Published by the Dillard
Family Association
Table of
Contents
News
Items:
1999 Dillard Reunion is Second Weekend in June
page 1
New Dillard Association Homepage on the Internet
page 2
Dillard History in E-Mail Available in “Dillard L\D”
page 2
1998 Reunion: Remembering the Confederacy
page 3
Business Session: Dillard Family Association
page 5
Robert G. Dillard Dies at age 66
page 5
Dillard Annual
Mailing Policy
page 5
Statement of Publication: Dillard Annual
page 5
Dorothy Hughes’ “Dillard Database” Now
Contains
19,908 names
page 5
Articles:
“Descendants and Kin of John
Dillard of Rabun County
With Civil War Service”
pages 6-24
”Joseph Dillard, His Children and Probable
Dillard
Ancestors,” by
Dorothy Dillard Hughes
pages 26-38
Ancestors of the Rabun County,
Georgia Dillards”
pages 39-48
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
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 18th
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
Descendants and Kin of John Dillard of Rabun County
With Civil War Service
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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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”.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
He was a brother of George Washington Anderson McKinney.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
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. 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."
Family tradition is that he died in a Confederate hospital in either Columbia,
South Carolina or Richmond, Virginia.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Farms were small and most slaves were owned by residents of the rich flat land
"Valley District".
During the
Civil War there were not enough men left in Rabun County to produce enough corn
to make bread.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Samuel Dillard was a witness for the
pension claim of Charlotte Taylor of Gordon County.
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.
M.M.
Dillard, another son of William Dillard, born about 1843, was a captain in
the Georgia 1st Infantry (State Guards), Company G. 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.
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.
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.
William
Greenbury Clay Dillard, Jr., a son of W.G.C. Dillard, a son of Elijah
Dillard who in turn was a son of John Dillard, Jr., born about 1832, was in the
Georgia 1st Infantry (State Guards), Company G, as a first Sergeant. He had a first cousin by the same name,
who was the son of William Dillard.
Greene County, Missouri
Dillards
The following
with Civil War service are the descendants of William F. Dillard, son of John
Dillard of Rabun County, who migrated to Knox County, Kentucky and later to
Greene County, Missouri. The children of William F. Dillard and his wife, Sarah
Gregory Dillard, were: Mary Love Dillard, Stephen Morgan Dillard, Samuel
Dillard, John McCord Dillard, Elizabeth Candace Dillard Maddy, Robert D.
Dillard, Frances Dillard Price, James Dillard, Amanda J. Dillard, Cynthia
Caroline Dillard Breedlove, George Anderson Dillard, William Smith Dillard, and
Sarah V. Dillard Smith.
Robert H. Dillard, son of Robert D. Dillard and great grandson of
Revolutionary soldier John Dillard, was born in Greene County, Missouri in 1842
and died at Helena, Arkansas in the Civil War on December 21, 1862 in the Union
Army. He is buried at Memphis, Tennessee National Cemetery in Section H. Grave
4237. He enlisted on September 10, 1861 in Company A, 6th Regiment Missouri
Cavalry and had the rank of corporal.
Robert D.
Dillard, a son of William F. Dillard and Sarah Gregory Dillard, and grandson
of Revolutionary soldier John Dillard, was born in Knox County, Kentucky on
December 8, 1811 and died in Greene County, Missouri on May 25, 1899 where he is
buried in Palmetto Cemetery. His wife was Margaret E. Smith. He enlisted in the
Union Army on December 6, 1861 at Rolla, Missouri in Company B. 6th Cavalry,
Missouri. He was a first lieutenant in the Red River Campaign and at Sabine
Cross Roads. In 1890 he applied for a pension and received $12.00 per month
until his death.
James
Monroe Breedlove married Cynthia Caroline Dillard, a daughter of William F.
Dillard and Sarah Gregory Dillard. He was a private in Company C, 8th Regiment,
Missouri Volunteer Cavalry of the Union Army. He was shot in the head while
guarding an ambulance traveling from Brownville, Arkansas to Austin, Arkansas.
He married Jane Russell, his second wife, in 1899.
George
Anderson Dillard, a son of William F. Dillard and Sarah Gregory Dillard, was
born in Monroe County, Tennessee on December 4, 1826 and died in Greene County,
Missouri on October 16, 1903 where he is buried in Danforth Cemetery. He married
Eliza Jane Gibson in 1849. In 1862, he was commissioned as captain of the
enrolled militia and was engaged in the defense of Springfield, Missouri. In
that same year he was captain of Company E, 72nd Regiment of the Enrolled
Militia and was discharged in 1865.
William
Smith Dillard, a son of William F. Dillard and Sarah Gregory Dillard, was
born in Monroe County, Tennessee on October 11, 1828 and died in Greene County,
Missouri on January 25, 1902. He is
buried in Danforth Cemetery. His wife was Nancy E. Langely. He served in the
Missouri militia 72nd Regiment of the Union Army and was in the Marmaduke fight
at Springfield, Missouri.
Independence County,
Arkansas Dillards
Thomas
Dillard, oldest son of John Dillard of Rabun County, Georgia, was born in
Pittsylvania County, Virginia about 1776. He left the rest of his family in
Buncombe County, North Carolina and settled in Independence County, Arkansas
where he died in 1835. The known children of Thomas Dillard and his wife, Mary
Ann Wood Dillard, were: William M. Dillard, John V. Dillard, Thomas Dillard,
Jr., Elizabeth Ann Dillard Ball, Nancy Dillard Bruce, and Mary (Polly) Dillard
Cason.
Jonathan
Wood Wideman, grandson of Thomas Dillard, born 1831, died in 1863 in the
Civil War. His mother's given name is unknown.
Thomas J.
Bruce, another grandson of Thomas Dillard, died in the Union Army from
measles about 1863. He was from Helena, Phillips County, Arkansas. His mother
was Nancy Dillard Bruce.
Benjamin
Franklin Bruce, born in Independence County in 1836, another grandson of
Thomas Dillard, who died in 1905, served in the Union Army.
Clinton
Monroe Ball, whose mother was Elizabeth Ann Dillard Ball, a daughter of
Thomas Dillard, was born in Independence County in 1834 and died in 1910. He
served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Elbridge Mason Ball, brother to Clinton Monroe Ball, born in 1836,
served in the Union Army and was hanged by Confederate soldiers near his home on
May 5, 1864 upon his return from service. The residents of Independence County
were split among allegiance to the North and South and feelings ran high.
John Bunion Cason, husband of Mary (Polly) Dillard Cason, daughter
of Thomas Dillard, died of dysentery in service and was buried at Jefferson
Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. He served in Company A, 1st
Arkansas Volunteers.
Clinton
Bradley, husband of Susan Gincy Cason, a granddaughter of Thomas Dillard,
served in the 1st Arkansas Volunteers, Company A, Union Army and died in
service. He is buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis,
Missouri.
Thomas
Dillard, Jr., a son of Thomas Dillard, of Batesville, Independence County,
Arkansas, served as a private in Company B. 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment. He was
born about 1818 and died in 1872.
Western North Carolina: Thomas Dillard, Jr.
Line
John Dillard
of Rabun County with his sister, Ann, were "bound out" to Thomas Dillard, Jr.,
his first cousin, while both resided in Halifax County, later Pittsylvania
County, Virginia. They later went together to Washington County, North Carolina
(now Tennessee), where Thomas Dillard, Jr. died in 1784. John Dillard resided in
Washington County until he migrated to Buncombe County, North Carolina about
1789. The children of Thomas Dillard, Jr. and his wife, Martha Webb Dillard,
were: Elizabeth Dillard Hutchings (married Charles Hutchings), Benjamin Dillard
(married Anne Ward Lynch) , Winnesophia Dillard (married James Love), Mary Ann
Dillard (married James Robert Love ),
Thomas Dillard, III (married Dorcus Love), Stacy Dillard Elkins (married Gabriel
Elkins), Martha Dillard (married Thomas Love), Anne Dillard (never married),
John Dillard and Rebecca Dillard (married Joseph Byler).
Eleven great grandsons of Thomas Dillard, Jr. served in the
Confederacy, including six brothers from one family and three from another.
William
Holland Thomas Dillard, a great‑grandson of Thomas Dillard, Jr., was the son of
David Love Dillard (1815‑1878) and Edie Harris Dillard (1819‑1898). A resident
of Haywood County, North Carolina on lands which are now a part of the Cherokee
Indian Reservation, he was born in 1838. He enlisted on May 30, 1861 in Capt.
Thaddeus D. Bryson's 25th Regiment North Carolina Infantry (State Troops). He
mustered in on June 8, 1861. He was wounded in the Battle of Fredericksburg,
Virginia on December 13, 1862 and subsequently received other injuries in
combat. He died in 1908. His state furnished gravestone indicates Confederate
service from 1861‑1865.
William
Holland Thomas, born in 1805 in
Haywood County, North Carolina, was the son of Richard Thomas and Termperance
Calvert Thomas. He married Sarah Jane Bell Love, a daughter of James Robert Love
and Mary Ann Dillard, and a great granddaughter of Thomas Dillard, Jr. He was
possibly of blood kin to Thomas Dillard, Jr. through descent from his sister.
Prior to the Civil War he as active in Cherokee Indian affairs. He served as
tribal chief of the Cherokees and as state senator from 1848 through 1862. He
organized and mustered fourteen companies of infantry and four companies of
Cherokee Indians for the Confederate cause. These companies became known as
“Thomas Legion” with a colorful history defending the mountain passes between
western Carolina and Tennessee
where Union sympathies were substantial.
See Storm in the Mountains, id.
R.G.A.
Love, a great grandson of
Thomas Dillard, Jr., born January 4, 1827 was a son of James Robert Love
and Mary Ann Dillard and a brother in law of William Holland Thomas. His rank
was colonel in Thomas’ Legion.
Dr. Samuel
Leonidus Love, also a son of James Robert Love and Mary Ann Dillard, was
born August 25, 1828 and served in Thomas’ Legion.
Captain
Matthew Hale Love, also a son of James Robert Love and Mary Ann Dillard,
born April 15, 1840 served in Thomas’ Legion.
