Letter J. D. Andrews to Thelma Describing Lawrence Co. OH Dilleys
Your chatty letter has left me with a lot of questions! You flit gaily from one "hint" to another leaving me breathless with eagerness to know the sources and details. But first I must tell you about the letter from Marvin O. Hill received after New Years. He wrote me a two-page letter, and compiled a new Timeline for his data which provides a useful summary of his records. He wrote that his records were too extensive to begin sending me records, and I answered that I was interested in the early generations only. I wrote to him primarily because he lives in W. VA. In fact, he is quite familiar with the area of Martin and Henry s sites in Pocahontas Co., because his family owns part of Martin's land and they made summer visits there where a log cabin, that later burned, was used. Marvin writes that he hopes to retire late this year, at which time he will visit the State Library in Richmond to search his ancestors. I confessed to him that I had not used the Richmond Library although I realize its importance. Marvin appears to be well-organized and he has a computer genealogical program. He states that he has 2000 names in his records, and he convinced me that he has a far better compilation of Martin and Henry than I could ever compile from Price’s biographies and census records. He apparently has dates for many of them, but I asked only for copies of the Martin and Henry families. I will continue to massage the records of early generations of W. VA Dilleys, but I will not pursue searches for descendants of Martin and Henry. I sent him a copy of my Revision of VA Dilleys which is already somewhat out of date. You have not commented on this effort at summary of the status of VA Dilley research, or offered corrections. I don't feel comfortable copying his letter for You until I become better acquainted with him at least.
I share Your concern about people accepting speculations as facts, and I suspect we all succumb to this at times. I warn my readers to confirm my summaries before applying for membership in patriotic societies. Several people descended from Price Dilley have used David Sr. as his father. I already have Christian Dilley as the probable father of the Lawrence Co. OH clan in my VA Dilley account--but with cautions. This booklet with several others, were microfilmed here two years ago at the local Family History Center, and copies of the microfilms were returned for each contributor. I became involved in making indexes of contents, and I prepared sticker-lists of contents for some 50 rolls of microfilm. This may be a one-time event because the director had been collecting material for several years.
I realize that your multiple records are "boxed" and not easily accessible, but perhaps you can tell me from memory whether you have sets of census records for VA and OH Dilleys specially. I have sent You some1 and I include a new 1870 census for Pocahontas Co. Dilleys. I don’t recognize Mr. Riggs and have not written to him. In fact, Marvin Hill is the only source that I have contacted from your records.
I still have problems with James and Luke Dilley of Lawrence Co., OH. I realize that people sometimes fudge their ages in census records, but not upwardly, and I find them quite useful to check names and ages not to mention birth states. The 1860 census for Lawrence Co., OH shows James and Susannah, both age 48, with three sons and the Youngest Wm. only 5 years of age. If James and his wife were born in 1802, she could not have had that son. They gave ages of 36 and 87 in 1850. I find no Lawrence Co., OH Dilleys in the census indexes before 1850 when James, Abner and Moses appeared. There are lots of James among the VA Dilleys; they liked biblical names.
I realize that Luke Dilley of Lawrence Co., OH is missing from all the lists of John or Christian's family, and that whoever the father was, he never got to Lawrence Co. It is also risky to associate a family with a clan based on residence site, but there he is in two censuses, and he fits into the Lawrence Co. family by his age. The Luke Dilley of Lawrence Co., OH could not have been the son of James.
I find no record for John Di1ley in the 1800 census for Botetourt Co., VA thought all VA censuses for 1790 and 1800 were destroyed. You must mean tax records which were compiled as substitutes for census records. How do You know that Christian Dilley was not living close by John in Botetourt as he was in 1795 and 181Q. I realize that you are using the record of Peninah whose birth gave the year when her family moved to Greenbrier Co., W. VA for John's residence in Botetourt.
I think that much of our problem following Dilleys in their VA residences between 1800 and 1850 lays in the erection of smaller counties from bigger ones with changing boundaries. I still can't find my several decades county maps for W. VA, so I will make more from Thorndale and Dollarhide. I suspect that Martin and Henry lived on county borders which changed their counties but not their addresses when new ones were formed. Pocahontas Co. is surrounded by Greenbrier on the south, Nicholas on the west, and Pendleton on the northeast. It is obvious that these early settlers lived in the valleys where most towns are located.
I note that Marvin Hill lives at Beverly about 30 miles north of Marlington in the same river valley as Pocahontas Co. With his familiarity with the Martin and Henry sites, he may be able to locate those where other Dilleys lived. He may already have addresses for some of them. I have sent him a copy of my 1810 to 1840 censuses for VA Dilleys which show Isaac and Abraham Dilley who apparently changed sites from Nicholas Co. to Lewis and Braxton counties. An older couple was living with Abraham in 1830 (b about 1780). I am also curious about Robert C. Dilley who was born 1765, therefore could be another son of John of Shenandoah Co. However, one would have expected his birth to be recorded at the Lutheran Church in Manchester along with Anna Maria and Christian.
P.S. While reading the 1966 letter by Sylvester Dilley of Florida, I found his notation that your husband had referred to Abner and Luke Dilley in the Dille Book. While searching for this, I stumbled on the Martin and Henry accounts in the appendix of the Dille book. I have been reinventing the wheel in my attempts to compile the Martin and Henry families! This account is not in the T. R. Dille records, therefore, George E. Dille had other sources not available publicly to my knowledge. I wish his son would place their records in a library open to the public. I have requested this several times without answer.
In Sylvester's letter, he states that his grandfather, Luke, came from PA which contradicts the census records. I have Luke born in VA in the 1850 census and in OH for the 1860 one, which is probably right. Sylvester notes that Barney and Luke filed for land on the same day in Lawrence Co., OH, but he did not know if they were brothers or cousins. I think the evidence indicates that Luke was a member of John or Christian’s family. 1 suppose that Sylvester never got back to Ironton to search the records; did he write any more letters? I don't suppose that you have developed this family, 50 I will begin with Sylvester’s letter. This adds another George Washington to the already numerous ones with Dilley names. Jay D. Andrews
Return to The Dilley Project Index
Return The Allegheny Regional Family History Society Home Page.