Dillard Annual

1999 Dillard Reunion is Second Weekend in June

President John T. Dillard of Monroe, Oregon indicates that plans are being made for the History Session and Reunion of the Dillard Family Association at Dillard, Georgia for the second weekend in June, 1999. That is June 12 and 13. Please mark your calendar. The reunion will be held at the Dillard House. For the convenience to all events and past courtesies of the Dillard House to the Dillard Family Association, registration at the Dillard House is encouraged. Reservations should be made early to avoid “no vacancies.”

History Session speakers will include John T. Dillard discussing the use of deeds as a source of genealogical discovery, Pat Bracey Greenwood of Joelton, Tennessee on some Tennessee Dillards, Joann Green McAbee of Greer, South Carolina on some South Carolina Dillards, and Kathryn L. Paintin of New Orleans, Louisana giving a biographical sketch of W.R.L. Ritchie. Others may be added. Further details of the 1999 Reunion will be mailed out at a subsequent date.

President John T. Dillard is requesting volunteers to give talks of ten to fifteen minutes on their particular Dillard lines at the Ninth Annual Dillard History Session. Please contact John T. Dillard at (541) 847-5761, John M. Dillard at (864) 271-8610 or write Odelle K. Hamby, Secretary-Treasurer if you would like to volunteer.

Each speaker is requested to prepare a written draft of his speech with sources of authority cited for publication in the Dillard Annual for the year 2000.

New Dillard Association Homepage on the Internet

The Dillard Family Association now has its own homepage or website on the Internet. All previously published Dillard Annuals are available to anyone for reading or copying.
Additional indexing and materials will take place with time. To access this home page, type the following underlined URL or web address into your internet program:

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~dillard/

This homepage, which is free of charge to the Association and user, is the result of many hours of hard work and the computer expertise of John James Dillard of Arlington, Texas, who got us off to a fast running start. John James Dillard is a librarian with the University of Texas at Arlington. His wife, Sara Frances Hammett Dillard, is catalogue librarian with Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. John James is a descendant of William Dillard of Culpeper County, Virginia who was killed in the South Carolina Revolutionary Battle of Eutaw Springs. Both John James and Sara are natives of Texas. We appreciate their tremendous work in promoting Dillard history.

Dillard History in E-Mail Available in “Dillard-L/-D”

A Dillard genealogical “listserv” (e-mail service for subscribers) was started last year by John James Dillard and his wife, Sara, of Arlington, Texas. It is free. The purpose of this service is to provide a forum to inquire about and share Dillard genealogical information. As of this date, there are over 170 subscribers from all parts of the United States covering many branches of the Dillard family. To subscribe to this e-mail service, send a message over your e-mail to DILLARD-L-request@rootsweb.com . Leave the subject line blank, and put only one word in the body of the message: “subscribe”. If you want to simultaneously send a message to all 170 odd subscribers, send it to DILLARD-L@rootsweb.com. If you have problems in getting into this listserv, contact John James Dillard at Dillard@flash.net who owns and manages this listserv.

In Memoriam: Lucile R. Johnson

One of our top Dillard genealogists, Lucile Robinson Johnson, of Little Rock, Arkansas left us suddenly on October 9, 1998 at age 69 after a brief illness. She had been an avid Dillard scholar since her college days. The daughter of an Arkansas Supreme Court justice, Lucile became interested in Dillard genealogy when her grandmother of Independence County, Arkansas on being asked why a portrait of Abraham Lincoln hung over the living room mantel replied, “We do not discuss unpleasant things.” That remark referred to the deep Arkansas Dillard family divisions during the Civil War.

That led Lucile into pioneering the discovery of who were the ancestors of the northeastern Arkansas Dillards who descended from Thomas Dillard, a son of Revolutionary John Dillard who died in Rabun County, Georgia.

Lucile was a speaker at the Dillard Reunions and a frequent contributor to the Dillard Annual. The leading authority on the Arkansas Dillards, she researched and wrote the history of the Dillard Department Stores from the Laurens County Dillards who settled in southwestern Arkansas.

A determined researcher, she examined in the most minute detail each and every circumstance and person surrounding every event of Dillard history. Her proof was impeccable with no guesswork.

Her right to the point sense of humor came through when she upset traditional Dillard theories about ancestry with her thoroughness. In the past few months Lucile discovered the “second” James Dillard in Culpeper County, which upset the cast in stone theory that Laurens District, South Carolina Captain James Dillard and his brother, William Dillard, were the sons of George Dillard of Culpeper County, Virginia. She called this an “oops!” in a recent Dillard Annual article.

Lucile’s death is a deep loss to all Dillards interested in preserving Dillard history. We are grateful to her for her contributions to Dillard genealogy. She could see through a genealogical problem when others could not. That will be missed. Above all, we will miss that vivacious personality and determination to move things around, get them done, and seeing that they were done right.

Lucile is survived by her husband, Dr. Henry D. Johnson, a Little Rock internist, a daughter, Joy J. Griffin, and a son, Matthew Henry Johnson.

1998 Reunion: Remembering the Confederacy

Over 80 people attended the Saturday night dinner of the 1998 Dillard Reunion. Approximately 70 attended the Eighth Annual History Session presided over by John M. Dillard. This was the largest attendance ever for the history session. The theme was the Confederacy in that many expressed a wish to have a program with later period family history. Those attending were from all over the United States representing many different branches of the Dillard family.