James
Robert Love, born August 19, 1832 served as Lt. Colonel and field commander
of Thomas’ Legion. He was one of the six sons of John Bell Love and Margaret
Coleman Love and was a great grandson of
Thomas Dillard, Jr. Brothers
who served with him were Dr. John Coman Love, assistant surgeon in
Thomas’Legion who died in 1866 from causes attributable to his military service,
Thomas J. Love, born 1844, Dallas F. Love, born born 1844,
Dillard L. Love, born 1838,
first Lieutenant in Company A, and William Burney Love, a lawyer who
resigned to become Solicitor of Transylvania County, North Carolina.
Thadeus
Dillard Bryson, born February 13, 1829 to Daniel Granderson Bryson and
Artemesia Petit Dillard Bryson, another great grandson of Thomas Dillard, Jr.,
was a colonel in the 20th North Carolina Infantry and later a member of the
North Carolina House of Commons from Jackson County.
Daniel
Granderson Fisher, was the third child of Allen Fisher and Dorcus Bryson (a
daughter of Daniel G. Bryson and Artemesia Dillard Bryson), enlisted in the
Confederate cause at age 19. He was a second lieutenant in Company E and was
wounded at Mechanicsville. He was transferred to and served as captain of
Company G of Thomas’ Legion. Two brothers served in Thomas’ Legion with him who
were Lucious Lafayette Fisher and Julius Wilburn Fisher.
Lynch M.
Dillard, was the son of Thomas Dillard (IV) and Martha Dillard. He served as
a first lieutenant in Company B of the Jackson Guards of Thomas’ Legion.
John Jehu
Jones, married Rutha Dillard, a sister of William Holland Thomas Dillard and
the eldest daughter of David Love Dillard and Edie Harris Dillard. He served in
Thomas’ Legion, 62nd North Carolina Infantry. He died on April 2, 1863 of influenza at
Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.
William
Riley Franklin, was married to Darcus Manurey Dillard, another sister of
William Holland Thomas Dillard. He
entered the Confederacy at seventeen years of age and served in the 16th North
Carolina Infantry.
Jacob
Marion Shuler, married Frances Caroline Dillard, another daughter of David
Love Dillard and Edie Harris Dillard. He also joined the Confederate cause at
seventeen years of age. He served as a member of Company F, 29th North Carolina
troops. He was captured and taken as a prisoner in the defense of Mobile,
Alabama. He was imprisoned at Ships Island. He was transferred to Vicksburg,
Mississippi and paroled on May 11, 1965.
It is impossible to include all Dillards
with Civil War service in this manuscript, even if confined to descendants and
kin of John Dillard. The reader is
invited to review a list of Dillards who served in the Confederacy in The Roster of Confederate Soldiers
1861-1865, Volume V, edited by Janet B. Hewett, Broadfoot Publishing
Company, Wilmington, N. C. (1996), or in other standard directories.
Grave of
William F. Dillard in Confederate
Cemetery, Lynchburg,
Virginia
Provided by Anne G.
Dickerson
James
Dillard’s mill on Betty’s Creek near present
Dillard United Methodist Church provided by
Almeda H. Burns from papers of George M. Dillard
Possible residence of John Barnett
Dillard
at Dillard, Georgia provided by
Margaret
Gaulden from papers of John Barnett
Dillard, Jr.
Joseph Dillard, His Children, and
Probable Dillard Ancestors
By Dorothy Dillard Hughes
Anyone who fails to realize that in
genealogy we are dealing more with probabilities than
absolute certainties should
change fields.
--Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Applied Genealogy,
p.51.
The
eternal question in genealogy is, Who was the father of the earliest known
ancestor? In this case, Who was the father of Joseph Dillard, husband of
Priscilla Wilkins? As in many early Dillard families, no official record has
been found to identify Joseph's parents. Consequently the purpose of this paper
is to tell something of his family and to present whatever indirect evidence
there is that indicates the probable father of Joseph Dillard, so that his
ancestry can be traced to the first Dillard in a Virginia record in 1650.
A number of descendants have learned their ancestry back to one of the
sons or daughters and so to Joseph and Priscilla Wilkins Dillard, but no one has
discovered Joseph's father. Dr. James L. Reid, of Campobello, South Carolina,
the chief researcher, has discovered and charted descendants of most of the
children and has helped most, if not all, who are researching the line. He has
not been satisfied to rely on tradition but has delved into censuses, deed
books, marriage records, probate and other court records, and family Bibles and
cemeteries, and has published some of his findings in South Carolina
genealogical quarterlies. Since 1976, when Helen Dillard Davis Shewbart first
wrote me, I have corresponded with 16 descendants by "snail" mail and with 17 by
e-mail since February of this year, when John James Dillard started the
DILLARD-L mailing list, and also with 3 Dillard genealogists. In 1995 when the
Dillard Family Association began the Dillard Collection in the Rabun County
Library, Clayton, Georgia, the descendancy chart of known descendants of this
family filled only 7 pages, including notes telling who sent what. Now it is
almost 40 pages. I thank everyone who has contributed his/her ancestors and
especially Dr. Reid. My knowledge of Joseph's family comes from what descendants
have written me rather than, except for Dillards in censuses, from personal
research in depth. The great number of queries to the DILLARD-L mail list and my
writing about a possible father of Joseph in April 1997 prompted John M.
Dillard, editor of the Dillard Annual, to ask for an article on Joseph's family
and his probable ancestors.
What
contemporary records of Joseph and Priscilla have been
found?
Almost no records of Joseph and Priscilla Wilkins Dillard during their
lifetimes have been found--no birth dates or places, no marriage record, no
death dates or probate records, no land records. On 31 October 1995, Dr. James
L. Reid wrote: "I have made my first and only sighting of Joseph Dillard at an
event that occurred during his lifetime. He was a buyer at the estate sale of
one John Kirby of Union County, S.C. on 22 Sept 1808. Joseph bought 3 bottles
[paying 43 shillings 7 pence]. . . . This John Kirby is an ancestor of mine
through his son Boaling (Bolling) Kirby."
This locates Joseph Dillard in Upstate South Carolina in
1808.
Later, on a research trip to Augusta, Georgia, Dr. Reid found an earlier
entry in the Augusta Chronicle for
Saturday 9 September 1797, showing that Joseph Dillard was in Richmond County,
Georgia, in Captain Seale's tax district, one of a long list--almost a full
column--labeled "A List of
Defaulters in Richmond County." The list was signed by L. Harriss R. T. R. R. C. Although this list of tax
defaulters was the only item found naming Joseph in the files of the Augusta Chronicle, it seems to
corroborate the tradition that some of Joseph's children were born in Georgia.
[Letter 2 July 1997.] Richmond County, Georgia, is just across the Savannah
River from South Carolina, at that time from Edgefield
County.
Is it possible that Joseph Dillard was in the 1800 census of Spartanburg
County, listed as Joseph Dill? Joseph Dill had 2 males under 10; 1, 10-16; and
1, 26-45; and 2 females under 10; 1, 10-16; and 1, 26-45. If the census taker
did not hear or understand the final syllable of Joseph's surname, a surname of
Dill is understandable, even likely. The birth dates of between 1755 and 1774
for Joseph and Priscilla seem about right. Census records are great helps, but
they are also notorious for errors. The place, Spartanburg County, is also
probable for Joseph and Priscilla. If this entry was for Joseph Dillard, that
makes three records during his lifetime.
How did Joseph and Priscilla Wilkins
Dillard and their children become known?
When Samuel Wilkins died intestate in Spartanburg County, South Carolina,
before 10 December 1851 without living children, Priscilla Wilkins Dillard, who
had died previously, became one of his heirs. Consequently her children had to
be found. Dr. Reid calls his discovery of the "estate papers 1 and 2 , along
with a separate real estate file, the Rosetta Stone for Joseph Dillard's
family." [Letter of 27 May 1997.] Reuben Briant, whom Dr. Reid identifies as "a
son of James Bryant and Jemima Dillard and a grandson of Priscilla Wilkins
Dillard,” was named administrator of Samuel Wilkins' estate, which was valued at
less than a thousand dollars. By law Samuel's widow, Susan or Susannah,
inherited half, and three children--James Wilkins, Polly Hacker, and Priscilla
Dillard--inherited the other half. None of the three were living in 1851, and
both James and Polly Hacker had left the state many years before.
Dr. Reid states that the three were siblings
rather than children of Samuel Wilkins. Both the court record that they were of
the "whole blood" and the 1800 Spartanburg County census, sent by Dr. Reid,
which shows Samuel Wilkins, James Wilkins, and John Hacker's wife Polly in the
same age group of 26 to 45, are supporting evidence. In the same letter of 24
May 1995, Dr. Reid stated that Joseph Dillard was not mentioned as husband of
Priscilla until the 1853 estate record. This paper will only summarize the court
records that resulted between 10 December 1851, when Samuel Wilkins' death
without a will became part of the Spartanburg County court records, and the
final settlement 24 July 1857. On 7 March 1853 the first "final settlement"
determined that Susan [Susannah] Wilkins was to have half the proceeds and the
other half was to be divided by three for three children. The share of each was
$65.29, or $5.44 for each of Priscilla's twelve children. [Something will be
said about this problem later.]
Dr. Reid found that Samuel and James Wilkins had purchased 75 acres each
in Spartanburg County in 1797, but he found no land records for John Hacker or
Joseph Dillard. Because Samuel's heir, James Wilkins, had taken his family out
of South Carolina many years before, could not be found and had not been heard
of in more than seven years, and no one had come forward to claim to be his heir
or heirs, Reuben Briant, administrator, petitioned the court to divide James
Wilkins' share among his heirs at law. In the actual final settlement of the
estate on 4 May 1857, James Wilkins' portion was to be divided between his two
sisters, Priscilla Dillard and Polly Hacker, and hence their children. Polly
Hacker and Priscilla Dillard, consequently were legatees. Polly Hacker also had
left South Carolina and died. Joseph and Priscilla had died an unknown number of
years before, possibly in the 1830s or 1840s, and so their children inherited
Priscilla's half, which amounted to $127.45 to be distributed equally among the
children of Priscilla Dillard, deceased, and $127.45 to be distributed equally
among the children of Polly Hacker, deceased.
