When we started our genealogy about five years ago, we traced our lines back to over a thousand years ago. This is the story of the Dillon's - my mother-in-law's paternal line.
The Dillon Family
Dillon is a surname of Irish origin but with Breton-Norman roots. It is first recorded in Ireland with the arrival of Sir Henry de Leon (c.1176 – 1244), of a cadet branch of Viscounty of Léon, Brittany. He arrived in Ireland accompanying Prince John (later King John) of England. The name evolved into the Irish-language "Diolun"/English-language "Dillon" (not to be confused with the Welsh given name Dylan). It is particularly common in the Meath and Westmeath counties of Ireland where the Dillons were granted vast areas of land. The name is now widespread throughout Ireland. The Dillon family later became the Barons Clonbrock and Earls of Roscommon.
Henry Dillon
b. 1655 d. 1694
married for thirteen years in 1681
to
Elinor
b. 1659 d. 1694
Places lived: New Kent Co., VA. Franklin Co., VA.
hubby's 9th great-grandparents
Planter who owned large tracts of land in New Kent, Caroline, and King Wm Counties, VA.
William Dillon
b. August 1st, 1681 d. May 15th, 1744
married for thirty-five years in 1694
to
Mary Joyce Robinson
b. 1685 d. October 27th, 1729
Places lived: New Kent Co., VA. Goochland Co., VA.
hubby's 8th great-grandparents
Thomas Dillon
b. 1701 d. 1744
married
to
Mary LeBotille
b. 1705 d. 1748
Places lived: New Kent Co., VA. Goochland Co., VA. Varina, VA.
hubby's 7th great-grandparents
James Dillon
b. 1726 d. 1791
married
to
Mary Belcher
b. 1735 d. June 12th, 1833
Places lived: Cumberland Co., VA. Franklin Co., VA. Goochland Co., VA.
hubby's 6th great-grandparents
Henry Dillon
b. 1765 d. 1847
married for fifteen years on August 31st, 1791
to
Elizabeth Blades
b. 1768 d. November 1st, 1806
Places lived: Goochland, VA.Buffalo Creek, VA.
hubby's 5th great-grandparents
Arthur Dillon
b. 1792 d. February 15th, 1840
b. 1792 d. February 15th, 1840
married for thirty years on August 1st, 1810
to
Ann O. "Nancy" Townsend
b. 1794 d. June 12th, 1845
Places lived: DE. IA.
hubby's 4th great-grandparents
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| Arthur Dillon and Ann Townsend Marriage Certificate. August 1st, 1810. |
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| U.S. General Land Office Records, 1844 |
William Henry Dillon
b. July 4th, 1818 d. December 9th, 1895
married for thirty years on April 15th, 1840
to
Harriett Hatton Dillon
b. May 14th, 1819 d. February 11th, 1871
Places Lived: Kent Co. Delaware. Lawrence Kentucky. Muscatine, IA Vancouver, WA.
hubby's 3rd great-grandparents
William H Dillon--Mr. Dillon, a pioneer of four states of our union, and a perfect example of the frontiersman, whose life story has been recounted in other pages also, was born in Kent county, Delaware, July 4, 1818. His parents were of English and Irish descent, and in 1823 moved west across the Alleghany Mountains, to Ohio, then upon the very outposts of civilization. Eight years later they came on to Indiana, locating in Tippecanoe county on the Wabash. The desire, however, of owning and farming his own lands took possession of the elder Dillon and he pulled up stakes and traveled the Mississippi and made claim within the wholly uncultivated borders of Iowa. This was in 1837. William Dillon, the subject of our sketch, thus early learned the ins and outs of frontier life, and was deeply impressed with the purpose of being an independent land-owner.
The death of his father in 1840, and his own marriage to Miss Harriet Hatten, the daughter of an old Kentuckian, imposed the necessity of hard labor and much economy; and, his health somewhat failing, he determined to come to the Pacific coast, where he understood that the climate was more favorable, and work less exacting. The journey was performed in 1847; and the usual vicissitudes of storms, stampedes occasional lack of water and feed for animals, and the wear and tear of the trip that fell to others, was also their experience. They suffered more or less from the pilfering of the Cayuse Indians. It was the Oscalusa train with which they performed the journey; and some of their companions were the unfortunates who remained at Waiilatpu and fell victims to the Indian atrocity the same time as Whitman. The passage down the Columbia from The Dalles was accomplished by means of rafts. The exposure and constant hardships of the plains and the river at last induced the mountain fiver, from which both Mr. Dillon and his wife suffered very severely.
In company with him was his brother (Junifer) and family; and he himself had a little girl (Nancy) and a pair of twin babies (Arthur & ?). He found an old acquaintance living at the mouth of the Willamette river. There he remained the first season, raising a crop of vegetables for the next winter's use, and making ready to look up a claim as spring opened. Upon the news of gold in California received at Portland in August, 1848, his brother went down to ascertain the truth of the report, and returned the next winter with a quantity of dust. In May, 1849, both Mr. Dillon and his brother took passage on the bark "John W. Carter," a vessel very heavily loaded with lumber and produce. He was fairly successful in the mines, and returning to Oregon located a claim nearly opposite the mouth of the Willamette in Washington. He followed farming and stock-raising, and for fourteen years kept a ferry across the river.