Wayne Pailloz of Dillard, Georgia held the audience spell bound with his demonstration of the clothing and commonly carried possessions of a Confederate soldier as which he was dressed for this demonstration and informal talk.

Anne G. Dickerson and Odelle K. Hamby gave a graphic presentation on James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard and their children. This included charts, copies of documents, family photographs, and included what could have been a photograph of Sarah Barnard Dillard. An article based on this presentation is published herein. A manuscript on the descendants and other kin of John Dillard of Rabun County with Civil War service was passed out and explained by John M. Dillard. This manuscript was prepared though the collective effort of many. It is published in this Dillard Annual.

Business Session: Dillard Family Association

At the business session held late Saturday afternoon, John T. Dillard of Monroe, Oregon was elected President, Ed Singleton of Clayton, Georgia, as Vice President and Odelle K. Hamby of Rabun Gap, Georgia as Secretary-Treasurer to serve in office through the 1999 reunion.

Resolutions of appreciation were enacted honoring Rachel Dillard Scott, retiring Secretary-Treasurer, Dorothy Dillard Hughes for her support of the Dillard Family Association, and John Dillard and the staff of the Dillard House for the service and courtesies extended to the Dillard Family Association.

Robert G. Dillard Dies at age 66

Robert Gibbs Dillard, age 66, a resident of Kingsport, Tennessee, died on October 19, 1998. He was a great grandson of Robert L. Dillard and Anna Sams Dillard. He frequently attended the Dillard Reunions and actively supported the Dillard Family Association and its work. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

Dorothy Hughes’ “Dillard Database” Now Contains 19,908 names.

Dorothy Dillard Hughes has over several years been accumulating Dillard genealogical data in her database which is annually filed with the Dillard Collection in the Rabun County Library. This includes Dillards from every branch all over the United States, including one in England and one in Australia. As of January 14, 1999, there are 19,908 names with 7,280 marriages programed into this database. Please send your Dillard family data to Dorothy in order that she may continue this one of a kind project which is shared with all through the library. Her e-mail address is DorothyDHughes@juno.com. Her mailing address is 1908 18^th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79401.

Dillard Annual Mailing Policy

Our mailing list to individuals is now 186. A majority of those appear to be Dillards not directly connected with the Rabun County, Georgia Dillards. Because of the increasing expense of printing and mailing, the Dillard Annual will be mailed only to dues paying members of the Dillard Family Association. If you would like to receive the Dillard Annual and reunion follow up notices, please join and send your dues of $15.00 covering 1998-1999 to Mrs. Odelle K. Hamby, Secretary-Treasurer, Dillard Family Association, Box 158, Dillard, Georgia 30537 in order that your name may be placed on the mailing list.

Statement of Publication:

Dillard Annual

The Dillard Annual © is a non-profit manuscript published annually by the Dillard Family Association beginning January 1, 1992. All individual articles are the property of each writer. The address of the Dillard Annual is Post Office Box 158, Dillard, Georgia 30537. The cost of printing and mailing is paid for by the Dillard Family Association from the dues of its members. John M. Dillard, editor, Post Office Box 91, Greenville, South Carolina, 29602. Special appreciation is extended to Anne G. Dickerson and Dorothy Dillard Hughes for their help in publishing the 1999 Dillard Annual.

Descendants and Kin of John Dillard of Rabun County

With Civil War Service [1]

Confederate Units Included

The men below listed who were from Rabun County, Georgia or nearby and who are descendants or other kin of Revolutionary War soldier John Dillard of that county served in the following units of service:

Six --- consisting of William F. Dillard, Leander M. Beavert, William Marshall McKinney, William L. Dickerson, and James R. Lambert --- served in the 24th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry (Rabun County Riflemen), Company E. John H. Corn served in Company D of the same regiment. The 24th Georgia Regiment after being called for duty to Goldsboro, North Carolina as a part of the Army of Northern Virginia engaged in heavy combat and suffered severe casualties in Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville (in which Lee attacked and defeated with 60,000 men Union General Hooker's 130,000 men), Gettysburg, Knoxville, Cedar Creek and the final siege and surrender at Petersburg and Richmond. It was also engaged in combat in the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. Out of its 303 troops at Gettysburg, seventeen percent were disabled. Many were captured at Sayler's Creek. Only four officers and 56 men surrendered on April 9, 1865. [2]

Eight --- consisting of James Madison Ritchie, Riley Burton Richie, William L. Dickerson, William A. Martin, Jasper Hopper, James M. Neville, John Barnett Dillard and William Barnett Dillard (the last two named first served in the 4th Georgia Cavalry state militia as hereinafter mentioned) --- served in the 11th Georgia Cavalry, Company F. James Madison Ritchie appears to have also served in Company E, Young's Battalion which was a part of the 11th Regiment formed out of the 30th Cavalry Battalion. The 11th Infantry Regiment, organized in the spring of 1861, was assigned to the Potomac District under General G. T. Anderson's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. It fought in the Seven Days' Battle, Cold Harbor and at Knoxville. It took part in the Petersburg siege and was active in conflicts around Appomattox. It lost 65 percent of its troops at Gettysburg. It surrendered at the end of the war with 16 officers and 176 men. [3] Thomas Hopper served in the 52nd Georgia Regiment, Company F. This regiment was organized in April of 1862 principally from men from the Georgia counties of Habersham, White, Towns, and Fannin. It took part in the Cumberland Gap operations and then moved to Kentucky and later Mississippi. When Vicksburg fell, it was a part of the garrison which was captured. Exchanged and assigned to General Stovall's Brigade, it fought with the Army of Tennessee from Missionary Ridge to Nashville. [4]