In the packet containing excerpts from the Augusta Chronicle, which Dr. Reid sent 2 July
1997, were two other items of interest. In the issue of Saturday, July 11, 1793,
p. 5 of Supplement, under Tax Collector’s Sales was “Valentine Hacker 287 ½,
___,___ vacant land.” In another
item in the 5 April 1791 issue, Valentine Hatcher sold a slave, a Negro boy
Daniel, to William Hays for 40 Pounds. The signuature was “Valentine v [his
mark] Hatcher.” The sale was
witnessed by John Sharp [sic] and John Hatcher, who was probably John Hacker,
Polly Hacker’s husband. The issue for Saturday 30 November 1793 included this
item: “List of Defaulters, in Columbia County, for the year 1793: Dist. No. 11-
James Wilkins, et. al.” Dr. Reid added, “He could be Samuel Wilkins’ brother.”
These items are clues to the probable first moves of the two of Samuel Wilkins’
heirs.
Who were the children of Joseph and
Priscilla Wilkins Dillard?
“Be fruitful and
multiply”: Joseph and Priscilla Wilkins Dillard and some of their children seem
to have taken seriously this biblical injunction. Joseph and Priscilla had ten
childrren. All have known
descendants except one: i. Nancy Dillard, the oldest daughter, who married Isaac
Rogers and died before 1851, had no known children; ii. Jemima Dillard and James
Briant had 12; iii. James had 9 by his first wife, Sarah, probably Briant, and 5
by a second wife, Frances Quinn, whom he married 23 September 1845, though none
by a third wife Pheribe Hafley, whom he married 10 October 1864; iv. Harcaneous
Dillard and Nancy Briant?, 7; v. Pherbia or Phereby Dillard and Rando[ph]
Barnett, 13; vi. Dorcas Dillard and Johnston Briant, 10; vii. Delilah Dillard
and William F. Briant, 11; viii. Samuel Dillard and Elizabeth Reid, 14; ix.
Lucretia Ann Dillard and James Reid, 6; and x. Josiah Dillard and Cynthia
Hammett, 11, making a total of 98 known grandchildren!
Did
Priscilla have twelve children or ten?
There are always questions in Dillard research. The genealogist's report
listed twelve children named in the court record of 22 July 1852. Dr. Reid
states that Priscilla Wilkins Dillard had ten children, not
twelve.
Children listed in 1852 court record
Priscilla's ten children
1.
Nancy (dec'd) m.
Isaac Rogers
1. Nancy (dec’d) m. Issac Rogers
2.
Susanna [Jemima] m. James Briant
2. Jemima m. James Briant
3.
Polly m. William
Barnett
4.
Elmina m. George LeMaster
5.
Harcaneous
4. Harcaneous m. Nancy Briant?
6.
James
3. James m. (1) Sarah Bryant? (2)
Frances
Quinn (3) Pheribe Hafley
7.
Samuel
8. Samuel m. Elizabeth Reid
8..
Josiah
10.
Josiah m. Cynthia Hammett
9.
Phereby m. Barnett
5. Pherbia m. Randol[ph] Barnett
10. Delila m. William Briant
7. Delilah m. William F.
Briant
11.
Lucretia m. James Reid
9. Lucretia Ann m. James
Reid
12
Dorcas m. Johnson Briant
6. Dorcas m. Johnston
Briant
Helen D. Shewbart made some corrections to the list of Mrs. Johnson, the
genealogist, who did not send the final court report of the actual distribution
of the estate. Mrs. Shewbart
discovered that 2. Susanna, wife of James Briant, was Jemima; and that William
Barnett was the husband of Polly [Mary], a daughter of Jemima Dillard and James
Briant. Dr. Reid clarified other
corrections and relationships.
Elmina, who married George LeMaster, and Polly [Mary], the wife of
William Barnett, were both daughters of Jemima Dillard and James Briant and so
were granddaughters of Priscilla Wilkins Dillard.
Dr. Reid wrote that, in the
actual distribution of Samuel Wilkins’ estate, Polly Barnett and Elmina LeMaster
received proportionate parts of the estate because they were daughters of
Jemima, who died in 1852. The first
wife of Reuben Briant, administrator of Samuel Wilkins estate and son of Jemima,
was also named Polly. This Polly
was the oldest daughter of Harcaneous Dillard. Dr. Reid, a descendant, uses the name
Pherbia, since that was the spelling found on censuses. He agrees with two other
descendants—Priscilla Perry and James Sanders Harris, who call her Phoebe—that Pherbia and
Phereby are likely corruptions of Phoebe.
The numerous descendants of Joseph and Priscilla
Dillard's children will not be discussed, since this paper also concerns
Joseph's possible or probable father and his ancestry.
Joseph Dillard's probable father: James Dillard,
son of Thomas Dillard, Sr.
James Dillard in Upstate South Carolina
from 1787
Not until April 1997 were enough records combined to identify James
Dillard in the 1790 census of Camden District, Fairfield County, South Carolina,
as the son of Thomas Dillard, Sr., who was in records in Essex, Orange,
Culpeper, Halifax, and Pittsylvania counties in Virginia, and whose will was
proved in Pittsylvania County in 1774. (See later.) He named two sons, James and
Thomas Dillard, Jr., both of whom appeared in Culpeper and numerous Halifax and
Pittsylvania County records.
A letter dated 5 August 1996 from John C. Dillard, of Bessemer, Alabama,
includes the vital clues: three deed abstracts. In the first two, a deed of
lease and release, dated 28 June 1787, William Hogan, of Chester County, South
Carolina, sold 160 acres "part of a tract of 200 acres lying on south side of
Sandy River” to James Dillard for "100 lbs. " The deeds were signed by William
Hogan and witnessed by T.(?) Lewis, William Hall, and James Dillard, Jr.[pp.
291, 293 in original, p. 14 of book copied, which seems to contain deed
abstracts of Chester County, South Carolina.] The deed of lease for the same
land was for 10 shillings. The deed of lease and release, in which the seller
"leases" the land for a nominal sum, here 10 shillings, and then sells the land
for the agreed price, "100 lbs.," took the place of an old common law
requirement that the seller and buyer had to be physically on the land when it
was sold. After the agreed price was paid, in a ceremony known as "livery and
seizin," the seller picked up a clod and gave it to the buyer. This represented
delivery and acceptance of the land.
James Dillard, Jr., the witness, has not been identified; however, a
James Dillard was in the 1800 census of Union District, South Carolina, with 1
male 16-26, 1 female under 10 and 1 female 16-26, and 3 slaves. Since Major
Dillard's estate was probated in Union County in 1802, it is possible that James
Dillard, Jr., was son of Major Dillard. He was called "Jr." because he was
younger than James Dillard, who purchased the land.
On 31 December 1791 James Dillard and wife Percilla Dillard, of Fairfield
County, sold the same 160 acres, "part of a tract lying on south side of Sandy
River [for] 75 lbs. starling" to John Foots, of Chester County. The deed was
signed by James Dillard and Percilla (X) Dillard and witnessed by Nathan Jaggers
and William Foots. It was "attested bef. Rich Taliaferro, Clk Chester Co. by
William Foots. 13 Apr. 1792. " [p. 592, p. 76 of book copied.] The sum of 75
pounds sterling, which was "hard money," may have been worth more than the "100
lbs." of ordinary money, which James Dillard paid for the
land.
No other James Dillard of that time had a wife named Percilla, Prescilla,
or Priscilla or any similar spelling except James Dillard, son of Thomas
Dillard, Sr., whose will was proved in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1774.
In fact, the entire Dillard Database of 19,713 individuals and 7,212 marriages
includes no other James Dillard with a wife Priscilla. Henry County, Virginia,
marriage bonds include the marriage of William Hogans and Nancy Dillard on 19
January 1780 and state that she was "daughter of James Dillard." The 1790 census
of Camden District, Fairfield
County, South Carolina, includes James Dillard, with 3 free white males over 16,
1 under 16, 5 white females, no other free persons, and no slaves. William Hogan was in the same district and
county with 1 male over 16, 2 males under 16, 4 females, no other free persons,
and no slaves. This James Dillard had not previously been identified. Add the
fact that the usual care giver for aging parents is a daughter. Put all these
together, and the conclusion is unmistakable that both William and Nancy Dillard
Hogan(s) and Nancy's parents, James and Prescilla Dillard, removed to South
Carolina from Virginia.
James
Dillard' s life in Virginia before 1787
James Dillard's earlier life in Culpeper, Halifax, Pittsylvania, and
Henry counties in Virginia, is well documented. He was probably born by 1730 in
Essex County, moved by 1735 with his parents to Orange County, Culpeper County
from 1748, and died in South Carolina after 1791 and before 1800. His wife was
Prescilla, who also died after 1791, probably in South Carolina. James first
appeared in a record in November 1752, when he secured a 664 acre Northern Neck
land grant in Culpeper County. He did not sell this land until 1762, after he
had been living in Halifax County for eight years. At that time the Culpeper
Court sent a Commission of three men to Halifax County to secure Prescilla
Dillard’s release of her dower right to one third of her husband's real estate.
This deed and Prescilla' s release of dower were found in LDS microfilm 0030943,
Deed Book C, p. 708. This proves that Prescilla and James were living in Halifax
County at that time.
James Dillard appears in numerous records in Halifax and Pittsylvania
County, created in 1767 from Halifax, a number in Henry County, created in
1776/1777 from Pittsylvania and Patrick County, and in those above in 1787 in
Chester County, South Carolina and in 1790 and 1791 records in Camden District,
Fairfield County, South Carolina. In Halifax County, Thomas Dillard, Sr., was
Justice of the Peace and vestryman there from its creation in 1752. James
followed his father from Culpeper to Halifax County and took the oath of Under
Sheriff there in 1754 and again in 1755. As Under Sheriff and Sheriff he had
official duties. He was paid, and collected bounties for other men, for killing
wolves--an indication that Halifax County, newly created in 1752, was real
frontier. Like his father and brother he bought and sold land and was plaintiff
or defendant in a number of court cases. In 1756 James viewed and marked the
best way for a road, and was named guardian to Edmond King. [Halifax Co. Court
Records, 1756, p. 21; 21 Oct 1757, 31 George II. Halifax County, Virginia, Court
Records 1752-1759, LDS Film 0031919.] Only a few of the many records of James
Dillard will be included.
