22 February 1997

Dear Randy,

I am pleased to get your letter and new information on Samuel DILLEY of the Ephraim clan. I am most interested in the land records in Guernsey Co., and the deeds on the inheritance of Ephraim Sr.'s 80 acres of land. Recently, Russell SACKREITER sent me a copy of the Patent record on 160 acres of land acquired by Ephraim Sr. and Joseph jointly on the NE 1/4 of Section 20 north of Senecaville. I will send you a copy. Russell is a descendant of Ephraim Jr. by several generations of DILLEY's. Joseph died in 1833, and Ephraim Sr. in 1844, and I found a bunch of deeds spread over many years which were settlements of the inheritances of Joseph's & Ephraim's children from their Patent land.

I visited Guernsey Co., OH for several days in 1986, but I did not have time to extract land records. I have only a list of deeds similar to yours, but different. I will send you a copy. You have done what needs to be done by descendants of Ephraim quite effectively, that is to search your own branch. I compile early generations for all DILLEY's, but I do not search vital and land records except for a few. Sandra WILLIAMS of MA was searching Guernsey Co. DILLEYS, intensively, down to current generations for several years. She quit inexplicably in 1986 just as I was starting local searches. I had found a compilation on Ephraim by Minnie CARPENTER, done in the 1920s & 1930s. It was deposited with Thomas Ray DILLE of Morgantown, W.VA, and he put it in the Univ. library where I found it in 1950. Decades later, when I revived my search on DILLEY's, I found another account by Minnie at LDS. Counting Susan's records, I have three quite extensive accounts of this clan other than my own.

Recently, Lisa FAIR, a descendant of Joseph DILLEY, found a will by his oldest son, Ephraim M. who died early, and left 2/3 of his estate to his siblings. Abraham was appointed guardian for the young children of Joseph which was recorded in court. If ever you get the chance, examine these records. I am too old to travel now (80). I have all the DILLEY census records for Guernsey Co. up to 1900, but Abraham Sr. was not found in 1860.

You appear to have all the equipment and ability to search your ancestors. You are right to begin with your own branch and recent generations. Because you are in the 8th generation, I do not expect you to search other branches, except the earliest perhaps. Ruth and Gerald DILLEY have the best knowledge of the NJ clan, and Ephraim's ancestry is proven in my opinion directly to John Sr. In using the DILLE Book and other early sources, you should remember that none of them realized that Ephraim Sr. spent about 15 years in Fayette Co., PA. Land and courthouse records there have not been searched by anyone to my knowledge. Lisa FAIR is beginning this. I found several disparities in our vital records, but this could be from my extraction process from microfilms, or the DILLE book which has many mistakes--typos. I will not try to provide you with a lot of Ephraim data. I may someday decide to make a few copies for distribution at cost--simple, bound, machine copies.

Thanks again for the new information and land records, which I hope you will continue to pursue. (Copy to Ruth & Gerald DILLEY)

Sincerely yours,

Jay D. ANDREWS

Enclosures: Copy Patent on 160 acres, Sect. 20 1p

Stories of Guernsey Co., by WOLFE 2pp

Families of Ephraim Sr. 5 pp

Dilley deeds (index) in Guernsey Co., OH 1p

Contents of my Ephraim DILLEY account 2pp

Return to ANDREWS collection.