Three --- John Barnett Dillard and his brother, Albert George Dillard, and William Barnett Dillard, son of Albert George Dillard, --- served in the 4th Georgia Cavalry (State Guards), H. W. Cannon's Company in Colonel Robert White's Regiment. Early in the war some 250 companies of Georgians enlisted in the state militia. [5] The Georgia 4th Cavalry was mustered out of service on February 4, 1864 in that the terms of the enlistments of the troops had expired. [6] This was set forth in a letter from Major General Howell Cobb, Commanding Officer. No history of combat for this regiment has been found, but the Georgia militia served with the regular Confederate troops during the Atlanta Campaign and in opposing Sherman’s March to the Sea. [7] As above indicated, John Barnett Dillard and William Barnett Dillard joined the 11th Georgia Cavalry, Company F to continue fighting in the war.

A. J. Martin served in the Home Guard. The Home Guard consisted of men too old or too young to serve in combat and played a significant role in the Confederate effort.

George W. A. McKinney served in the 64th Georgia Regiment (Georgia Volunteers), Company B. Its men were recruited principally from Warren and Johnson counties. It shared in the battles, skirmishes and hardships of the Petersburg siege and the Appomattox operations. When this regiment surrendered, only nine officers and 93 men were present.[8]

James Bryan Conley served in the North Carolina 16th Regiment, Infantry (Thomas' Legion). Thomas' Legion, organized by William Holland Thomas who married a Dillard descendant, was state militia which consisted of Cherokee Indians and mountaineers principally from Western North Carolina in the brutal struggle between the residents of North Carolina and the strong Unionists in bordering Tennessee. This legion was often in conflict with both federal and state authorities in its unique role. [9] R.G.A. Love of Haywood County served as regimental lieutenant colonel and James R. Love and Dillard L. Love, all Thomas Dillard, Jr. descendants, served as company officers in this regiment. [10] The 16th Regiment was engaged in heavy combat in Virginia at Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Frazier's Farm, Cold Harbor, Cedar Run, Second Manassas, Harper's Ferry, and Fredericksburg. Of the 321 engaged at Gettysburg, thirty seven percent were disabled. [11]

George W. L. Kelley served in Company G of North Carolina troops in battle at Malvern Hill. Brothers, Andrew J. Martin and James Monroe Martin, were residents of Rabun County, Georgia but one of them married a South Carolinian. Both served in South Carolina Ist Regiment, Orr's Rifles, Company A. This regiment was organized at Sandy Springs, South Carolina (Anderson County) in July, 1861. Its men were principally residents of Abbeville, Pickens, Anderson and Marion Counties, South Carolina. It was assigned to General Gregg's and McGowan's brigade and fought with the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days' Battle to Cold Harbor. It was involved in the Petersburg trenches and the Appomattox activities. Of 537 engaged in combat at Gaines' Mill, fifty nine percent were killed, wounded or missing. It sustained 116 casualties at Second Manassas and 170 at Fredericksburg. It surrendered with nine officers and 48 men.

Details on Individuals

For the reader to more easily follow the information which follows, the children of Revolutionary soldier John Dillard, who settled Rabun County when he was past sixty years of age were: Thomas Dillard, William F. Dillard, John Dillard, Jr., James Dillard, Mary Rebecca Dillard Dickerson, Elizabeth Dillard Dryman and Sara Dillard Davis. There were possibly other daughters whose names are unknown. The children of James Dillard (son of Revolutionary soldier John Dillard) and his wife, Sarah Barnard Dillard, the core of the Rabun County, Dillards, are given in another article herein.

William Franklin Dillard, son of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard, born June 20, 1833 died at General Hospital No. 1 in Lynchburg, Virginia of pneumonia on January 15, 1863 where he is buried in a government cemetery at Lynchburg, Virginia in No. 1, 1st line, Lot 183 Clayton's Factory. He was listed as a private in Co. E., 24th Ga. Reg., Army of Northern Virginia. [12] National Archives File No. 433b on "W. F. Dillard" verifies that he was a private in Company E, 24th Georgia Cavalry (Confederate).

His Statement of Service Slip reads (apparently correspondence had been conducted with the Commissioner of Pensions, State of Georgia with an unknown party) "state. made, arch div. anything add" and "nothing additional found". A report of sick and wounded states that he was in General Hospital No. 1 at Lynchburg, Virginia for the month of January, 1863. Discharges on Surgeon's Certificate and Deaths notes indicate that he died from pneumonia on January 15, 18 _ (the year was left blank). The Register of Deceased Soldiers turned over to Quartermasters, C.S.A. filed in 1864, No. 4812 notes a credit to his account in the sum of $55.50. [13] William F. Dillard resided on the middle one‑third of James Dillard’s original 1000 acres.