James served as a vestryman of Antrim Parish, Halifax County from 30
November 1756 until 1766 and as a Church Warden in 1758. His father, Thomas
Dillard, Sr., was vestryman from 1752 and his brother, Thomas Dillard, Jr., was
vestrymen from 1758. All three were vestrymen from that time through 1766.
James's father and brother were both justices of the peace, but James never
became a Justice of the Peace. [Antrim Parish V B.]
James Dillard was the only Dillard who actually served any length of time
in the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Two widely separated items in
Hening's Statutes show that he was an
officer--at least once a captain and once a lieutenant--in 1756, 1757, and
1758.
Pay: to James Dillard as a lieutenant and a party
of militia under his command of said county [Halifax], as per muster
roll………………………………….102.4.8
[and]
Pay to Captain James Dillard and a company of
militia under command of said James Dillard, as by muster
roll…………………………………………..414.11.4.
The fact that the two Hening references were widely separated entries
indicates that they refer to collections for different forays, but not to two
different people. Only one James Dillard was found in Halifax County records
during those years, and only one is in records as fighting in the French and
Indian War. There is no reason why the Lieutenant and the Captain had to be two
persons. During that war volunteers were stationed in forts; but in Halifax
County the militia was called out when there was Indian trouble. When the
particular trouble was over, the militia went home.
That James Dillard was Captain of militia in the war is also indicated in
this record from Halifax County, Virginia, Court Records, for 20 May 1756 [pp.
127-128.]: (Halifax County included later counties of Pittsylvania and
Patrick.)
Ordered That in Pursuant of an Act of
Assembly Intitled an Act for raising the sum of Twenty five Thousand Pounds for
the better Protection of the Inhabitants of the Frontiers of this Colony and for
other purposes therein mentioned. That Captain James Dillard be Summoned to the
next Court to show Cause if any he hath why he did not appear At the council of
War held here yesterday. [p. 128] Ordered that James Dillard forthwith wait on
his Honour the Governor at the Charge of this County with several Depositions
concerning Certain Injuries Committed on the Back Inhabitants of this County by
a Partie of Indians, Supposed to be of the Cherokee
Nation.
[and]
Three
new companies of rangers were provided for, but Capt. Dillard was to be kept
until the Virginia Regiment was completed to 1000 men, then this was to be
divided into detachments to go on the frontier.
They were to go under 7 captains, one of whom was James Dillard, 20
lieutenants and 10 ensigns. [E B. Kegley, Virginia Frontier: The Beginning of the
Southwest . . ., pp. 249,257.] This concerns defenses through the summer of
1757. Kegley's source was a May 1757 letter from Governor Robert Dinwiddie to
Col. Read. Halifax County, which at that time extended all the way to the Blue
Ridge Mountains, had more Indian problems than any other county except far
western Augusta beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Beginning in 1760 James was less successful, when he sued and was sued
for debt. A number of suits were decided against him. James's land fell into
Pittsylvania County when it was created from Halifax in 1767. At the first court
session James and others were ordered to view a road. Locating roads in a new
county was one of the necessary first orders of business.
Thomas Dillard, Sr., named his two sons, James and Thomas Dillard, Jr.,
in his Pittsylvania County will (written 4 May 1774 and proved 23 June 1774) and
left property to both. Thomas Dillard, Jr., was his executor and the trustee of
James, possibly to protect James's property and to see that his son Thomas
inherited it after his father died. James received land on Stone's Creek, half
the household furniture and stocks, and, during his lifetime, several slaves.
James's son Thomas was to receive some slaves after James's death, and others
were to be divided among "James's other children," who were not
named.
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
the June 1778 Court 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 or if some of the
later justices resented the earlier preferment shown to
James.
James Dillard paid tax on 20 February 1780 in Henry County, which was
formed from Pittsylvania and Patrick County in 1776-77. James's son, John
Dillard, was quite prominent in Henry and later in Franklin County, created from
Bedford, Henry, and Patrick County in 1785.
On 1 June 1780 James Dillard and Priscilla Dillard, of Henry County, sold
to Owen West for 3000 pounds, 240 acres on the "north fork of Great Straitstone
Creek, beginning on the north side of said Straitstone Creek a little west of
the old mill path that leads from William Collins's to Thomas Dillard old
mill... Edward Hubbard, all lands deeded to me by Hubbard in Halifax or
Pittsylvania. Pattent granted to Thomas Dillard." Witnesses were Benjamin
Dillard, Thomas Dillard, John Collins, John Buckley, William Ward. The deed was
recorded by James on 20 June 1780. [Sent by Lucile R. Johnson, who noted that
James Dillard inherited this land from his father. Pittsylvania Co., VA Deed
Book VI, p. 16, from Howard Vallance Jones.]
So far as is known, James was the only Dillard
who served in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. As
Captain of the Henry County Militia, he fought in the Battle of Guilford Court
House [North Carolina] 15 March 1781. "A list of militia ordered from Henry
County to the assistance of General Greene. James Dillard' s Co. . . . General
order of Abram Penn." [p. 193.] [Vol. 17, VA Mag. of Hist. & Biog. Also sent
by Lucile R. Johnson from Tom Baker, Historian Park Ranger of the Guilford
Courthouse National Military Park, P.O. Box 09-6, Greensboro, NC
27429-0806.]
Henry County, Va.
You are forthwith required to march the militia under your command from
this county
to Hillsborough, North Carolina, or to any post where General Stevens may
be with the
men under his command, observing to avoid a surprise by the enemy, by the
best route
to be found. Given under my hand this 11th day of March
1781.
Abraham Penn, Col. H. C.
General Order for Major George Waller
A list of Militia ordered from Henry County to the assistance of General
Greene:
James
Dillard's Co.: William Fee, Jesse Witt, James Roberts, John Atkins,
John
Taylor, William Roberts, Augustin Sims, Barlett Reynolds, Morris
Humphreys, Joseph
Sewell, Josiah Smith, John Depriest, Thomas
Hambleton.
[This proves James Dillard’s Revolutionary War
service.]
In a last court case in Pittsylvania County on 17 July 1782, "In Trespass
on the Case," in which William Elliott was plaintiff and James Dillard
defendant, "The plaintiff failing to present this Suit on the Motion of the
defense by his Attorney it is considered by the Court that the said plaintiff be
Nonsuit, and that he pay into the defendant Five shillings damages (pursuant to
the act of Assembly in that case made and provided) and the Costs by him about
his defense in this behalf expended." This was the last-found Virginia record of
James Dillard. [Pittsylvania County, Virginia Court Orders, Vol. 4-6, LDS Film
#0033309, pp. 268, 416.]
As
shown above, by 1787 James Dillard was in South Carolina, where his last record
was a land sale in 1791. He probably died there. No probate records have been
found. Probable or possible children of James Dillard and Prescilla, probably
born in Virginia, were:
i. John Dillard (1751-1822), wife Sarah (Sally)
Stovall (1758-1800): In most
printed sources he has been called son of James and Mary Ann Hunt
Dillard. The only early printed source which lists him as son of James Dillard
is Lucy Henderson Horton's Family
History. However, in "John and John Dillard of Pittsylvania County,
Virginia," (Dillard Annual, Vol.2 [January, 1993], pp. 20-27), Lucile R. Johnson
proved that John Dillard was son of James Dillard,of Pittsylvania County,
Virginia. Correspondence with Howard Vallance Jones presented similar evidence
that John, of Henry and Franklin County, was really the son of James and grandson of Thomas
Dillard, Sr. The key evidence was "Reminiscences," written to Lyman Copeland
Draper about 1846 by Major John Redd, whose daughter married a son of John
Dillard: "John Dillard, formerly of this county (has been dead some three
years), he was grandson of Capt. Dilard, of Pittsylvania, sen. John Dillard has
a son living at Henry Court hous, Va (Mr. A. H. Dillard), who I have no doubt
would take pleasure In giving you any information in his powr, respecting his
Gran father." John Dillard was approved by DAR as a Revolutionary War ancestor,
both for his participation in the Battle of Princeton and for his civil service
in Henry County.
ii.
Thomas Dillard (1755-1820), wife Ruth Goad: Thomas was named in Thomas
Dillard, Sr.'s 1774 will as son of James. [Ruth Goad's name from Howard Valiance
Jones.] Records of Thomas are found in Montgomery and Patrick County, Virginia,
where his Will was proved in 1820.
iii.
George Dillard (traditional, has not been found in any record to date):
George was named as one of the children of James Dillard in Lucy Henderson
Horton's Family History found in Library of Congress. He has never been
identified in a record.
iv.
Nancy Dillard (about 1759 - after 1820), husband William Hogan(s): Nancy
Dillard was identified as daughter of James in her marriage record in Henry
County, Virginia. Some time after William Hogan's will (17 February 1805-14 June
1805) was proved in Edgefield District, South Carolina, with his "friend Aurther
Dillard" executor and his "beloved wife executrix," Nancy went to Baldwin
County, Georgia, with her two sons, William, Jr., and James Hogan. [Copy of will
from John C. Dillard.]
v.
Joseph Dillard (about 1760 - before 1851), wife Priscilla Wilkins: No
record has been found to indicate a parent of Joseph; however, he fits in as a
son of James Dillard and does not seem to belong in any other known Dillard
family in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia, the only states
in which a Dillard appeared in a census or census substitute for
1790.
vi.
William Dillard (possible), wife Elizabeth: William Dillard (1770,
Halifax Co.,VA - before 1860), later of Gwinnett County, Georgia, could have
been a son of James and Priscilla Dillard, though in 1770 they were living in
Pittsylvania County. Their family probably talked more about Halifax than about
Pittsylvania County. ["William Dillard," by Beulah Melton in Alice S. McCabe's
Gwinnett County Families 1818-1968 (Georgia). For
Gwinnett Historical Society. This was sent by Betty Heif.]
vii.