In 1871 he suffered the loss of his wife, and went soon after upon a prolonged visit to his friends in Iowa. While there, he married Mrs. Eliza Swetland of the town of Tipton, Iowa. He returned to Washington in the autumn and settled once more on a snug little farm northwest of Vancouver, where he is at present living in comfort. His children are married; and he contemplates with much pleasure the progress of the communities and states which he has done his part to establish. Nevertheless, the pioneer spirit still remains; and he sometimes wishes that there was a new land to settle out West so that he might hitch up and drive. [Source]
The death of his father in 1840, and his own marriage to Miss Harriet Hatten, the daughter of an old Kentuckian, imposed the necessity of hard labor and much economy; and, his health somewhat failing, he determined to come to the Pacific coast, where he understood that the climate was more favorable, and work less exacting. The journey was performed in 1847; and the usual vicissitudes of storms, stampedes occasional lack of water and feed for animals, and the wear and tear of the trip that fell to others, was also their experience. They suffered more or less from the pilfering of the Cayuse Indians. It was the Oscalusa train with which they performed the journey; and some of their companions were the unfortunates who remained at Waiilatpu and fell victims to the Indian atrocity the same time as Whitman. The passage down the Columbia from The Dalles was accomplished by means of rafts. The exposure and constant hardships of the plains and the river at last induced the mountain fiver, from which both Mr. Dillon and his wife suffered very severely.
In company with him was his brother (Junifer) and family; and he himself had a little girl (Nancy) and a pair of twin babies (Arthur & ?). He found an old acquaintance living at the mouth of the Willamette river. There he remained the first season, raising a crop of vegetables for the next winter's use, and making ready to look up a claim as spring opened. Upon the news of gold in California received at Portland in August, 1848, his brother went down to ascertain the truth of the report, and returned the next winter with a quantity of dust. In May, 1849, both Mr. Dillon and his brother took passage on the bark "John W. Carter," a vessel very heavily loaded with lumber and produce. He was fairly successful in the mines, and returning to Oregon located a claim nearly opposite the mouth of the Willamette in Washington. He followed farming and stock-raising, and for fourteen years kept a ferry across the river.
In 1871 he suffered the loss of his wife, and went soon after upon a prolonged visit to his friends in Iowa. While there, he married Mrs. Eliza Swetland of the town of Tipton, Iowa. He returned to Washington in the autumn and settled once more on a snug little farm northwest of Vancouver, where he is at present living in comfort. His children are married; and he contemplates with much pleasure the progress of the communities and states which he has done his part to establish. Nevertheless, the pioneer spirit still remains; and he sometimes wishes that there was a new land to settle out West so that he might hitch up and drive. [Source]
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| 1860 U.S Federal Census. Lines 37-40. |
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| 1870 U.S Federal Census. Lines 38 & 39. |
Arthur Jonah Dillon
b. February 27th, 1847 d. September 24th, 1922
to
Sadie Benefield
b. March 21st, 1881 d. February 24th, 1953
b. March 21st, 1881 d. February 24th, 1953
Places lived: Muscatine, IA. Clark Co. WA. Echo, Umatilla, OR. Multnomah, OR. Yamhill, OR.
hubby's 2nd great-grandfather
[There's a story about Arthur and Sadie, who were both betrothed to others]
[There's a story about Arthur and Sadie, who were both betrothed to others]
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| Arthur Jonah Dillon. |
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| 1910 U.S Federal Census. Lines 43-48. |
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| 1920 U.S Federal Census. |
Jack Nye Dillon
b. January 2nd, 1901 d. August 5th, 1979
married for sixty years on March 15th, 1919
to
Ollie Pearl Phares
b. July 17th, 1900 d. May 4th, 1985
Places lived: Wendling, OR. Eugene, Or.
hubby's great-grandfather
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| Jack and Ollie. |
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| Jack and Ollie. Circa 1970's. |
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| 1930 U.S Federal Census. |
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| 1940 U.S Federal Census. |
Arthur Dillon
b. September, 1924 to present
married for sixty-one years on November 14th, 1953
to
Marlene JoAnn Jungers
b. June 28th, 1932 d. June 17th, 2015
Places lived: Wendling, OR. Eugene, OR.
hubby's maternal grandparents
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| Young Papa Arthur. |
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| Papa Arthur in the Seabees. |
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| Papa Arthur and Grandee Marlene. |
3 comments:
Very interesting. I searched google to see if I could find the parents of Mary LeBotille. Her and Thomas Dillon are my 8th great grandparents.
Enjoyed reading I am a descendent of the Dillon's.
Kim
MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER WAS MARY DILLON WHO WAS REPORTED TO BE THE DAUGHTER OF RACHEL JONES AND "LIZE" DILLON. NOT SURE OF "LIZE's real name. RACHEL WAS REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN AN INDIAN CHILD FOUND IN A CAVE AND ADOPTED BY AMBROSE AND MARGARET JONES. MARY DILLON WAS BORN ABOUT 1854 IN SCOTT CO. VA.
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