His home place, which now stands, is owned by B.Malcolm Dillard. William F. Dillard married Jeanette Gibson, who died a few years after William F. Dillard did not return from the Civil War. She is buried in the Gibson cemetery on top of Scruggs Mountain near Rabun Nacoochee College. His death at Lynchburg, Virginia was not known about until recent years. He and his wife were survived by three small children who were taken in and raised by members of Wesley Chapel Methodist Church, including the Ritchie, Neville and Powell families. The William F. Dillard house was closed down until these three children became of age. The William F. Dillard property was divided and later owned by the descendants of these three children in three parts, where present descendants still reside.

John Barnett Dillard, born May 1, 1827 and who died on October 25, 1895, shown as age 23 on the 1860 Rabun County census, was the second son of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard. He was born and died in Rabun County, Georgia. It is thought that his real name may have been Barnard in that Barnett is a common misspelling of Barnard, but "Barnett" was used in Confederate records. Militia District No. 556 was created in Rabun County on December 14, 1863 under an act of the Georgia Legislature reorganizing the state militia. Both John B. Dillard, his brother, Albert George Dillard, and his brother's son, William Barnett Dillard, were members of this militia on the records of the Adjutant General of Georgia. He was listed under the name "Barnnett Dillard" in the Georgia 4th Cavalry (State Guards), Cannon's Company. [14] This is the same company in which his older brother, Albert George Dillard, served. Records of the National Archives No. 177 lists "Barrett Dillard" as a private in Cannon's Company, 4 Georgia Cavalry (State Guards). This record is undated.

A further undated record in the National Archives lists "Barrett Dillard" on the muster roll for six months in Company D of Georgia 4th Cavalry (State Guards) as a private in Captain H. W. Cannon's Company (Brown Mountain Riflemen), Colonel Robert White's Regiment, Georgia.

It is recorded in Register of Commissions issued for the Georgia Militia in the Adjutant General’s office at page 103 that John B. Dillard was Captain of the 556th District of the 7th Division, 1st Brigade at Clayton in Rabun County on July 19, 1862. His signature on a letter accepting his commission dated January 17, 1863 is filed in correspondence with the Georgia Adjutant General.

John Barnett Dillard was mustered in on May 25, 1864 as a regular in the Confederate Army after the 4th Cavalry was mustered out of service in February, 1864. The Georgia Confederate Pensions and Records Department in its compiled commission and rosters shows John Barnett Dillard on May 25, 1864 as a 5th Sergeant on the Muster Roll of Company F, 11th Regiment of Georgia, (formerly the 30th Battalion Georgia Cavalry) Cavalry known as Harmon’s Brigade and as “Rabun Gap Defenders”. [15] He was described in this record as age 37, five feet, 9 inches tall with blue eyes and dark hair. The 11th Regiment was involved in heavy combat in Virginia and elsewhere, including Petersburg, Cold Harbor and Gettysburg.

Handwritten memoranda given by the late Addie Corn Ritchie to John M. Dillard some thirty years ago state that John Barnett Dillard was hospitalized in Augusta, Georgia for five months for injuries he received during the Civil War. Available records do not disclose where these injuries were received. Trade journals list "John B. Dillard, postmaster and grist mill" and "Dillard House, John B. Dillard, propr" at the Head of the Tennessee Post Office, Rabun County, Georgia. [16] An uncompleted and undated letter prepared by the late Rose Dillard Hutchins a year or so before she died states that the "original Dillard House" was the two story home of John B. Dillard, located close to the road in which the Dillard Post Office was housed for many years. The kitchen was separated from the main house. A slave family resided in a cabin in the rear. The John B. Dillard lands comprised the southern one‑third of James Dillard's property surrounded by the present Baptist church, northeast of which near the road the home place stood. A portion of this property was later owned by his son, Beavert R. Dillard, and is now owned by his great grandson, Edward R. Dillard. "J. B. Dillard, grist mill" was among the list of farmers in 1883 at Rabun Gap Post Office, also known as the Head of the Tennessee Post Office. [17]

Barnett Dillard (Ritchie referred to him as “Barnard”) made the pulpit for the wooden church building, construction of which was started in 1882 and completed several years later. This pulpit was refinished and placed in the building in use in 1963. [18] He married Rachel Matilda McKinney, who was born on June 3, 1831 and died June 17, 1899, and their ten children are set forth in a separate article which follows. John B. Dillard, his wife and three of his children are buried in the Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church Cemetery at Dillard, Georgia.

Albert George Dillard, a son of James and Sarah Barnard Dillard, born April 21, 1824 who died June 14, 1890, was on the list of those eligible for military service in Ritchie's Sketches of Rabun County History. He would have been at this time aged 26. He was born, lived and died in Rabun County and is buried at the Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church. He married Elizabeth Ann (“Betsy”) McKinney (born November 10, 1823, died February 28, 1919) on December 3, 1846. The names of his children are given in an article which follows. Albert Dillard along with his brother, Barnett, was enrolled in the state militia in District 556 according to the records of the Adjutant General of Georgia. His oldest child, William B. Dillard, listed below, was also listed as a member of this militia unit. [19] National Archives records state that he was on the muster roll for at least six months, but this record, like his brother's record, is undated. His obituary in an unknown farmers’ publication states [20] that he died at age 66 of a heart attack in the Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church while attending a Farmers Alliance meeting. The Albert George Dillard one story log home place (shown in photograph owned by Lillian Dillard Taylor of a birthday party for Betsy McKinney Dillard, his wife) was near the North Carolina state line in that he occupied the northernmost one third portion of the James Dillard lands. This house was moved from the path of the Blue Ridge Railroad when it was first constructed. A. G. Dillard was listed as a blacksmith and as a farmer at Head of Tennessee Post Office in early trade journals. [21]

