Dear Thelma,

I appreciate all the records that you sent me, and I do not mind the duplications which often contain some new items as well as mistakes. I will not dwell on small mistakes that I find in records concerning clans for which I have produced a manuscript. My records must stand corrections from time to time too

I was surprised again to learn how widely You have collected Dilley records, particularly, because You state that the clan is not Your major focus of research. What kind of books are you publishing? 1 make only a few copies of mine for distribution to one or two major or local site libraries and to be photographed by LDS. I need to inform you of my major project which was a revision!! correction and addition to the early families in the Dille book for David Sr.’s clan. I am sending you a three page list of the topics covered in this 126 page "Book." You must be aware that there are numerous mistakes in the Dille book, particularly: in the early generations such as the birth years of his sons.

I was surprised by the data that you sent on New Jersey Dilleys. I have most of these items, but I find a few new church site burials. It is really a difficult clan to assemble because the key families lived during the 18th century before many records were kept, and of which so man:: early records were destroyed.

I am intrigued by the inference that you corresponded with George E. Dille; and his wife during the production of their book. I was not so lucky, and I was not aware of the book until 1972. This may have been a deliberate omission to contact me, because he did contact two of my best sources at a time when the.. were quiescent. I was the first person to obtain the T. R. Dille papers on microfilm in 1950, and my name headed the list of the few people who visited the Morgantown library for searching the Dilley papers. The junior author never replied to my several letters seeking access to their records. I did write to his wife a couple times soon after 1972 but he was dead by then. I have corresponded with his cousin who grew up with him and is a professor and Dille genealogist of talent.

I entertain the same suspicion as you do that the parents of Christian Dilley and Anna Marie Hennepin (I too can t read the penciled in names on some items) were the same couple who were listed as Johannes Dilli early, but as they became Americanized, it became John Dilly. The birth names of the mothers are similar and may be misread versions of script in a German church. I see it spelled many ways in your records, and we have no evidence of the age of John of Shenandoah Co., VA. If he was the same as the immigrant Johann Dilly, he had to be born in the 1740s or earlier. Since the christenings of Christian and Anna Marie were in the same Lutheran church in Carroll Co., MD, by the IGI record in MD, it is obvious that it is all the same family

I still have a problem with your change from Christian (your 1981 ltr to Don), to John (1989 Ltr to Don) as the father of the Greenbrier Co. Dilley families that moved to Lawrence Co., OH. The 1810 census for Christian listed a young family that you wrote fitted this family fairly well (I found it a poor fit with the family record that I received from Don). I assume that Elizabeth’s maiden name of Ackland was a primary basis for this switch plus the court records in Greenbrier Co. on John and Elizabeth. Also, I assume that the A for Ackland in Joseph's name was the reason he is placed in this Greenbrier family. Apparently both John and Christian died in Greenbrier Co. before the 1820 census. They would have been around 40 years of age then. If John is the correct father for the Lawrence Co. Dilley family, then we have no idea who the children were in Christian’s family despite the 1810 census record.

Where do you visualize Joseph staying behind with his father John? Greenbrier Co. surely? Or do You visualize John of Shenandoah moving back to MD where Joseph settled? His possible widow Catherine was alone in Bath Co. for the 1810 census which was before Joseph was mature enough to be on his own. I realize that children were often put out as apprentices in their teens. John of Shenandoah could have been 60 Years of age in 1800, but where did he live from 1780 to 1800 if alive? The Timeline on John of Shenandoah is fairly reasonable:

1762 John Dilly the immigrant becomes naturalized

1764 Dau Anna Marie Dilley was born

1769 Son Christian Dilley was born

1773 John Sr. buys land in Shenandoah Co.

1774 John Jr. born, m Elizabeth Ackland in 1795

1778-80 John Sr. sells land in Shenandoah Co.; no further record of him

1780 Martin Dilley born in VA

1780+ Henry Dilley born in VA

1795 Christian and John Dilley married in Bath Co., VA

1800 Martin and Henry Dilley on VA tax list

1810 Frederick Dilley b Shenandoah Co. in census with children >16 years

1810 Catherine, a widow? >45 yrs in census Bath Co.

1810 Christian in Greenbrier Co. VA census

Note: Jesse Dilley b 1770 does not fit into this clan if born in New Jersey as the 1850 census shows his birth. I have left out all the Potomac R. area Dilleys of Stafford Co., VA and others living near there.

I have studied your new family record for John Dilley b 1774. The absence of John 1774 in Lawrence Co., OH indicates that he was probably dead before the migration from Greenbrier Co., VA. You suggest 1819-20 for his period of death just before Elizabeth married Blankenship in Lawrence Co. My early family record from Don had James born 1802, but two census records suggest 1812 to 1814 for his birth. I see that you have placed him in the vacant space in the family.

Now that I know the list of 18th century Dilleys in your Timeline was not your record, I can state firmly that these names fit Dilleys listed in the 1880 census for Pocahontas Co., VA. I noted that you requested the Martin and Henry records from Don about Price's 1901 biographies and 1880 census records that usually go with them. I suspect that you do not have these records or that they are lost, therefore, I am sending you copies of my set.

I find the absence of Joseph in the migration to Lawrence Co. perplexing, because he was scarcely 18 yrs of age in 1813 which is the year that you use for the migration based on births in the family. Lawrence Co. is quite removed from the Mts. of Cumberland, MD. What are the sources for the apprenticeship of Joseph in Somerset Co., PA, which is quite close to Frostburg and Cumberland in MD. I find it difficult to remember who else was supposed to be in that area. It is nearly 40 years since John Sr. left MD for Shenandoah Co. What is the source for the Peter Dilley in Somerset Co.?

One of your correspondents carried the 1776 German Family as Dile which if correct raises a question of their belonging to the Dilley clan. I will await more information before trying to link them to Dilley clans.

I note that you wrote alternate dates in for the marriage of John and Elizabeth. This should be checked by someone. I am not clear about where Muddlety and Strange Cr. are located. Are you saying that he moved from Bath or elsewhere by 1814, or was it a change in the same area? Were the court cases in Kanawha or Greenbrier Co. You see I an befuddled by these changes of county boundaries.

Sincerely yours,