[The following affidavit of Rempson Dillon was typed and submitted with the DAR application of national number 449310. Some of the information given by Rempson Dillon was either incorrect or was misunderstood/mistranscribed by the person(s) taking the affidavit. He was 82 years old at the time of the affidavit. I have placed editorial remarks in square brackets after relevant passages---Bevin Creel]
August 5, 1956
Dillontown, Miss, (residence)
in Franklinton, La.
I, Rempson Dillon, being of sound mind and body, and in full remembrance of the things I know of my own knowledge and of those which my parents and grandparents told me, do make this statement freely and with a right good will:
I am the only living son of my father, James T. Dillon, and I was born April 9, 1874. My brothers and sisters were: Mary who died at 87 years and 7 months, the wife of Harvey Simmons; Richard; Laban; Uriah, Ester who married Jim Simmons, Jr., and the first two—Sandy and Nancy who died quite young, about 2 years old. Cassie married Dred Rhymes; Claridy married a Miller. My father had 26 children by three wives. [These last two, Cassie and Claridy were, in fact, his father’s sisters. “Claridy” was probably a mis-hearing or mis-transcription of “Maritty” or “Maritta,” who was one of the wives of Thomas Miller...who was the man who had “26 children by three wives.”]
I live with my daughter-in-law, who was Mary E. Dykes. My wife was buried sometime ago. We lived near Tylertown, Mississippi. My father was born in 1814 and moved to the Ike Hughes place about 77 years ago. Ike Hughes had married a 1st cousin of my father’s, the daughter of Laurence Dillon. My mother was Lisabeth Brock, born 1828, died 1900, buried at the cemetery on the Hughes place. She was the daughter of James Brock, and the granddaughter of Val Brock. [? This may be a reference to James Brock’s oldest son, Valentine]
My grandfather Dillon was Willis Dillon, and my grandmother was called Mary. His brothers were: Laurence, Offie, John, Everett and two more who married in South Carolina but never came to Mississippi, except on horseback for visits with their folks. A sister was Clara, sometimes called Clarisy, who married George Smith in South Carolina and moved close to the Bogue Chitto river. One sister married Jack Stallings, and one married Coulter Warner, a schoolteacher. [John and Everett in this paragraph may be misplaced. Also, Coulter Warner does not appear to have married a Dillon.]
My grandfather’s parents, he often told me of them, came from South Carolina, where they were born [error]. I was told the little town was called Dillonton, S.C. [error, they didn’t come from there], and this is what they named the settlement south of the present Tylertown, Mississippi, where they settled first, and where many of his descendants now live. Richard Dillon came just before the turn of the century (N.B. records show land year of 1799). We believe his wife died shortly after leaving that State. Evidently filed for the land first, then after the baby’s birth—Clarisy the youngest—came here. We presume the mother died about the 1830’s. [the second half of this paragraph appears to be largely editorial]
Jack Stallings and his wife had sons: Jimmie, Willis, Jesse and John that I recall. One girl married Jack Holmes; and Winnie married a Brock.
My mother was Elizabeth Brock, born 1828 and died 1900, buried with my father at the cemetery at the Hughes Place. Her father was James Brock and grandfather was Val Brock. My uncles were: Jep & William, Isam [probably Isam Hinson], Richmond, Richard, Sandy who married Sallie Williams, and one aunt was Fronie (N.B. Sophronia) Brock. [Some of these were grandchildren of James Brock, not children]
I make this statement to my friends and relatives: Mrs. Gussie Smith Edwards of Jackson, Miss., Mrs. Sara Simmons Smith of Franklinton, La., Mrs. Lela Simmons Erwin of Franklinton, and Miss Texana Carter of Franklinton. I tell them this because I know it is true to the very best of my knowledge.
[signed] Rempson Dillon
Sworn to & subscribed before me a Notary Public in and for the Parish of Washington, State of La. My commission expires at death.
[signed] Haley M. Carter