William Barnett Dillard, a son of Albert George Dillard and Elizabeth (Betsy) McKinney Dillard, is above mentioned as being in the Georgia state militia in Rabun County when he was only sixteen years of age. He is later shown on the Georgia Confederate Pensions and Records Department and on the muster roll of Company F, 11th Regiment of Georgia, Cavalry or in the “Rabun Gap Defenders” along with his uncle, John Barnett Dillard. He was on the muster roll as a private on May 25, 1864 and “at home at Jones farm near Savannah, Georgia sick with the measles March, 1865 to the close of the war”. He died on April 22, 1906.

Leander M. Beavert was born on October 27, 1829 and died January 23, 1907. He married Margaret McKinney, a daughter of William McKinney and Margaret Anderson McKinney who were nearby neighbors of the James Dillard family. His wife, Margaret McKinney Beavert, received a pension on account of infirmity and poverty stating he enlisted in May 1861 in Co. E., 24th Ga. Reg. This was Rabun County Riflemen, Co. E, 24th Georgia Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia. He enlisted in May, 1861, was a first lieutenant by August 24, 1861 and was made a captain on July 20, 1864. The Muster Roll of Company E, 24th Georgia Volunteers, Infantry of C. S. Army shows that he was promoted from first lieutenant to captain in April, 1964. He is buried with his wife and their "adopted" daughters at Wesley Chapel Cemetery in Dillard, Georgia. [22]

George Washington Anderson McKinney was a son of William McKinney and Margaret Anderson McKinney. He was born April 14, 1826 and died in Polk County, Georgia on July 26, 1901. He was a private in Company B. 65th Regiment of Georgia Volunteers. He served as an army nurse at Frank Ramsey Hospital in Cassville, Georgia and was discharged in 1864 upon his appointment as clerk of the Inferior Court of Townes County, but subsequently reenlisted for service. [23] For the reader to follow the information about the McKinneys contained herein, the children of William McKinney and Margaret Anderson McKinney, who migrated from Buncombe County into Rabun County, were George Washington Anderson McKinney, Doctor Tatum McKinney, Charles Lafayette McKinney, William Marshall McKinney, Elizabeth (“Betsy”) McKinney who married Albert George Dillard, Rachel M. McKinney who married John Barnett Dillard and Margaret McKinney who married Leander M. Beavert. [24]

Charles Lafayette McKinney was born April 24, 1834 and died in Townes County on September 21, 1863 at 29 years of age. According to his family tradition his early death was attributable to wounds he received during the Civil War. No service record has been found for him to date. He was a brother of George Washington Anderson McKinney.

William Marshall McKinney was born January 26, 1837 (shown as age 23 on the 1860 Rabun County census) and died in Texas in 1903. He was a first corporal on August 21, 1861 and reported as a deserter on October 1, 1864 [25] He was a brother of George Washington Anderson McKinney.[26] Ritchie in his Rabun County history confused him with his father, William McKinney, who died in 1859 and was erroneously identified by Ritchie at page 192 as enlisting as a corporal in 1861. The Muster Roll of Company E, 24th Regiment, Georgia Volunteers, Infantry, C. S. Army, lists William M. McKinney.

Doctor Tatum McKinney was shown as age 20 on the 1860 Rabun County census in the household of his mother, Margaret. He was born February 10, 1840 and killed in Confederate Service at age 22 in December, 1862. He served as a second corporal in Company E, 24th Regiment of Georgia Volunteers comprising the "Rabun Gap Riflemen". [27] He was a brother of George Washington Anderson McKinney. The Muster Roll of Company E, 24th Regiment, Georgia Volunteers, Infantry, Confederate States Army, lists Doctor T. McKinney along with his brother, William M. McKinney.

James R. Lambert was born in Macon County, North Carolina on December 21, 1842 to William McDowell Lambert and Caroline Dillard, daughter of James and Sarah Barnard Dillard. Caroline Dillard Lambert died when he was nine days old. Shown on the 1850 census of Rabun Gap, he was raised by James and Sarah Barnard Dillard. He was the only additional person listed in their household on the 1860 Census of Rabun County. He enlisted with 24th Georgia, Company E on August 24, 1861. He participated in the battles of Yorktown, Seven Days, Malvern Hill and the Battle of South Carolina in Maryland. He was wounded in 1862 by a miniball which broke both bones in his left leg below the knee. He was captured and sent to a U.S. Army hospital in Burkettsville, Maryland. It was there that he refused to permit a Union surgeon to amputate his leg. He was later transferred as a prisoner of war to Fort McHenry near Baltimore and was paroled in November, 1862. After spending time in Confederate hospitals, in December 1864 he was retired to Invalid Corps. He remained in Georgia, where he signed the Reconstruction Oath Book in April, 1868. He migrated to Wood County, Texas, where he married Sarah Vaughn in 1880. They farmed and were the parents of five children, including Jesse Dillard Lambert. He died in 1902 and is buried in Concord Cemetery in Wood County, Texas. Sarah Vaughn Lambert applied for a widow's pension in 1915, which she received from the state of Texas until her death in 1929. [28]