Edmond Dillard (about 1775- ) (probable, not proved): Edmond Dillard's
census entry was next to James Dillard's in the 1790 Fairfield County census. He
was probably newly married, as 1 male under 16 with 1
female.
viii. Arthur Dillard-(doubtful) (will 17 January
1840-5 January 1840 in Monroe County, Georgia), wife Polly Abney: Dr. James L.
Reid believes he was not a son. An undocumented genealogy claims that he was son
of James Dillard.
Ancestors of
James Dillard
James Dillard's father, Thomas Dillard, Sr.
(About 1700-1705 to 1774)
James Dillard's parents were
Thomas Dillard, Sr., and Winifred Nalle North, daughter of Martin Nalle, of
Essex County, Virginia, where Thomas was executor of Martin Nalle's will. Thomas
Dillard was the first of four Dillard men to secure land in Orange County,
Virginia, in 1735. The Assembly "exempted all who acquired land in Orange County
by January 1735 from paying country [colony], county, and parish levies for the
next three years." The others were George Dillard, also in 1735 (will 1790
Culpeper County); Edward Dillard (died in Pittsylvania County in 1779), and John
Dillard, who bought in Culpeper County (died after 1794). Thomas Dillard was
reader at the Little Fork Church. Dillard land fell into Culpeper County in
1748. In 1750 Thomas Dillard, Sr., sold his Culpeper County land and settled in
newly created Halifax County, Virginia by 1752. There, from the beginning, as a
Justice of the Peace and vestryman of Antrim Parish, he helped to set up county
government, see about locating roads and building a courthouse and a church, and
generally help the frontier county become a place where people could live and
make a living. Here he was Captain of the Militia and a reader in the Antrim
Parish church. When Pittsylvania County was created from Halifax County in 1767,
Thomas Dillard, Sr., continued as vestryman in Camden Parish, where he was also
a reader, and was appointed Coroner. His will in 1774 has already been
discussed.
Edward Dillard, probable
father of the Culpeper County Dillards
Edward Dillard, possibly born in New Kent County,
Virginia about 1672, was probably a son of George Dillard, the immigrant and
founder, and probably the father of the four Dillard men--Thomas, George,
Edward, and John Dillard--who settled in Culpeper County. If they were not
brothers, they were likely closely related. Edward Dillard appeared in only two
official records. In 1704 he was one of four King and Queen County Dillards who
paid Queen Anne’s quit rent in King and Queen County, Virginia: George Dillard,
with 325 acres; Thomas Dillard, with 175 acres; Edward Dilliard, with 150 acres;
and Nicholas Dilliard, with 150 acres. Of these men, George Dillard may or may
not have been the original Dillard settler of 1650. The name Thomas continued in
King and Queen County parish records. Nicholas soon obtained land in King
William, later Caroline County. Edward Dillard was probably the one who bought
190 acres of land in Orange County m 1737. Whether Edward actually settled on
this land, which fell into Culpeper County in 1748, when it was formed from
Orange County, is not known. It is possible, of course, that he accompanied the
four who settled in Culpeper County. An aging father often moved with sons to
new land. Since a younger Edward Dillard was one of the next generation Dillards
who settled in Culpeper County and no Edward was found in other families of that
time, Terry Moorman Dillard, Albert S. McLean, and Howard Vallance Jones thought
that this Edward Dillard was probably their father.
First Generation of
Dillard in America: George Dillard, 22 May 1650
George Dillard: All that is sure of George
Dillard, the first Dillard in an American record, is that he was a headright of
Capt. Moore Fantleroy in Virginia 22 May 1650 (1C&P194-195); that he
patented 250 acres of land in 1665 in New Kent County, Virginia, adjoining land
he was living on (1C&P541); that this land fell into King and Queen County
when it was created from New Kent County in 1691; that George (or a second
George if he died before 1694) patented 139 acres in King and Queen County 20
April 1694 (2C&P372); that before 1679 he had a wife (George’s Wife), whose
name is not found in any record; that he and his wife sold 76 acres by deed 20
September 1679 (2C&P 240); that in Stratton Major Parish on 2 September 1675
he and eleven others served on a jury to determine that the land of a man who
died without heirs should excheat to the King. (VG 22:1, pp. 28-29); and that
George Dillard was on the 1704 Quit Rent Roll as owner of 325 acres in King and
Queen County. In spite of what has been printed, anything more about George
Dillard is not of record and probably will not be found and cannot be
substantiated.
Conclusion: Were James and
Priscilla Dillard parents of Joseph Dillard?
So were James and Priscilla Dillard parents of
Joseph Dillard, whose wife was Priscilla Wilkins? No official record exists to
prove the relationship. Since no will of James Dillard has been found and he
probably died intestate between 1791 and 1800, having disposed of his land
before he died, no list of his children is in records. The evidence that Joseph
was probably James's son hinges on indirect evidence of geography and
chronology, that is, of place and time, and on naming patterns. Joseph lived in
Upstate South Carolina and across the Savannah River in Richmond County,
Georgia, at the time when he could have been a son of James, who also lived in
South Carolina. He named his oldest son James. A popular naming pattern was to
name the oldest son after either the father or the paternal grandfather, in this
case after a probable grandfather. Another telling point is that Lucile R.
Johnson and I found Wilkins records in Pittsylvania County, where James's family
was prominent. Kin and neighbors moved together. Additionally, Joseph does not
fit into any other South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, or Virginia Dillard
family of the time. These are the only states in which Dillards were listed in
the 1790 censuses or substitutes. Also, since no researcher has found evidence
that nullifies the relationship, James Dillard seems to be the likeliest father
for Joseph Dillard.
References
Since James Dillard, his father, and his brother
held official positions in Halifax and Pittsylvania counties, they were in too
many records to give page numbers for each reference.
Adams,
Lela C. Tax Lists of Henry Co., VA
1778-1780. Bassett, VA, compiler, 1973; "Patrick County Land Tax 1791-1799,"
Magazine of Virginia Genealogy 24:2 (May 1986), p. 26.
Antrim
Parish Halifax County,
Virginia Vestry Book 1752-1817, LDS Microfilm No. 0030163. Dillard references
are found from the first meeting of the Vestry until 1767, when their land fell
into Pittsylvania County. Abbreviated as “V. B."
Clement,
Maud Carter. History
of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
Lynchburg, VA: J. P. Bell Company, Inc., 1929. and Baltimore: GPCo, 1973.
Because Mrs. Clement mixed two James Dillards, microfilms of court and vestry
records and Hening' s Statutes
were used.
Culpeper
County, Virginia Deed Book A, LDS
Microfilm No 0738, Item 4, and Culpeper
County, Virginia Deed Books B & C, Microfilm No. 0739, Item No. 5.
Filmed by The Genealogical Society of Utah at Culpeper County Court House,
Culpeper, Virginia.
Dillard,
John C., Correspondence and photocopies of South Carolina deed
records.
Dodd,
Virginia Anderton, Henry County Marriage
Bonds 1778-1849. Richmond, p. 26.
Dorman,
John Frederick. Culpeper County, Virginia
Deeds, Volume One 1749-1755.
(c) 1976. Volume Two 1755-2762. (c) 1976. Volume Three 1762-1765. (c) 1979. Volume Four 1765-1769. (c) 1979.
Washington, D.C.: Dorman, 1976-1979. LVA, DAR.
Halifax
County, Virginia Court Records
1752-1759, LDS Microfilm No. 0031919;…. 1759-1764, Micofilm No.
0031920;…..1764-176?. Thomas Dillard, Sr. was Justice of the Peace from the time
the county was created through the Court of 17 July 1766. Abbreviated “O.B.”
Hening,
William Waller. The Statutes at
Large, Volume I, Vol. 7, pp. 219-230.. New York: Printed for the Editor, by
R. & W. & G Bartow, 1823. Facsimile reprint Charlottesville: University
Press of Virginia. 13 vols., collection of statutes of Virginia through
1809.
Hopkins,
Walter Lindsay, "Virginia Land Patent Book 15," Pages 319-537 (1734-1735), Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, Vol.
24, No. 2 (May 1986), p.
12.
Hughes,
Dorothy Dillard. Dillard Research Notes:
Culpeper County, Virginia Dillards and Related Families of South Carolina, revised 1998;
"Dillards of Culpeper County, Virginia and Related Families of South Carolina,"
Dillard Annual, Vol. 5 (Jan. 1998),
pp. 19-31; "Genealogy of the First Four Generations of Dillard in America,"
Revised 1998.
“Inquisition
on Escheated Land 1665-1676”, The
Virginia Genealogist, 22:1 (January-March 1977), pp. 28-29. Abbreviated VG.
Lawrence-Dow,
Elizabeth. Virginia Rent Rolls 1704. New York: National Edition and Library Bindery,
(c) 1979.
Library
of Virginia. Index to Northern Neck
Grants and Surveys Cu-D-6, 3" x 5" cards. LVA
Nugent,
Nell Marion. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of
Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1666. Baltimore: GPCo. Inc., 1963.
Originally Richmond, 1934. [C&P]; Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts, of Virginia Land Patents and
Grants, Volume Two 1666-1695; Volume Three 1695-1732. Richmond: Virginia
State Library, 1979. [C&P]
Orange County, Virginia, Deed Book 2.
Microfilm in LVA.
Pittsylvania County Index to Deeds A
-K
Grantees 1767-1889, Microfilm at LVA.
Pittsylvania County Index to Deeds
A-Z
Grantors 1767-1889, Microfilm at LVA.
Pittsylvania Court Orders, Vol. 1-3,
1767-1783, LDS Microfilm 0033308.
Pittsylvania Court Orders, Vol. 4-5,
1783-1787, LDS Microfilm 0033309.
Redd, Major John, "Reminiscences of
Western Virginia. 1770-1790," Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. VII (July 1899+), pp. 1-16 [p. 4
about John Dillard.]
Reid, Dr. James L., Correspondence, and
charts and records of Joseph Dillard' s family.
United
States. Heads of Families at the First
Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: South Carolina.
