retired construction engineer.

The Dillard Annual is published once each year by the Dillard Family Association. In that it is non-profit, no part of this publication can be republished for profit without the express written permission of the writer of each article, each of which reserves all rights whatsoever. Inquiries should be addressed to John M. Dillard, Post Office Box 91, Greenville, South Carolina, 29602.

Please complete and return to Rachael Dillard Scott, Secretary-Treasurer, Dillard Family Association, 217 Indian Trail, Anderson, S. C. 29625.

Name(s)______________________________________________________________________

Address_______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________Telephone ( )______________

_____Enclosed is my check for $15.00 for 1998 membership payable to Dillard Family Association.

_____I expect to attend the 1998 Reunion. I will be accompanied by:___________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

_____I cannot attend the 1998 Reunion, but want to retain my membership.

_____I expect to attend the 1998 History Session.

_____I expect to attend the 1998 Saturday night Reunion dinner.

Do you know any stories about the Dillards you could tell at the
Reunion?_____________________________________________________________________

Do you have any Dillard or related kin photographs, objects of art or documents you would like to show us and tell us about at a reunion? If so, what?
_____________________________________________________________________________.

______I would like to participate as a speaker in the Dillard History Sessions.

______I would like to research and prepare a manuscript for the Dillard Annual.

______I would like to assist in editing and preparation of the Dillard Annual.

______I would be willing to serve as an officer of the Dillard Family Association.

Anything else you can tell us that would help to make your membership and the reunions more entertaining and meaningful?
_____________________________________________.

Dillard Family Association
Rachel Dillard Scott, Secretary-Treasurer
217 Indian Trail
Anderson, South Carolina 29625