James Madison Ritchie is shown as age 33 on the 1860 Rabun County census. He married Elizabeth Dickerson, a daughter of Obediah Terry Dickerson and Mary Dillard Dickerson (a daughter of Revolutionary soldier John Dillard of Rabun County). He served in Company E, Young's Battalion which was a part of the 11th Regiment formed out of the 30th Cavalry Battalion. He is also listed with service in Company F of the 11th Georgia Cavalry. According to Georgia Pension records, he was on the muster roll as a private on May 25, 1864 and surrendered at Columbia, South Carolina on April 26, 1865. His wife, Elizabeth, filed for a widow's pension based on his Confederate service. He was born on January 6, 1825 and died a resident of Rabun County on June 12, 1909. [29] He was involved in the California gold rush and returned home in 1856 to marry. He served as a member of the House of Representatives and as state senator from Rabun County. He is buried in Wesley Chapel Methodist Cemetery at Dillard. The children of James Madison Ritchie and Elizabeth Dickerson were Mary Rebecca, who married Zachariah Barnard Dillard; James Riley "Bud" Ritchie who married Lavania Caroline Marinda Lucinda Carter; John F. Ritchie who married Margaret Texano (“Texie”) Kelly; William Robert Lee Ritchie who married Sarah Carter; and Thomas Jefferson Ritchie who married Ada Green and, on her death, Lizzie Garland Vanhook. [30]

Riley Burton Ritchie was a brother of James Madison Ritchie. He married Sarah Ann Martin, a daughter of A. J. Martin and Marinda Dillard Martin (daughter of James and Sarah Barnard Dillard). His service was in Company F, 11th Georgia Cavalry. He was a private on May 25, 1864 and surrendered at Columbia, South Carolina on April 26, 1865. His wife applied for a Confederate widow's pension.

Thomas Hopper is included herein as a first cousin to the wives of John Barnett Dillard, Albert G. Dillard and Leander M. Beavert. He is shown as age 35 on the 1860 census of Rabun County with wife Louisa. He enlisted in March 1862 in Company F, 52nd Georgia Regiment, Beauregard Braves from Rabun County, and died in a Lauderdale Springs, Mississippi hospital in May, 1863 from measles. He was a 4th Corporal. His widow Louisa applied for a widow's pension under the 1891 Georgia legislative act paying widows of Confederate servicemen.

Joseph Hopper was age 29 on the 1860 Rabun County census of the Valley District. He was a brother to Jasper and Henry Hopper. He was a private on March 4, 1862. [31] He is shown as having enlisted in Company F, 11th Regiment Georgia. He was in the Cavalry on May 25, 1864.

Jasper Hopper served with other Rabun County men as volunteers in the brutal war involving the Seminole Indians in Florida in 1835. [32] Georgia Confederate Pensions and Records Department in commissions and rosters compiled by the commission records state that Jasper Hopper served in Company F, 11th Regiment of Georgia (Harmon’s Brigade), known as the “Rabun County Riflemen,” as a private on May 25, 1864. He was captured at Waynesboro, Georgia on December 4, 1864, paroled at Point Lookout, Maryland on February 18, 1865 and received at Boulware Cox’s Wharves, James River, Virginia for exchange on February 20, 1865. [33]

William L. Dickerson was a grandson of Obediah Terry Dickerson (whose wife was Mary Dillard, daughter of Revolutionary soldier John Dillard). He was born in 1844 and died in 1923. His parents were William Terry Dickerson and Adelaine Keener. He is listed in the Beauregard Braves of Rabun County as a private. He served in Company F of 52nd Georgia Regiment and in Company E of the 24th Georgia Regiment. He was captured at Baker's Creek, Mississippi on May 16, 1863, paroled at Fort Delaware on July 3, 1863 and exchanged July 4, 1863 and was in City Point, Virginia by July 6, 1863. He surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia on April 9, 1865. [34] His wife filed for a confederate pension. He is buried in Blue Heights Cemetery.

Andrew Jackson Martin would have been age 46 on the 1860 Rabun County census on which he was shown. He was married to Marinda Dillard, daughter of James Dillard and Sallie Barnard Dillard. Born on July 18, 1814, he served in the Home Guard. He died July 3, 1898. Three of his sons with Confederate service are listed below.

William A. Martin, son of A. J. Martin and Marinda Dillard Martin, served in Company F of the 11th Georgia Cavalry. He was born December 17, 1844. Georgia Department of Pensions and Records report that he was on the muster roll as a private on May 25, 1864 and surrendered at Stateboro, North Carolina in 1865. Born in Georgia, he died near Dillard, Georgia on March 31, 1930.

