1 Sept 1999

Dear Teddy,

Descendants of David Dille Jr. are extracting information from the Dille Book written by George E. Dille which have false birth years for David's sons. George stated the right years of birth and death for his wife Elizabeth. Yet he provided false birth years too early for some of David's sons. I have collected census records that provide the approximate correct years for Isaac and Israel for example. There is no evidence of an earlier wife.

I have used the Dille book extensively over a 25 year period, and I recognize the value of George's work in separating the clans and families. I have marked many typos and mistakes in my copy of the book. Now, the junior author, Earl, has written Ruth Dilley perplexed by these early birth years. Before I received Ruth's last letter, I had written my critique of this problem and the addition of four Dilleys who were not sons of David Sr. I am sending you a copy of my short account of the situation. I hope you will decide whether this critique is suitable to be put on your Web Site for e-mail members. This is the main purpose of this letter.

Lastly, I am pleased that some of my Dilley accounts are being put on your Web Site. Ruth Dilley keeps me informed. Another small item is a mistake in the Content Index for my David Dille Sr. book. The page numbers from 40 to 51 are wrong. Please correct these on your copy, or add the revised version enclosed.

Thanks for your help,

Jay D. Andrews

Enclosure:

CORRECTIONS FOR THE DILLE BOOK WRITTEN BY GEORGE E. DILLEY
By Jay D. Andrews
27 Aug 1999

The book on the Dilley family by George E. Dille, published in 1964, is a major source of information on this clan. He compiled alot of families and sorted them by major clans. The descendants of David Dille Sr. were the most abundant of the major clans, because he raised eight sons, all of whom survived and produced large families in later generations. David Dille Sr. was born about 1718 in New Jersey, and he followed his sons to Washington Co., PA. in late 1776. All the sons except Asa were adults by the time of the migration, and only Aaron, who already had a family, stayed in NJ for about 14 years before moving to join his brothers. There are fine vital records on the early ancestors of David who settled in Woodbridge, NJ beginning with John Sr. who arrived there about 1665. He had two sons, John Jr. and Jonathan. Jonathan b. 1684 had three sons, Jonathan b. 1714, John b. 1717, and Aaron b. 1721. Woodbridge Vital Statistics given by Dally confirm these birth records.

Aaron 1721 had several sons who are mostly documented, but descendants of John b. 1717 and Jonathan are much less certain. John Jr. had only two confirmed sons who are fairly well documented, David and Ichabod. George Dille, the author of the book, recognized Ichabod as a son of John Jr., but he included Lewis as a son of David. He was not aware that Price and Lewis were sons of Ichabod. The circumstantial evidence for this lays in their naming sons after Ichabod. Price Dilley named his first two sons Ichabod and Lewis. Lewis was probably a son of Ichabod because they lived in adjacent 12 acre farms in Morris Co., NJ from about 1778 to 1789 after which they migrated to Washington Co., PA (data discovered by Ruth and Gerald Dilley).

Ichabod appeared in census records for 1800 and he paid taxes from 1790 to 1800 in Washington Co. Ichabod buried two young sons at Newark, NJ where John Jr. buried two wives, which implies that Ichabod was a son of John Jr. in Washington Co. Ichabod was a solitary man with one cow and one horse in tax records from 1790 to 1800, after which he disappeared. No early burials have survived in the Prosperity Graveyard where the Dilleys attended the Presbyterian church there. Price Dilley moved to Mercer Co., PA soon after appearing in the 1800 census in Washington Co., and Lewis and many of his descendants remained in Washington Co. where many remain today. Most of David Sr's sons had moved to Belmont Co., OH by 1800, except Isaac and Israel who stayed until 1816, then they moved to Richland Co., OH. None of David's sons stayed in Washington county and only a few descendants persisted there for a generation.

There were 8 sons of David Dille and 2 daughters which is confirmed by the bible records of David Dille Jr. that were provided with his application for a Revolutionary War pension. In the Dille Book, George E. Dille included Lewis and Price as sons of David Sr., and he added Jonathan and William to make 14 sons for David. He provided data on Lewis and Price, but none on the two New Jersey Dilleys who were not sons of David.

A major problem with George E. Dille's understanding of David Sr.'s sons is the birth years given. Elizabeth Dille, David's wife, was born in 1728 and died in 1826 at 98 years of age. The early births of some sons as reported in the Dille book are impossible. The wills and obituaries for Israel and Isaac show that they were born in the late 1750's. Census records also show that those years of early births are false dates. For example, by census records, Israel was born after 1755 and Isaac about 1757, and dates on other sons are suspicious. There is no evidence that David had an earlier first wife.

The speculation that David and Ichabod Dilley moved to Jamaica or South Carolina is pure fiction induced by the scarcity of early records for them in New Jersey. David witnessed a will in 1756 and applied for ear marks in 1764. The false date of migration of 1767 is clarified by Asa Dille's statement supporting his brother David Jr's application for a pension, which states that they moved in the fall of 1776.
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