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DILLEY FOUNDERS

Members of the Dilley Surname Mail list contributed their ancestors whom were involved with the founding of locations (towns, waterways, mills, etc.).

 

*My grandfather Isaac Dilley had a grist mill on the head of a creek in Clay Co. WV/Va and the town and the creek (mostly a post office) was named for him --Dille, WV 26617.
Lola Butcher Given
lolabgiven@citynet.net

 

*Add my foreparent Christian Dilley--one of the 4 brothers who came in to northeastern part of WV from NJ. My grandfather son of Christian had the grist mill on a branch of Strange Creek and the creek was named Dilley Run and the town called Dille in Clay Co. WV.

Lola Butcher Given
lolabgiven@citynet.net

 

*For years I wondered about a little town is Southwest Texas named, DILLEY. This a.m. I did a search and learned a thing or two. The town founded in 1885 was first called Darlington . In 1886 it was laid out and renamed DILLEY for George Dilley, an official of the International and Great Nothern Railway. O.k. Dilley's, who can claim George Dilley ?
<http:/dilleychamber.org/community.html>
Frances from Mississippi. originally from Texas, don@ebicom.net

 

*First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge Olde East New Jersey

Pg. 107:
SCHEDULE, Numb. VII.
Patents for Lands on Quit-Rent in the Town of Woodbridge, in the County of Middlesex, all at One Half Penny Sterl. per Acre, and the first Time of Payment 1670, March 25.

 John Dilly 94 acres August 2, 1676

Pg. 97:
FIRST SETTLERS OF PISCATAWAY AND WOODBRIDGE, NEW JERSEY

WOODBRIDGE:

 Dilly, John 1673
 Dilly, John, Jr 1680
 Dilly, Jonathan 1684
 Dille, Ruth 1709

Here is Ruth Dilley's comments on the above Dilley New Jersey Founders:

Those are some of the vital records from Woodbridge, N.J. Hopefully, you will link to them yourself one of these days. Anyone (or almost anyone) with New Jersey based Dille and/or Dilley ancestors will recognize your latest list. The land record is taken from the New Jersey Archives land records. The John and Jonathan dates are from Woodbridge Vital Records which were kept for a number of years in the 1600s and 1700s. The listing for Ruth Dille is probably from the membership list of the Woodbridge Presbyterian Church. I looked at the originals of the church record on LDS microfilm lately. Only a few pages of the original remain or we might also have had Jonathan and his family there. I also had the Woodbridge Land Records from LDS. These show us that both John and Jonathan stayed in Woodbridge for some time. Jonathan died there in 1733 but John's death is only recorded in a 1747-48 estate record of Benjamin Lyons of Lyon's Farms Borough of Elizabeth, Essex Co. N.J. This record mentions that John Dilly is deceased. This was a debt due to Benjamin Lyon.
John Dille/Dilly Sr. -estate was inventoried in March of 1683/84. I wrote for and received a one page list of his property.Among the property listed was a sword.
Ruth Dilley

 

*Cleveland, OH and Euclid, OH: David DILLE, Jr. ( 1753-1835) & Asa DILLE ( 1755-1842). David & Asa were in Cleveland/Euclid area in 1797 but did not bring their families from Washington Co. PA until 1803, the year Ohio was admitted to theUnion.

Information on David DILLE and his brother Asa DILLE can be found in "Pioneer Families of Cleveland, 1796-1840" by Gertrude Van Renssalaer Wickham, Evangelical Publishing House, 1914.

Jack R. Saylor ( South Bend, IN )

 

* Received the 125th Birthday Celebration book on Mt. Victory, Ohio entitled "Our Heritage 1851-1976" from my uncle, Don Dille. In it are pictures which I will post to the photo section of the Dilly/Dille/Dilley site. There are photos of the Ezra Dille monument, the Cyrus Dille monument and the Centennial Memorial which has the inscription 1951 CENTENNIAL MEMORY - EZRA DILLE- FOUNDED MT. VICTORY AUG. 23, 1851. All of the stones are in the Eddy Cemetery which began as a Dille-only burial site.
Peter Jesionek

pj2226@aol.com

 

*Abner Dilley is said to have owned the land that Ironton, Ohio is currently located on. In fact, if you read some of the old letters written by jay D. Andrews et al, he sold the land to create the town and that is how he made his fortune.

Sandie Kane (Sandie_Kane@email.msn.com)

 

*We have a Dilley Founder. Dilley's Road in Lake County, Illinois west of Gurnee is named for Huston Dilley and Jonathan Dilley who lived on its corners. Huston is Jerry's gr.gr.grandfather and Jonathan is Jerry's 3 gr. grandfather.

Ruth Dilley (dilley@frontiernet.net)

 

*Our Deriah John Dilley (b. 1797 in PA, parents unknown) and his daughter, Sarah Ann (Dilley) Bennett (b. 1825 in Ohio, married Asa Bennett in WI) were members of the "Death Valley 49r's" wagon train. They left Mineral Point, Iowa County, WI in early 1849, headed for California. They were stranded in Death Valley for weeks, waiting to be rescued by William Manley and John Rogers who had gone for help. Finally help arrived, they were able to make it out of the valley, and when they reached the rim, the history books credit "Mrs. Bennett" as taking one last look at the place and saying "that really is a Death Valley", hence naming the place. The first weekend of November, 1999, there is a huge (10,000 people plus) celebration being held at Death Valley, commemorating the 150th anniversary of this Death Valley wagon train trek.

Teddy Noye (tnoye@aol.com)

Margo Stapleton (Gramargo@aol.com)

Martha Allington (marthakv@aol.com)

 

*There is a Dilley Rd. in Scott Township, Crawford County, Wisconsin. I believe this road is probably named for "Mac" Dilley (1866-1956) who lived there, but his father Ira Dilley (1840-1903) Civil War Veteran and his grandfather Thompson Dilley may have lived there too. This Thompson Dilley was a grandson of Thompson Dilley (1763) and son of Joseph Dilley b. N.J. 1791. He was born in Trumbull Co. Ohio in 1814-1815 and moved west to Iowa Co. Wisconsin by 1850 and then to Scott Township, Crawford County by 1860 where he died in 1863. Perhaps someone from this clan of cousins could fill us in on the history of this Dilley Rd. a bit more.
Ruth Dilley (dilley@frontiernet.net)

 

*October 2, 1999 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch had an article entitled "Flint Ridge Museum Named for Benefactor." It is on page 8C.

It says:
"The museum at Flint Ridge State Memorial will be known as the Gilbert W. Dilley Museum at Flint Ridge in honor of the Akron lawyer who led the effort to establish the facility in the 1960s. Dilley was a founder of the Archaeological Society of Ohio. He died in 1996."

He was also on the board of the Ohio Historical Society. The communications chief of the Ohio Historical Society is quoted as saying, "He traveled to every one of our sites every year. Hardly any of our staff members do that, let alone a board member. He supported the society, and his family continues to support the society. Flint Ridge is the site he was most interested in."

The article goes on, "Dilley's interest in archaeology sprouted in boyhood. As an adult he remained an avid amateur archaeologist with a keen interest in Indian history and minerals, particularlyb flint...Dilley's contributions on the board came in the 60s and 70s...when the society expanded by building such museums as the National Road/Zane Grey museum..and the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum..."

Carol Roddy
Columbus, Ohio

Gilbert W. Dilley also has been honored with a memorial stained-glass window in the Ohio Historical Society's newly built church in its Ohio Village, located in Columbus.

Clyde Dilley
Columbus, Ohio

 

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