Andrew Jackson Martin (Jr.), a son of A. J. Martin and Marinda Dillard Martin, was wounded in the Confederate Army at Seven Pines. He was born on December 14, 1842 and died on August 11, 1862. Andrew J. Martin enlisted as a private in S. C. 1st (Orr's) Rifles, Company A, at Sullivan's Island, South Carolina on November 9, 1861. [35] He was on the muster roll of this company at Sullivan's Island located on the South Carolina coast for some time. His service was for three years. This record states that at the time of his death he was a farmer, born in Rabun County, Georgia, age 19, with blue eyes and fair complexion, 5 feet 11 and one‑half inches tall with dark hair. His service record reports that he died on August 11, 1862. Where he died and the cause of his death is "not stated." [36] Family tradition is that he died in a Confederate hospital in either Columbia, South Carolina or Richmond, Virginia. [37] His brother, James Monroe Martin, married a South Carolinian which explains why both served in South Carolina instead of Georgia.

James Monroe Martin, son of A. J. Martin and Marinda Dillard Martin, was age 22 on the 1860 Rabun County census. He was born in September, 1837. [38] He was listed in South Carolina 1st (Orr's) Rifles, Company A, which is the same regiment and company in which his brother, Andrew J. Martin, served. [39] James M. Martin enlisted as a private at Camp Jackson in South Carolina on July 1, 1862. He was present at several musters at this location up to 1863. He was reported as transferred from Richmond, Virginia Hospital No. 9 to Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond on February 21, 1863.

The record appears to read that he was suffering from "secondary hepatitis". This record further reports that he was returned to duty on March 14, 1863. He was taken as a prisoner at Spotsylvania, Virginia on May 12, 1864. After this date the record shows no further facts about James M. Martin. Family tradition is that he was killed in Confederate service at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia in April, 1864. [40]

George W. L. Kelley was the husband of Nancy Martin, a daughter of A. J. Martin and Marinda Dillard Martin, who was a daughter of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard. He enlisted on June 22, 1862. [41] He was wounded on July 1, 1962 at Malvern Hill. His connection appears to have been through Company G of North Carolina Troops. The fact that he was wounded at Malvern Hill indicates that he was in the same combat as the 24th Georgia Regiment, Company E, consisting of several Rabun County, Georgia residents.

James Alexander McCarter (Mack) Neville, was the husband of Margaret Dillard, a daughter of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard. He served in Company F. 11th Georgia Cavalry. [42] He was born on March 29, 1832 and died July 11, 1904 and is buried in Wesley Chapel Cemetery, Dillard, Georgia.

James Bryan Conley, born in 1842, was the oldest of the ten children of Horatio Nelson Conley of Otto, Macon County, North Carolina, who married Arzelia Dillard, a daughter of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard. James Bryan Conley enlisted in Confederate service on May 14, 1861 as a private in Company H. 6th Regiment and received a bounty of ten dollars. His regiment was reorganized on May 20, 1862 and became Companies A through E, Infantry Regiment, Thomas' Legion, North Carolina troops. This designation was changed to 16th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry (State Troops). He was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines on June 15 or 16, 1862, which was just prior to the Battle of Mechanicsville. He died in service in Richmond, Virginia late in July, 1862. Documents filed by his father on December 26, 1862 requested his back salary which was in the sum of $20.91. Family stories say that his parents went by train to Richmond and brought his body back for burial in the Conley family cemetery near Otto. At the same time, his parents brought back the body of a fourteen year old boy who had died with no known relatives in order to bury him, too, with a Christian burial. The Conley family cemetery has tall headstones marking the grave of Horatio Nelson Conley and Arzelia Dillard Conley, but there is no gravestone marking the grave of James Bryan Conley. The last known descendant buried in this cemetery was Caroline Clarissa Conley, who tended the cemetery until her death in 1911. [43]

John H. Corn of Hiawassee, Georgia, married Sarah ("Sallie") Dillard, daughter of John B. Dillard, Sr. and Rachel McKinney Dillard. Numerous children were born of this marriage, including Addie Corn who married Dr. A. J. Ritchie. John H. Corn served as a Captain in Company D, 24th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia. His service record extends from August 21, 1861 through May 12, 1862. [44] Many of the members of the Corn family, including John H. Corn and his wife, are buried near Hiawassee in a private cemetery on the family farm near Lower Hightower Baptist Church.

Civil War Conditions in Rabun County

Georgia seceded from the Union on January 19, 1861. The two delegates from Rabun County, Samuel Beck and Horace Cannon, voted against secession from the Union in the convention called by the Georgia Legislature at Milledgeville after the election of Lincoln. This was typical of the climate of opinion of the populace in mountainous regions of the South, including Rabun County. See Rabun County and Its People, id., page 83 relying upon Lillian Henderson's Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, id., volumes 3 and 4. The Confederate Congress passed an act authorizing the creation of local defense troops on August 21, 1861.

A. J. Ritchie, id., at pages 274 and 275 lists the names of men who were subject to military duty in 1862 in the cause of the Confederate Government, (citing records of Georgia Department of Archives and History). Ritchie points out at page 273 that this list was as a result of a Confederate act passed in 1862 which included all men between the ages of 18 and 35 years of age. In 1864 this was amended to include men between the ages of 17 and 50. A. G. Dillard, W. F. Dillard, J. B. Dillard, J. R. McKinney, Joseph, Jasper, Thomas and James Hopper were included on this 1862 list. Governor Joseph E. Brown, a firm believer in states’ rights, used the Georgia state militia as a sanctuary to keep its citizens from being drafted into the Confederate Army. [45] On December 14, 1863, the Georgia Legislature enacted statutes reorganizing the state militia. This legislation required the enrolling of free white males in designated military districts in the state, with such lists to be filed with the state Adjutant and Inspector General.

