The Dill Family of Windsor and Hants County, Nova Scotia
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Dill Family of Windsor and Hants County, NS The Dill Family of Windsor and Hants County, Nova Scotia Prepared by H. Douglas Goff 7748 Wellington Rd. 22, Guelph, ON N1H 6J2 goff.doug at gmail.com www.gofffamilyhistory.ca Revised July 9, 20211 Mungo Dill, married to Rachel Frizzell, and his half-brother David Dill, married to Jane Walker, are the ancestors of a large family of Dill’s in the Windsor area and Douglas Township of Hants County, Nova Scotia. This report describes fairly completely their descendants. Mungo and Rachel Dill are my 5 great-grandparents through their son George S., his son Joseph, and his daughter Sarah Maria (#80), married to George Fraser. My sources are listed below, I am indebted to the work that has come before me. Robert Dill who married Jane Denny is probably the brother of David Dill. He settled in Londonderry, Colchester County, and his descendants were centred in Great Village, Truro and Londonderry, Colchester County and Wallace area of Cumberland County. To keep the families separated, I have maintained Robert’s family in Appendix 1, page 167, but it seems quite likely they were brothers. In the course of my research, I have found a few Dill families in the Windsor and Douglas Township area that I have not connected to parents. Notably James Dill and William Dill, both b. ca1807 and married Sanford sisters, Lydia and Sarah, living in the Scotch Village/Upper Burlington area. They are described in Appendix 2, beginning on page 193. William Dill 1812- 1883, married to Catherine Brown, had several children and descendants in Windsor but the parents of William have not been identified, see Appendix 4, p.222. Also, the parents of James Henry Dill (1886-1938) who married Elsie Mae Keddy are not confirmed, see Appendix 5, p.228. Corrections or additions are always welcome! Index, page 132. 1 In this revision, see #40, George Otis Dill md. to Mary Ann Withrow and #83 George E. Dill md. to Mary Ann Temple, the parents of George Nelson Dill who md.. Mary Elizabeth Dobson in Melrose, Mass. I have clarified confusion with respect to these two families since they had been previously intermingled. Several other minor corrections and additions have also been made. Page 1 Dill Family of Windsor and Hants County, NS Sources: 1. Dill, Robert (#127ii). Family of David Dill and Jane Walker. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~smartherbs/David/HTML/fam011.html , last accessed April, 2020. Also personal correspondence with Bob Dill, 1996-2005. 2. Smiley, Mirabelle S. and Huntley, Edna A. Hunter. 1986. The Mungo Dill Family of Hants County. Vol. 1. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Dill, Tess. 1979. The Mungo Dill Family. Mrs. Robie L. Dill (#156), Yucaipa, California. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, Vol. 2. 4. Beulah Wright, River John, NS, original research prior to 1996. Beulah is my father’s first cousin, and she gave me a file of her original research back in 1996, so that helped me get started. 5. Andrew Dill (son of #125i), personal correspondence, 2020. 6. www.novascotiagenealogy.com - Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics (NSHVS) – b,m,d data 7. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx - Nova Scotia census data. The 1901 and 1911 census are compiled into an electronic search format at www.automatedgenealogy.com 8. www.familysearch.org – Birth, marriage, death and census data, especially useful for Massachusetts vital statistics, as well as a contributed World Family Tree (which has to be carefully vetted with primary data!). 9. www.findagrave.com – excellent source with many cemeteries recorded. First Generation -------------------------------------------------- 1. Mr. Dill. It is said that brothers David and John Dill and their half-brother Mungo Dill arrived in Windsor Nova Scotia from Ireland in 1773. They may have been of the Scots-Irish, and they may have come as tenant farmers, perhaps by Col. Joseph Scott (see the Scott connection, “Cinq Maisons”, under David Dill). When they became tenants on two 500 acre lots originally granted to Keightly Day on 12 October 1765, escheated on 19 June 1781 and granted to the Dills on 9 July 1784 (see next page) is not clear but they were there in July of 1784 when the bounds were recorded as starting at a stick and stones in front of John Dill's house. It appears that John and Mungo remained here when David moved to Cinq Maisons (Bob Dill) The first Dill record that we find is that of a marriage bond between John Dill and Elizabeth Walker dated 13 July 1773 and the