Family:Richard Dillon and Ann Lawrence (1)

Richard Dillon did not marry Ann "Morris," as is claimed in several undocumented sources. His wife was Ann Lawrence, the daughter of Humphrey Lawrence of Bertie County. I will enumerate several items here in support of this relationship: (1) The will of Humphrey Lawrence, cited on Humphrey Lawrence's page, in which he named wife Ann, son Frederick, daughter Ann, etc. Humphrey Lawrence's widow was Ann Ashley, the daughter of Thomas Ashley (proven by gift deed Thomas Ashley to his daughter and son-in-law Humphrey and Ann Lawrence 1753, Bertie Co NC Deed Book H, 37). (2) Thomas Ashley was appointed guardian to Ann Lawrence at Nov 1775 Bertie County court (Haun, Bertie Co NC Court Minutes, Book IV, 56). (3) Richard Dillon's wife was named Ann, as proven by deed Richard and Ann Dillon to Andrew Stanton 17 Nov 1789, by which they sold 250 acres adjacent to "Thomas Ashley's line," Bertie Co NC Deed Book P, 37. (4) Richard Dillon executed power of attorney to Frederick Lawrence (Ann Lawrence's brother) on 20 Oct 1792 for his affairs in Bertie County, per Bertie Co NC Deed Book P, 371. (5) Richard and Ann Dillon named son "Lawrence Dillon," see discussion under Lawrence Dillon's page.

submitted by: Bevin Creel, Jan 2012

Richard Dillon and his family became members of New Zion Baptist Church in present-day Walthall County, Mississippi late in Richard's life. The following entries will be of some interest. Transcription/abstraction of the minutes were made by me from microfilm at the Mississippi Baptist Historical Commission, Leland Speed Library, Mississippi College, Clinton, Mississippi.

May 1830- We received 3 members to full fellowship by letter, namely Richard Dillon and wife [Ann Lawrence], and Crecy, a black woman.

June 1832- Reception of members...Willis Dillon and wife, John Sterlin [Stallings] and wife [Nancy Ann Dillon], and George, a black man.

August 1832- Reception of members...Larrance [Lawrence] Dillon.

May 1838- Bro. Hardy Ryals informs the church that Bro. Willis Dillon had been intoxicated. Appoint Bro. William Lewis and clerk to visit said brother. Bro. John Stallings and Nancy Stallings, his wife, apply for letters of dismission.

June 1838- Reference of Bro. Willis Dillon taken up. Unanimously agreed he be excluded from fellowship...for drinking, no attendance, and other “heinous crimes.” Bro. George Carson called for a letter wrote by Bro. Laurence Dillon to Bro. William Fortinberry, the following is an extract of the same.

“May 5th 1838. Mr. William Fortinberry. Dear Sir, I have sent the balance of money to satisfy your account by my son John. I wish you to try and recollect the contract there was between me and you before you commenced your practice. This circumstance has been a burden to me for twelve months, and I am not yet reconciled to such imposition. Therefore, I am not disposed to fellowship. I hope you will receive this as my farewell, and exclude me from among you...It appears to be a lamentable case that almost all of our preachers have become practitioners of that institution that God has...pronounced hypocrites and promised to them the greater damnation.”

July 1838- Laurence Dillon, present, was called upon to make good his accusations in the letter of June Term...which he attempted to do, but utterly failed in view of the church. In hostile way he refused to hear the church. Therefore, we excluded said Dillen from fellowship.

[submitted by Bevin Creel, May 2012]

1.   Hollingsworth Bible Record [aka Richard Dillon Bible Record], in Mississippi Genealogical Society (Jackson, Mississippi). Mississippi cemetery and bible records. (Jackson, Mississippi: The Society, 1954-)
   vol 7, 84.

   Births
   Richard Dillon was born Oct. 7th A.D. 1745
   Ann Dillon was born A.D. 1762
   Mary Miller was born A.D. 1793
   Nancy Ann Dillon was born Oct. 26th 1778
   Willis Dillon was born Dec. 31st 1787
   Theophilous Dillon was born May 26, 1796
   
   Deaths
   Richard Dillon Senr deceast Oct. 7th A.D. 1832 10 minutes before 7 O'clock in the evening.
   Moses Miller deceast August 7th, A.D. 1836
   Nancy C. Davis, Sr. deceased March 31, 1854
   Nancy C. Davis, Jr. deceased Aug. 23rd 1853
   William Davis deceased April 24th 1854
   Wm. A. Miller deceased Aug. 17th A.D. 1864
   John R. Miller deceased Oct. 7th 1864.
   John R. Miller died October 7th 6 o'clock A.M. A.D. 1864.
   Nancy A. Stallings, Sr. Deceased May 28th 6 o'clock P.M. 1869. Aged ninety years, nine months and 2 days.
   Mary Miller deceased July 4th 11:55 A.M. of the clock 1876

2.   Luke Ward Conerly, "Pike County, Mississippi: 1798-1876"
   1909.

   as reprinted in Ernest Russ Williams, "Resource Records of Pike-Walthall Counties, Mississippi." Conerly's account of Richard Dillon's life contains several inaccuracies. However, information concerning his children probably came from surviving grandchildren of Richard, and is worth presenting here.
   p 87: "Richard Dillon was born in Ireland and came to South Carolina prior to the Revolutionary War and joined the colonists in the war with Great Britain. He was captured and made a prisoner of war with Great Britain. He was captured and made a prisoner of war, taken back to England land compelled to work in a copper shop until the close of the war when he was liberated and returned to South Carolina, and with his wife came to Mississippi and settled on Bogue Chitto, at what is known as Dillon's Bridge, or Dillontown. They were the parents of Clarkson, Laurence, Willie [sic, Willis] and Theopolis."

3.   "Joanna," wife of Jeremiah Smith, is often claimed as a daughter of Richard Dillon, but there is no clear evidence for that relationship. A few considerations are in order. (1) She is not shown in the Richard Dillon Bible Record, as cited above. (2) She is not named in Luke Ward Conerly's 1909 "Pike County, Mississippi: 1798-1876" as a daughter of Richard Dillon. Conerly identified "Clarkston," Clara (wife of George Smith), Willis, "Theopholis," and "Laurence" as children of Richard Dillon (pp 82, 87). From the narrative on pp 87-8, we may deduce that Conerly knew some of the children of Clara Dillon and George Smith. Since Conerly noted that George Smith was a brother to Jeremiah Smith (p 88), it seems strange that he would not have enumerated Joanna "Dillon" as a sister to Clara, had that been the case. (3) Finally, in the autobiography of Walter Edwin Tynes, a grandson of Jeremiah and Joanna, Walter Tynes gave his grandmother Joanna's maiden name as "Holly;" see Walter Edwin Tynes, "My Pilgrimage," 1993 reprint (originally published 1928), 7.
   I have been unable to determine the origin of the tradition that Joanna was Richard's daughter. The earliest printed claim to that effect of which I am aware is Russ Williams' 1978 addendum to Conerly's Pike County history, on p 118 of said addendum. I repeated the claim in my "A Patriot's Legacy: The Family of Richard Dillon and Ann Lawrence" (2002). I now consider this to have been an error.
   Bevin Creel