Shown on the list filed with the Adjutant General in 1863 for the 40th Senatorial District (Rabun County), Military Districts No. 556 and 587 were J. B. Dillard, age 36 and 9 months, farmer; A. G. Dillard, age 39 and 6 months, a “smith” with a “good” rifle; W. B. Dillard, age 16 and five months, a farmer; Jasper Hopper, age 45 and three months, born in Tennessee, with a rifle; A. J. Martin, age 49, a farmer with a shotgun; William Martin, age 19, a farmer; James M. Richey, 39, a farmer, born in South Carolina; and R. B. Richey, age 34, a farmer born in South Carolina. Substantially the same persons were shown on a separate list in the same year in Militia District 556 of Rabun County.

This state militia legislation resulted in service by many residents in the Georgia 4th Cavalry which was mustered out of service on February 4, 1864 in that the terms of the enlistments of the troops had expired. No combat history for this regiment has been found, but the Georgia militia served with the regular Confederate troops during the Atlanta Campaign and in opposing Sherman’s March to the Sea. [46] Among the sixty Rabun County families in 1862 who were slave owners were William F. Dillard, John Barnett Dillard and Albert George Dillard, Margaret McKinney, then a widow, and Jasper Hopper. Most owned two slaves. [47] Farms were small and most slaves were owned by residents of the rich flat land "Valley District". [48]

During the Civil War there were not enough men left in Rabun County to produce enough corn to make bread. [49] In 1863 the Georgia Legislature was forced to enact legislation for the relief of families of men in service. Inflated Confederate currency made it almost impossible to obtain sugar, salt and coffee. Salt was hauled from Walhalla.[50] In the Rabun County area after the Civil War, farming was the industry of the county with only a grist mill and some scattered sawmills. The failure of the Blue Ridge Railroad employing what Ritchie says was 2000 people before the Civil War, resulted in adverse social and economic conditions. [51] Farms were reduced in size and economic viability in that they were divided among the grandchildren of the settlers. However, the economic value of the "open range" of the mountains was still available to the small farm owners.

Cass County, Georgia Dillards

The following are descendants of John Dillard, Jr., born about 1780, a son of John Dillard of Rabun County, Georgia, who with his wife, Rhoda Lee, left the rest of the family while it resided in Buncombe County, North Carolina. He migrated first to Knox County, Kentucky, then back to Monroe County, Tennessee and finally to Cass County, Georgia (now Gordon County), in the last of which counties he died about 1847. The children of John Dillard, Jr. and Rhoda Lee are as follows: Elijah Dillard, William Dillard, Mary (Polly) Dillard, Sarah Dillard Campbell, Fannie Dillard, Charlotte (Lotty) Dillard, Nancy Jane Dillard, Edith Dillard and Cynthia Dillard. [52]

Elijah Dillard was born 1802 and died in 1856. He was a son of John Dillard, Jr. and grandson of John Dillard of Rabun County. His sons included Love Dillard and William Greenbury Clay Dillard. Elijah Dillard served in Company F. 4th Infantry of Georgia.[53]

Love Dillard, a son of Elijah Dillard and grandson of John Dillard, Jr. was born in 1839. He served in Toombs Volunteers, 4th Georgia Infantry, Dole's and Goode's Brigade which was organized in Gordon County, Georgia on April 29, 1861.

Samuel Dillard, a son of William Dillard (1805-1878) and Nancy Dillard, grandson of John Dillard, Jr., was born February 10, 1829 and died January 4, 1907. He served in Company D, 8th Georgia Battalion, Gist's Brigade, Walker Division, Army of Tennessee which was organized in Gordon County, Georgia on October 11, 1861. [54] Samuel Dillard was a witness for the pension claim of Charlotte Taylor of Gordon County. [55]

Mannerly Dillard, born about 1830, was another son of William Dillard (1805-1878) and grandson of John Dillard, Jr. He is listed as "M. Dillard" who served in the Georgia 2nd Cavalry of Company D. [56]

M.M. Dillard, another son of William Dillard, born about 1843, was a captain in the Georgia 1st Infantry (State Guards), Company G. [57] Robert Dillard, a brother of M.M. Dillard in this same family, born about 1827, is listed in the Georgia Infantry, 14th BN (State Guards) in Company H. [58]

Bradley K. Dillard, another brother, born about 1835, served in the Georgia 4th Infantry, Company F. Dole's and Goode's Brigade. He was born on November 20, 1835 and died on March 27, 1892. [59]

W.W. Dillard, served in Company 1, 1st Regiment, Georgia Cavalry, Crew's Brigade, which was recruited from Gordon, Floyd, Cherokee, Bartow, Walker and Paulding Counties in 1862. It is uncertain according to Janelle Knight whether or not he was a descendant of John Dillard, Jr.

DILLARD ANNUAL

Published by the Dillard Family Association

News Items: 1999 Dillard Reunion is Second Weekend in June page 1

Articles: “Descendants and Kin of John Dillard of Rabun County

In Memoriam: Lucile R. Johnson

Business Session: Dillard Family Association

Robert G. Dillard Dies at age 66

Statement of Publication:

Dillard Annual

Descendants and Kin of John Dillard of Rabun County

With Civil War Service [1]