subsequent marriage of them at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 30 July, 1773 by Reverend Neal. Next we find a marriage bond between David Dill and Jane Walker dated 3 January 1774 and the marriage on the same date performed by Reverend Neal at St. Paul’s in Halifax. These records raise some questions. Why marry in Halifax which is a full day’s ride away? And did they marry in an Anglican Church because of their Wives? While we don’t know the parentage of the Walker women, we assume that they were sisters and probably English. According to Gateway to the Valley there was only a non-denominational church in Windsor starting in 1771. (from Bob Dill) From Andrew Dill (2012), “This is what I now strongly believe and the members of the family that all link together when first landing here in 1761....Londonderry, NS, then forced over to Windsor Township as tenant farmers. Robert Dill b 1740 first recorded with the Irish planters in Londonderry, NS. Then we have Catherine Dill marrying John Reagh in Windsor 1777, he's another Irish Planter and Robert Dill signs the bond and noted as Windsor Page 2 Dill Family of Windsor and Hants County, NS Farmer... Then we have John Dill Windsor Yeoman marrying Elizabeth Walker 1773, David Dill (my 5th great- grandfather) marrying Jane Walker 1774...Mungo Dill, half-brother, marrying Rachael Forswell (Frizzell) in 1779... So I believe this was all or part of the First Dill family in Windsor, NS, Robert, John, David, Catherine and Mungo…and possibly more out there! There is some kind of connection to our Dill's and the Dill's of Bermuda...our Family are strongly related to Caleb Dill's family who arrived to Ulster County New York in 1730 (see footnote below) ...I believe Caleb must have had a brother named John Dill Sr. and he's the father of my Dill clan...He would have been born around 1690-1700.” Andrew says there is now good GenealogyDNA evidence to link David and Robert (2020). Robert Dill was the founder of the Dill’s of Londonderry, Truro and Great Village, Colchester Co., and Wallace and Pugwash, Cumberland County. Nova Scotia Lands and Forest, Crown Land Sheet 54, Stillwater Station, SE of Ellershouse https://novascotia.ca/natr/land/grantmap.asp Besides those Dill families in the Appendices mentioned above, there are several individual Dill’s in the Windsor and Hants Co. records still unaccounted for: • Rachel Dill married John Hinds Jr 1806 {Info. from Andrew Dill} • John Dill married Margaret Matthews Dec 12, 1807 Halifax NS. No further information given on the record. {I believe John Dill Jr., the son of John Dill Sr., married Sophia Beckwith in 1805, and they went to Ohio - see notes under John Dill Sr. David had a John who md. Rachel Smith in 1806. Robert had a son John who md. Elizabeth Dill. John could be a son of Mungo? Otherwise, this John remains unplaced, perhaps not of the same family.} Page 3 Dill Family of Windsor and Hants County, NS • Alexander Dill b. 1788 Nova Scotia Immigration Boston 1848, departing from Windsor, NS. {See note under John Dill Sr.} • Alexander Dill, b. ca1800. He married Laura Cochran, daughter of George Cochran (1764-1834) and Mary Caldwell, of Windsor. {Likely referring to Alexander Dill, s/o Daniel, of Mungo, who md. Catherine Cochran.} • Eleanor Rachel Dill (1804-Oct 1877) md. John Borden (1801-7 Aug 1875) on 2 May 1822 in Windsor. Bur Riverbank Cemetery, Hantsport. (findagrave) Their daug. Rachel Benzanson, widow of Joseph Bezanson, b. 29 Apr 1823 Windsor NS died 6 Jun 1919 Boston bur Hantsport, NS. Mary Borden (S) d 9 Jan 1869 age 35, d/o John Borden and Rachel Dill (NSHVS). 1871 census Falmouth Borden John 72 Elenor 66 Elizabeth 40 Joseph 25. Also two sons John Alexander (9 Apr 1830 - 12 Jun 1886) and William H. (1839-1919). • Mary Jane Wilkins Nanscowen d 21 Mar 1896 Everett, Mass. b. 1836 Windsor NS. Wilkins father. Mary Dill mother. • Sarah Dill, b. Windsor 1818, md. Thomas Moore, b. 1815 Middleton. Three daughters Imogene, Etta, Jenny. Imogen b. 23 Mar 1848 Bath, ME. d. 28 Jul 1937 in Watertown, Mass. md. Thomas E Bond (14 May 1832, Chester - 7 Apr 1902, Boston, his 2nd marriage), son of James Bond and Marie Dorothea Naas, 18 Feb 1874 in Hantsport. {Andrew Bond information} So it looks like a cluster of about the same age: Eleanor Rachel (b. 1804), William (b. 1812, Appendix 4 p.214), Mary (bef. 1816), and Sarah (b. 1818). Some of them may be siblings. Who is their father? A son of John Sr., or Robert or Mungo? Rebecca Dill, b. Aug 22, 1853, Windsor, dau. of George Dill and Rebecca Cochran. Joseph Alex. Gullan, Springhill, son. Jan 24, 1930 (late registration of birth, NSHVS). Daniel Gullan (W) 34 md Rebecca Dill (S) 24 d/o E.