Notes On Virginia Dilleys From Census Records

By Jay D. Andrews

17 Oct 1992

1. There were seven Dilley men age 26-45 in 1810 censuses in VA if Martin and Henry Dilley are included. They lived in Bath Co. then. There were three more age >45 years which means they were born before 1765. This puts a surprisingly old age (over 35) for Richard who married a young McCoy girl under age parents consent needed). Probably Richard was just over 45 and Joseph just under that age in 1810. No older Dilley appears in the censuses who was old enough to sire these 10 Dilley men.

 2. We do not have an age scale for either John Dilley of Dunmore Co. (later Page Co), or John Dilley of Stafford Co. except that John of Shenandoah (probably same man as John of Dunmore) was eligible as a potential soldier. John of Stafford was .>45 in 1810 (census in Wash. Co., OH), so he could be the father or brother of Richard and Joseph. 8ut if he was the father, he would have had to be born about 1745. I suspect that these were three brothers living together in Stafford Co., VA, and that there was no older man there who was the father of Richard and Joseph. These three men were older than we suspected earlier. In the 1820 census, the 16-18 age category has apparently confused me in copying records, because I have all three Washington Co., OH Dilleys in the 26-45 age category when they should be >45 Years of age. I must recheck these census records, although Nellie Gard shows all three to be over 45 years of age in her census records.

 3. Frederick Dilley of Shenandoah Co. was probably the oldest of the 10 Dilley men in the 1810 census, for he had five children over 10 Years of age and two of these were 16-26 in 1810. So his older children were born before 1794, and he was probably brother or cousin to the other nine.

 4. Christian Dilly was baptized 8 Jan 1769 as a son of John and Catherine (Himan) Dilley at the Manchester Reformed Lutheran Church, Carroll Co., MD. Catherine was the name of the wife of John of Shenandoah Co. when he sold three tracts of land in 1778 and 1780. This puts John's birth back before 1750 probably.

 5. Our speculation that John of Shenandoah was the father of Jesse (born in N. J. in 1770), also of Frederick of Shenandoah b before 1765, and John Jr. (baptized 15 May 1774, born 13 March as a son of Catherine and John) is a beginning on that family, if residence is a valid criterium. However, Thelma's data show that four W. VA brothers, Christian, John Jr., Martin and Henry, were sons of John Sr. of Shenandoah Co. The marriages of the first two in Bath Co., VA and Christian's baptisms in the Manchester Lutheran Church link these four brothers to John Sr. See revised account of Virginia Dilleys by J. D. Andrews.

 6. Who was the John Dilley, age 44 yrs (b 1732), listed in a 1776 census for MD, and his wife Margaret with eight children? He can't be the same MD man as John Dilli an immigrant from Germany who took the oath of allegiance 22 May 1764 and had a wife Ann Marie (Himapin) Dilley? There is no evidence that this John Dilley ever lived in Virginia.

 7. Could the Martin Dilly, listed as a soldier in a VA register for the Rev. War for Augusta Co., be an early father of some VA Dilleys? (VA Magazine of History and Biography, Vol 7 p 25). The Martin in Bath Co. in the 1810 VA census was born in 1780 and could not have served in the Rev. War.

 8. Thelma Reeder in her Dilley Timeline reports birth years for several Pocahontas Co. Dilleys as born during the 18th century But these years are a century too early, because Dilleys by those same names appeared in the 1880 census.

 

 


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