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,
James
Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard, Root Ancestors
of the
Rabun County, Georgia Dillards
Anyone who knows just a smattering of Dillard
genealogy knows that James Dillard and his wife, Sarah Barnard Dillard, are the
root ancestors of the Rabun County, Georgia Dillards. Census records disclose
that James Dillard, youngest son of John Dillard and Ruth Vaughan Dillard,
was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina. His date of birth in handwritten
Dillard family records is given as December, 1792 with no specific date of the
month. He was the only son of the sons of John Dillard, a Revolutionary soldier
who came into Rabun County in his sixties, to settle North Georgia. He had eight
children and fifty-two grandchildren. The large number of his descendants today
is mind boggling.
Sarah Barnard Dillard was a native of South
Carolina. This is repeatedly set
out in Rabun County, Georgia census records. Her date of birth in handwritten
Dillard family records is given as February 3, 1795. A fleeting glimpse of her much traveling
around father, Luke Barnard, is found on the 1790 Census of Ninety Six District,
Edgefield County, South Carolina.
That is the suspected area of her unknown place of birth in South Carolina. Her
mother's name and origins remain undiscovered.
At the time of Sally's marriage to James Dillard on February 28, 1816 she was
probably living with her family in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where Luke
Barnard was recorded on the 1800 Buncombe County Census and documented as owning
real estate in that county as early as 1807.
This article attempts to chronologically set forth what is now known
about the James Dillard family. It also shows that there is much which is still
not known. Census records of Rabun
County, Georgia indicate that the first three children (Caroline, Ann Marinda
and Cynthia Arzelia) of the eight children born to James Dillard and Sarah
Barnard Dillard were born in Buncombe County, North Carolina.. James Dillard's
father, John Dillard, was at this time well established in the Flat Creek area
of Buncombe County which he had settled some 27 years earlier in 1789 when it
was Burke County.
In 1814 two years before his marriage James Dillard purchased 100 acres of land
on Flat Creek in Buncombe County adjoining his father.
That is the place where James and Sarah Barnard Dillard started out married life
in 1816 and lived for some seven years.
James Dillard and his
young family with his father and mother then in their sixties migrated from
Buncombe into new created Rabun County which had been ceded to the state of
Georgia in the 1819 treaty with the Cherokee Indians. The exact date of the
move, as well as the plans to move, is not known. Whether Sally stayed behind in
Buncombe County to have a child in 1822 and James went ahead in 1821 to purchase
property and perform other acts in that year is unknown. The last of the
Buncombe County born children was in early 1822 as shown by subsequent Rabun
County Censuses. The records of Buncombe County, North Carolina are silent as to
whom and when James Dillard sold his 100 acres of land in that county. Whatever may be the facts, the move took
place between 1821 and 1823. Between 1821 and 1823 James Dillard acquired Lots
162, 163, 174 and 175 as shown on the original survey of the Second District of
Rabun County authorized by the State of Georgia when this property was first
sold at a state lottery as unsettled lands. This property in four perfect squares of
250 acres each totaling 1,000 acres included prime Little Tennessee River bottom
lands.
It comprised present Dillard, Georgia and extended almost to the North Carolina
state line. Unproved family
tradition is that James Dillard had to settle for this land again with the
Cherokee Indians for a horse, a rifle, and two gallons of whiskey.
James Dillard served as a justice of the peace
when local government in Rabun County was organized. He served in the House of
Representatives from that county in 1824. He conducted in 1821 the marriage of
Joseph Young and Peggy Barnard, his wife's twin sister .
Ritchie, id., page 262. He served as
a justice of the Rabun County Inferior Court in 1824 and 1825.
The May 20, 1832 journal
of Jesse R. Siler mentions that James Dillard was economically doing well. Tax records in 1836 list James Dillard
as the owner of 700 acres of land and six slaves in Rabun County.
James Dillard along with A.A. Armstrong, Edward Coffee, and John McClure
petitioned Georgia Governor George R. Gilmer at Milledgeville on February 21,
1838 for a cavalry to be stationed at northwestern Rabun County for the protection of the
citizens and property of the county when the time arrived for the removal of the
Cherokee Indians in the “Trail of Tears”. The 1840 Rabun County Census lists James
Dillard and his wife as up to fifty years of age with three sons and three
daughters in their household. On January 5, 1843 James Dillard deeded to his
son-in-law, William McDowell Lambert, a Negro boy named Tom, age 10 years, for a
consideration of $300.00. The circumstances surrounding this deed
are open to conjecture.
The 1850 Rabun County Census lists James
Dillard, age 58, with his wife, Sarah, age 54, and children in his household
John B., age 23, Nancy, age 21, William, age 18, Margaret, age 14, and James B.
Lambert, age 8. Although there is no known record he was ever a Baptist, in 1853
James Dillard conveyed a part of his property for the construction of the
present site of the Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church. Baptists had earlier erected a meeting
house near the present church on land which appears to have been also owned by
James Dillard. This deed provided that the property was to be used “for the use
and benefit of the Baptist Church and when not occupied by Baptist Ministers to
be used by other Ministers of orthodox faith”.
What “orthodox faith” meant to James Dillard is uncertain.
Throughout many years,
the activities of James Dillard as a justice of the Inferior Court and in other
matters connected with the estates and affairs of his neighbors is well
documented in the Inferior Court minutes of Rabun County. In 1832 he was an appraiser for the
estate of John Johnston and a purchaser of personal property in that estate. He
was a purchaser of personal property in the estate of James Martin in the same
year. He was an appraiser in the estates of James M. White and Edward Carter in
1838. He was a purchaser of personal property from the White Estate in the next
year. He was an administrator of
the estate of Ira Nicholson in 1840.
The censuses of Rabun County list James Dillard
as a farmer. He also owned and operated a grist mill on Betty's Creek near the
site of the present Dillard United Methodist Church. Ritchie, id., at page 174 states that James and
Sally Barnard Dillard adopted Linda Eller, who married William Gillespie, and
raised her in his family. Early marriages conducted by John Dillard as a justice
of the peace include this marriage in 1825 and the marriage of Joseph Eller and
Mariah Hedden in the same year. The exact connection between John and
James Dillard with the Eller children remains a mystery.
After the death in 1842 of their oldest child, Caroline Lambert, in
childbirth complications, James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard took in and
raised James R. Lambert, Caroline’s only child. Lambert family folklore passes
on that Sarah Barnard Dillard on the death of her daughter rode horseback from
her home in Dillard, Georgia to Franklin, North Carolina, and rode back with
James R. Lambert in her arms. Sarah Barnard Dillard was then in her
late forties. James Dillard deeded all of his real estate prior to his death to
his three sons beginning in 1852.
The location of the James Dillard home site has
been lost with lack of documentation and dimming of memories of successive
generations. The still standing residence of William F. Dillard, now owned by
Barnard Malcolm Dillard of Dillard, Georgia, is suspect in that the known age of
this building which extends back before William F. Dillard left home for the
Civil War has never been precisely verified. That is the location of a large
spring and is at or near the center of the original 1,000 acres acquired by
James Dillard. Some local Dillard family members point out another site west of
the main highway on the lands north of the Town of Dillard as the possible
original home site. Here, too, a large spring, necessary for the pioneer
lifestyle, is located.
The 1860 Rabun County census lists James Dillard,
age 67, and his wife, Sarah, age 65 with only James R. Lambert, age 17 in their
household. James Dillard died July 18, 1861 and is buried next to his father,
John, in the Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church Cemetery at Dillard, Georgia.
It is widely accepted that Sarah Barnard Dillard, who died on April 6, 1876, is
also buried there. Her grave is unmarked and cannot be specifically located. The
Rabun County Inferior Court at the October, 1861 term, admitted the will of
James Dillard to probate and appointed J. B. Dillard and William F. Dillard as
administrators with the will annexed in that the will had failed to name any
executors. Application was made to the court for leave to sell the slaves
belonging to the estate. Few Rabun County residents were slave
owners with the exception of some of the more affluent farmers who owned
property in the Tennessee Valley District flatlands. The will of James Dillard
reads as follows:
"State of Georgia, Rabun
County. In the name of God Amen. I James Dillard of the County of Rabun and
State of Georgia being of sound and disposing mind and memory and desirous to
settle my worldly affairs while I have strength to do so do make and publish
this my last will and testament hereby revoking all wills by me at any time
heretofore made and first I commit my soul to God who gave it and my body I
desire to have decently buried and my worldly estate I dispose of as follows
after paying my just debts. First, I desire that my real and personal estate be
sold by my administrators legally qualified according to law and the proceeds
arising therefrom to be equally divided share and share alike between the
following named legatees, vis my wife Sarah Dillard, my daughter, Ann Marinda
Martin wife of A. J. Martin, my daughter, Arzelia Conley, wife of Hortia Conley,
my daughter, Nancy Thomas, wife of John A. Thomas, deceased, my daughter,
Margaret Nevill, wife of James M. Nevill, my son, Albert G. Dillard, my
son, John B. Dillard, my son,
William F. Dillard and my grandson, James M. Lambert, son of my daughter,
Caroline Lambert, wife of William M.D.Lambert I give and bequeath the same one
dollar as his part of my estate. In witness whereof, I the said James Dillard to
this my last will have unto set my hand and seal this 16th day of June 1861.
James (his x mark) Dillard." (witnesses: H. T. Mozley, Philo Brownson, James M.
Ritchie, and George S. Greenwood).
An extensive number of family groups
was produced by the marriage of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard Dillard in Rabun
and surrounding counties. The James Dillard family in tabular form is set
forth below. These include the
eight children and fifty-two grandchildren of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard
Dillard with information as to each.
Information left blank is unknown. Footnotes give the sources of this
information. The abbreviation
“Bapt” means Head of the Tennessee Baptist Church, and “Me.” means Wesley Chapel
United Methodist Cemetery both at Dillard, Georgia.
Children of James Dillard and Sarah Barnard
Dillard:
|
Name
Date of Birth
Where Born
Married |
|
|
|
Caroline
Aug. 27, 1817
Buncombe Co.,N.C.
William
M. Lambert |
|
Ann Marinda
July 16, 1819
Buncombe Co., N.C. Andrew Jackson
Martin |
|
Cynthia Arzelia Jan. 10,
1822
Buncombe Co., N.C. Horatio Nelson Conley
|
|
Albert G.
April 21, 1824
Rabun Co.,
Ga.
Elizabeth
Ann McKinney |
|
John Barnett May 1,
1827
Rabun Co.,
Ga.
Rachel M.
McKinney |
|
Nancy
Nov. 30, 1829 Rabun Co., Ga.
John A.
Thomas |
|
William F.
June
20, 1833
Rabun Co.,
Ga.
Jeanette
Gibson |
|
Margaret
April 9, 1836
Rabun Co.,
Ga.
Jas. A.
M. Neville |
|
|
Name
When Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
|
Caroline
March 2, 1837 December 30, 1842 Macon Co.,
N.C. |
|
Ann Marinda
1834 +-
March 27, 1899
Bapt, Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Cynthia Arzelia Oct. 21,
1841
May 25,
1892
Penland ,Macon Co. |
|
Albert G.
Dec.
3, 1846
June 14,
1890
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
John Barnett
Dec.16,1850
October24,1895 Bapt., Rabun
Co.,Ga. |
|
Nancy
1840+-
November
12, 1888 Rush Cem, Macon
Co. |
|
William F.
Apr. 1, 1855
Jan. 15, 1863
Confed., Lynchburg, Va. |
|
Margaret
1855+-
January 3,
1903
Me.
Cem., Rabun Co. |
Only child of Caroline Dillard Lambert and
William McDowell Lambert:
Name
Date of Birth
Where Born
Married |
|
James R. Lambert Dec. 21,
1841
Macon Co., N.C.
Sarah E. Vaughn |
|
|
|
Name
When
Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
James R. Lambert Oct. 10,
1880
Jan. 23, 1902 Wood
Co.,Texas |
Children of Ann Marinda Dillard Martin and
Andrew Jackson Martin:
|
Name
Date of Birth
Where
Born
Married |
|
James Monroe
Sept., 1837
Rabun Co., Ga.
Martha McAllister |
|
Sarah Ann
Nov. 18, 1839
Rabun Co., Ga.
Riley B. Ritchie |
|
Caroline
Sept. 19, 1841
Rabun Co., Ga.
David Garland |
|
Andrew Jackson
Dec. 14, 1842
Rabun Co., Ga.
Unmarried |
|
William A.
Dec. 17, 1844
Rabun Co., Ga.
Nancy F. Carter |
|
Margaret E.
Dec. 18, 1846
Rabun Co., Ga.
George
Carter |
|
Nancy
Mar. 22, 1849
Rabun Co., Ga.
George W. Kelly
|
|
Mary Marinda A.
Mar. 3, 1852
Rabun Co., Ga.
John M. Dryman |
|
Ellen Jeanette July
11, 1854
Rabun Co., Ga.
Andrew B. Conley |
|
Laura
May 10, 1859
Rabun Co., Ga.
Unmarried |
|
Julia Martha M.
July 14, 1863
Rabun Co., Ga.
Geo. Wash. Grist |
Name
When Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
James Monroe
April, 1864
died Confed. |
|
Sarah Ann
Sept. 21, 1865
Nov. 19, 1915
Me, Rabun Co. |
|
Caroline
Jan. 6, 1866
Oct. 27, 1887
Bapt., Rabun Co. Ga. |
|
Andrew Jackson Unmarried
Aug. 11, 1862
died Confed. |
|
William A. August
16, 1870
Mar. 31, 1930
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Margaret E.
Dec. 10, 1868
Jan. 20, 1877
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Nancy
Aug. 9, 1867
Jan. 27, 1896 Kelly
Cem., Rabun Gap |
|
Mary Marinda A. Nov. 5,
1878
June 11, 1881
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Ellen Jeanette
Aug. 27, 1874
Jan. 31, 1885
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Laura
unmarried
May 1, 1881
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Julia Martha M.
Nov. 13, 1881
Oct. 30, 1944
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga. |
Children of Cynthia Arzelia Dillard Conley and
Horatio Nelson Conley:
Name Date
of Birth
Where
Born
Married |
|
James Bryan(t)
1842
Otto, Macon Co NC
unmarried;.killed Conf. |
|
Clarissa Caroline
1844
Otto,
Macon Co., NC
unmarried ? |
|
William Alfred
1846
Otto, Macon Co., NC
|
|
Andrew B.
Mar. 18, 1848
Otto, Macon Co. NC
Ellen Jeanette Martin |
|
Jasper
Newton
1850
Otto, Macon Co.,
N.C. |
|
Sarah Sally
1850
Otto, Macon Co., N.C. |
|
Samuel Caleb
1853
Otto, Macon Co., NC Addie F.
Howard |
|
Nancy Eliz.
1858 Otto,
Macon Co., NC A.M.
Justice |
|
Flora
M.
1860
Otto, Macon Co., NC |
|
Robert Edward Lee July 1, 1864
Otto, Macon Co., NC
Anne L Mann |
Name
When
Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
James Bryan(t)
unmarried
1862
Conley Cem., Macon Co, NC |
|
Clarissa Caroline
unmarried?
1911
Conley Cem, Macon Co,
NC |
|
William Alfred
1870 |
|
Andrew B.
Aug. 27, 1874
June 2, 1928
Bapt., Dillard, Ga.
|
|
Jasper Newton
|
|
Sarah
Sally |
|
Samuel Caleb
Feb. 7, 1877
July 21, 1928 |
|
Nancy Eliz.
Jan. 2, 1883 |
|
Flora
M. |
|
Robert Edward Lee May 14, 1891
Apr., 1904
Otto, Macon Co., N.C.
|
Children of Albert G. Dillard and Elizabeth
Ann McKinney Dillard:
Name
Born
Where
Born
Married |
|
William Barnett
1848
Rabun Co., Ga.
Sophia
Penland |
|
Caroline
June 7, 1849
Rabun Co., Ga.
Henry T. Mozeley II |
|
George W.
July 14, 1851
Rabun Co., Ga.
Mary Mar. Howard |
|
Albert G. (Sug) June
13, 1857
Rabun Co.,
Ga.
Fannie Gibson |
|
John
M.
Feb. 24, 1860
Rabun Co., Ga.
Margaret Foster |
|
Mary E.
July 4, 1862
Rabun Co., Ga.
A.J. Enloe |
|
Sarah A. (Sallie) Feb. 4,
1867
Rabun Co., Ga.
James Greenwood |
|
Robert E. Lee
June 5, 1869
Rabun Co., Ga.
Amanda Turpen |
|
Doctor Alec B.
May 6, 1872
Rabun Co., Ga.
Unmarried |
Name
When
Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
William Barnett
Apr. 22, 1906
|
|
Caroline
May 4, 1869
Dec.
28, 1905
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga |
|
George W.
Jan. 20, 1881
Dec. 31, 1910
Otto, Macon Co, NC |
|
Albert G. (Sug)
Sept. 18, 1881
May 7, 1917
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga |
|
John M.
Oct. 15, 1882
June 9, 1933
Bapt., Rabun Co., Ga |
|
Mary E.
Nov. 7,1889
Apr. 21, 1923
Dillard, Rabun Co., Ga |
|
Sarah A. (Sallie) Nov.
27. 1889
Jan. 5, 1929
Dillard, Rabun Co., Ga |
|
Robert E. Lee
Dec. 4, 1892
May 27, 1914
Dillard, Rabun Co., Ga |
|
Doctor Alec B.
unmarried
Oct. 6, 1892
Dillard, Rabun Co.,Ga. |
Children of John Barnett Dillard
and Rachel Matilda McKinney Dillard:
Name
Date of Birth
Where
Born
Married |
|
Sarah Elizabeth
Feb. 19, 1851
Rabun Co., Ga. John
H. Corn |
|
Margaret Rosette
April 18. 1854
Rabun Co., Ga.
G.W.C. Wikle |
|
John Barnett, Jr.
Mar. 6, 1856
Rabun Co., Ga.
Florida Wilborn |
|
Nancy C.
Mar. 11, 1858
Rabun Co., Ga.
Sumner J. Berrong |
|
William
McKinney Mar.
18, 1860
Rabun Co., Ga.
Ida T.
King |
|
Jas. Doctor Marshall January 25, 1862
Rabun Co., Ga.
Mattie Center Foster |
|
Albert Lafayette
Oct. 23, 1864
Rabun Co., Ga.
Callie Hull |
|
George Macon
Feb. 26, 1865
Rabun Co., Ga.
Mary E. Hyberger |
|
Beavert Rush
Feb. 1, 1869
Rabun Co., Ga.
Frances Green |
|
Robert L.
1871
Rabun Co., Ga.
Anna Sams |
Name
When
Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
Sarah Elizabeth
Nov. 16, 1937
Hiawassee, Ga. |
|
Margaret Rosette
Oct 12, 1875
Sept. 10, 1933
Nacoochee Va. Ga.
|
|
John Barnett, Jr.
April 26, 1876
Sept. 6, 1917
Westminster, S. C.
|
|
Nancy C.
Jan. 27, 1876
July 25, 1930
Hiawassee, Ga. |
|
William McKinney Sept. 5,
1886
Jan. 26, 1940
Westminster, S.C.
|
|
Jas. Doctor Marshall July 16, 1885
Mar. 8, 1913
Greenville, S. C. |
|
Albert Lafayette
Feb. 18, 1906
Apr. 20, 1907
Westminster, S.C.
|
|
George Macon
Jan. 20, 1892
Apr. 10,1917
Bapt., Dillard, Ga. |
|
Beavert Rush
July 25, 1895
Sept. 15, 1949
Bapt., Dillard, Ga
|
|
Robert L.
1889+-
July 14, 1897
Bapt., Dillard, Ga. |
Children of Nancy Dillard Thomas and John A.
Thomas:
Name
Date of Birth
Where
Born
Married |
|
Charles W.
May 21, 1851
Macon Co., N. C.
Rebecca A. Long |
|
George N.
June 8, 1853
Macon Co., N. C.
Julia McPherson
|
|
Sarah Carolina Aug. 2,
1855
Macon Co., N. C.
Jas.Marion McConnell |
|
Lydia A.
1857
Macon Co., N. C.
unmarried
|
Name
When
Married
Date of Death Where
Buried |
|
Charles W.
May 8, 1877
June 6, 1931
Rush Cem, Macon Co NC
|
|
George N.
Dec. 1, 1891
Aug. 31, 1839
Rush Cem, Macon Co NC
|
|
Sarah Carolina
Oct. 13, 1887
Nov. 16, 1921
|
|
Lydia A.
unmarried
Aug. 21, 1936
|
Children of William Frank Dillard and
Jeanette Gibson Dillard:
Name
Date of Birth
Where
Born
Married |
|
James Hiram
Dec. 20, 1855
Rabun Co, Ga.
Georgia S. McKinney |
|
Zachariah Barnard July 5, 1858
Rabun Co., Ga.
Mary Rebecca Ritchie |
|
Sarah Catherine
Nov. 2, 1862
Rabun Co., Ga.
Wm. Edward Powell |
|
Name
When
Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
James Hiram
Oct. 10, 1877
Feb. 1,
1941
Me., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Zachariah Barnard Nov. 20, 1881
Mar. 15, 1946
Me., Rabun Co., Ga. |
|
Sarah Catherine
Dec. 19, 1880
Jan. 5, 1962
Me., Rabun Co., Ga. |
Children of Margaret Dillard Neville and James
Alexander McCarter
Neville:
Name
Date of Birth
Where
Born
Married |
|
Joseph Evander
1859
Rabun Co., Ga.
Martha Sitton
|
|
William Jones
1861
Rabun Co., Ga.
Nancy A. Dickerson |
|
John Dillard
1863
Rabun Co., Ga.
Elizabeth D. Keener |
|
James A.
1873
Rabun Co., Ga.
Unmarried |
Name
When
Married
Date of Death
Where Buried |
|
Joseph Evander Mar. 20, 1887
1934
Me., Dillard, Ga. |
|
William Jones
Feb. 28, 1884
Sept. 26, 1901
Me., Dillard, Ga. |
|
John Dillard
Sept. 5, 1886
1932 |
|
James A.
unmarried
Apr. 13, 1908
Me., Dillard, Ga. |
This article was presented at the 1998
Dillard Reunion History Session. It is a compilation of the research of Anne G.
Dickerson, Odelle K. Hamby and John M, Dillard. Research included records of the National Archives,
Georgia Archives and History, and the records of the office of the Georgia
Adjutant General, family records and available standard publications. Marian
Dillard Klar did all the research on the Confederates in the Colonel Thomas
Dillard, Jr. line of descent. Assisting by letter and e-mail based on their
independent research were Dr. Howard V Jones., Janelle Knight, Beverly V.
Schroder, Karen Ledford, Sara L. Buckmaster and Elaine R. English. The writing is by John M.
Dillard.
Confederate Military History Extended
Edition, Clement A. Evans, Wilmington, N. C., Broadfoot Publishing Co.,
1987, Part IV, pages 44, 76, 199, 212, 227, 265, 294, 296 and 378. Units of the Confederate States Army,
Joseph H. Crute, Jr., Midlothia, Va., (1987).
Evans, id., Vol. IV, page
19.
The War of the Rebellion, Series IV,
Vol. III, pages 310 and 311, published by the United States Printing Office
in 1900.
Compendium of the Confederate Armies, South
Carolina and Georgia, Stewart Sifakis (1995), page
115.
Storm in the Mountains, Vernon H. Crow,
Cherokee Indian Press, Cherokee, North Carolina,
1982.
The War of the Rebellion, id., North Carolina Troops, pages
752‑769.
Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia,
1861‑1865, Volume III, page 39, Lillian Henderson; Roster of Confederate Soldiers,
1861‑1865, Janet B. Hewitt, Broadfoot & Co., Wilmington, N. C.
(1996).
Confederate Archives,
Chapter 10, File No. 21, page 166 in National
Archives.
Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861‑1865,
id.
His service in Company F,
11th Regiment in Compiled Service
Records was mistakenly indexed under the name of J. B. Dellard. This made his complete service record
difficult to find.
Wheeler, Marshall and Bruce Georgia State
Directory, Nashville, Tennessee, 1876, furnished by Sara L.
Buckmaster.
Georgia State Gazetteer, 1883‑1884,
published in Savannah, Georgia by Morning News Steam Printing Company also
furnished by Sara L. Buckmaster.
Ritchie, History of the Head of the Tennessee Baptist
Church, 1963, page 9.
Hewitt's Roster of Confederate Soldiers,
1861‑1865, id., lists Albert G. Dillard as in the same company with his
brother, John Barnett Dillard, that is, Georgia 4th Cavalry (St. Guards),
Cannon's Company. National Archives Records No. 176 verify that Albert Dillard
was in service in the same company with his brother, Barnett Dillard, in serving
in Company D (Captain H. W. Cannon's company) in the 4th Georgia Cavalry (State
Troops) in the regiment commanded by Colonel Robert
White.
This obituary was furnished
by Lillian Dillard Taylor of Dillard, Georgia.
Wheeler, Marshall and Bruce Georgia State
Directory published in Nashville, Tennessee in 1876. Albert Dillard was
listed as a farmer in the Georgia State
Gazetteer, 1883‑1884, published in Savannah, Georgia by Morning News Steam
Printing Company in 1883-1884.
Index to Georgia Confederate Pension
Files, compiled by Virgil D. White, reads at page 82: "Beavert, Leander M,
srv Co. E, 2th Ga. See claim of Mrs. Margaret C. Beavert widow of Rabun Co.,
GA....she filed in Rabun Co., Ga.".
Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia,
1861‑1865, Lee A. Fulgrum, Reprint Co., Spartanburg, S. C. 1982, originally
printed by Georgia Department of Archives and
History.
For more details on the
McKinneys, see unpublished manuscripts, The McKinneys and Related Kin and Dillard Deeds in Buncombe County, by
John M. Dillard of Greenville, South Carolina on file with the Rabun County
Library.
These records are alleged to
be sometimes inaccurate or incomplete.
He is listed with a service
record in Fulgrum,
id.
He is listed with a service
record in Fulgrum,
id.
The information on James R.
Lambert was furnished by Sara Lambert Buckmaster from family data and cited
third party sources, including, but not limited to, U. S. Archives records, The Southern Watchman, October 3, 1862,
page 3, Georgia Grand Lodge Records, Macon, Georgia, Reconstruction Registration
Oath Book, April, 1868, No. 298, page 171, 1850 and 1860 Rabun County Censuses,
family Bible owned by Cheever H. Lambert in League City, Texas, Texas State
Archives pension records, tombstones, Concord Cemetery, Wood County, Texas and
marriage records, Wood County, Texas, 1880, page
206.
Information furnished in
part by Elaine Randall English of Clayton, Georgia.
Information on descendants
provided by Elaine Randall English.
Lillian Henderson, id., at page
493.
Ritchie, id., pages 91 and
92.
Jasper Hopper was one of the
defendants named along with William McKinney in the settlement of the real
estate of Charles McKinney of Buncombe County, North Carolina. The name of his
mother is unknown.
Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia,
1861‑1865, Volume III, page 39.
Confederate Archives,
Chapter 10, File 10, page 160 (South Carolina Confederate Records on
Microfilm).
Broken Fortunes, R. W. Kirkland, Jr.,
published by the South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, S. C. (1995),
which covers South Carolina troops who were killed in action, lists A. J. Martin
as having died on August 12, 1862 in Rabun County,
Georgia.
Statement Anne G.
Dickerson.
Several J. M. Martins and
James M. Martins are listed in Confederate service records in Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861‑1865,
id. The fact that he was in the same company as his brother, Andrew J.
Martin, led to his identification as the correct James M. Martin.
South Carolina Confederate Soldiers on
Microfilm under Orr's Rifles.
Statement Anne G.
Dickerson.
North Carolina State Troops, page 348,
listing G.W.L. Kelley of Georgia.
Index to Georgia Confederate Pension Files,
Virgil D. White, page 711.
Information furnished by
Beverly V. Schroder, a Conley descendant of Oakland, Cavalry citing Compiled Service Records of Confederate
Soldiers Who Served in Organizations for North Carolina, Roll No. 242, 16th
Infantry, C‑D.
Lillian Henderson, id., Volumes III and IV, page
31.
Compendium of the Confederate Armies, South
Carolina and Georgia, id., page
115.
Compendium of the Confederate Armies, South
Carolina and Georgia, id., at page 115.
Ritchie, id., at page
278.
Ritchie, id., at page
274.
Ritchie, id, pages 274 and
275.
The above and the following
information is from the unpublished commentary of Dr. Howard V. Jones and
information provided by Janelle Knight, a John Dillard, Jr.
descendant.
Information from Janelle
Knight relying on Bicentennial Gordon County
History.
Index to Georgia Confederate Pension Files,
id., page 291 which verifies his service in Company D, 8th Battalion,
Georgia Infantry.
Hewitt, id,, and Henderson's consolidated index
at Volume 4, page 377.
Hewitt, id., and Henderson id. in Volume 1, Page 600. Also information from Janelle
Knight.
Information on William F.
Dillard descendants and kin who served in the Civil War from Missouri was
provided by Dr. Howard V. Jones from his notes and the History of Greene County, Missouri, page
706.
All information about the
Independence County, Missouri Dillard is from the unpublished commentary of Dr.
Howard V. Jones relying principally upon research of the late Lucile R. Johnson,
a Thomas Dillard decendant.
Bridges over the new express
highway between Asheville, North Carolina and Johnson City, Tennessee were named
for Robert Love and J. R. Love.
Information about the
children of Thomas Dillard, Jr. and
the Confederate service of his descendants has been provided by Miriam Dillard
Klar, a Thomas Dillard, Jr. descendant.
See Dillard Annual, Vol. 2,
page 7 (January, 1993).
See above biographical
sketch of James Bryan Conley, who served in Thomas’ Legion.
Report
of Mrs. Helen G. Johnson, C.G.R.S., of Russellville, AL, now deceased, and
recorded in Book __, p. 491, Spartanburg District, State of South Carolina, sent
DDH by Helen D. Shewbart 30 April 1992.
Rabun County and its People, Volume I, Walsworth Printing Co. (1992)
showing this survey of the Second
District.
That Peggy Barnard and Sarah Barnard were twin
sisters is recorded in the family data of the late Mary Ritchie Dillard, wife of
Zach Dillard.
