Mathew Dill Genealogy Mathew Dill Genealogy A Study of the Dill Family of Dillsburg, York County, Pennsylvania 1698-1934 By I ROSALIE JONES DILL, A.M., LL.M., D.C.L. Member New York and Washington Bar Member of Society of Col cnial Governors and Order of Armorial Beariog-1. Author of "The Amcricao Standard of Liviag" SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 1934 Copyright Sovcmber, 1934 by Rosalie Jone ■ Dill To Amanda Kunkel Dill with affection and esteem _PREFACE In the collection of data concerning the Mathew Dill family of York County, Pennsylvania, and especially of the descendants of the eldest son, grateful thanks is accorded many members of the family. In some instances they have supplied a few names and a short lineage while. in other cases they have given material practically unobtainable elsewhere. For a number of years, the late Rose Lee Dill, devoted her time to the Dill family history especially to the Colonel Matthew line. She was an invalid and her voluminous correspondence, her only link with the outside world, helped to lighten her days of pain. Her material, in manuscript form, has been of great value in connecting various lines with the James Dill chain, the subject matter of Part I. Among those who have been delving into the labyrinth of the Dill connections has been Dr. Alva D. Kenamond whose manuscript has been thankfully used and Mrs. Zula Dill Neely whose interest in the Dill's is unflag­ ging. Her background and perspective along the trail of the Dill's is unequalled. Several years ago, Reverend Calvin Dill Wilson, Mabel Dill Brown, Kathryn Lee Evans and myself met in conference in Ohio and decided that the scattered information concerning the Dill's might well be as­ sembled and shaped up in some book form. To this end, they immedi­ ately pressed into service many members of the family with the result that much new material has been classified and new lines connected. To George Dill is much credit due for connecting the mid western Dill branches of the family. Arthur Scott Kent came into the picture after this work had got under way but he "has stayed with it" and will, I am certain, remain with us until the last link has been forged. However in­ terested all members have been in this booklet, there is no one more ready "to add another slug" than Mabel Dill Brown. Besides this inner circle of assistants a word of appreciation is given to the followini friends of Part I : Black, Rookh ( Mrs.) Dill, Harry V. Black, William Wesley Dill, J. H. ( Mrs.) Cooper, Abbie Dill, John T. Cox, John ( Mrs.) Dill, Maggie Crowe, Ethel Dill, Nancy Seymour Dill, Alfred McG. Dill, Virginia Dill, Frances Dill, Wi,illace Clitf9rd V VI MA THEW DILL GENEALOGY Dill, \ \ .illiam Poston, Ella Dill Gipe, Elsie Scott, Anna Hannah, Isabel Seymour, Margaret Harper, Dr. A. J. Stanforth, Edna Harris, Mary Etta White, Mary Adeline May, Frank Maxwell \Vilson, Gertrude Kent Mustin, Nellie Zecht, Adam The compiler of this record has always respected family tradition, but she has tried, in addition, to work with records based on official documents. In all cases, tradition has been accepted for its "leads" yet it has not always been taken as absolute facts unless accompanied by well authenticated proof. And so, too, with the family bible, often dubbed the "cornerstone of geneological research." State documents, county records, wills, deeds and court papers have been searched. Census returns at Washington, D. C., and pension files have turned up valuable information. Church registers and tombstones have been noted and, where possible, have been re-inforced by additional proof. County histories have been extensively scanned for data although they have not been relied upon exclusively without other corrobora­ tion. It is seldom that one can exhaust sources of research. New ma­ terial is constantly being discovered which necessitates the discarding of previously obtained data. With these thoughts in mind and realizing the surface of the Mathew Dill family history only has been scratched this booklet is offered. It is hoped it may be of interest and of some service to the members of the Captain Mathew Dill family in America. (Mrs. Clarence C. Dill) Rosalie Jones Dill Spokane, Washington. September, 1934. CONTENTS Chapter Paf!e 1 Captain Mathew and Mary Dill .................................... ix James Dill Thomas Dill Mauhew Dill [ Colond] Mary Dill John Dill Ann (Nancy) and Sarah Dill PART 1 James Dill Family .....................•...............•...•......... 1 Appendix ........................................................... 61 Index .................................................................... 69 vii. viii MATHEW DILL GE1'EALOGY Mathew Dill Genealogy CHAPTER 1 Captain Mathew and Mary Dill of "Monaghan Settlement," York Co., Pa. and Descendants 1 MATHEW DILL,* b. 16<)8, probably near Monaghan, Ireland; d. Oct. 13, 1750; bur. Dill's Pres. ch'y'd (now pub. cem. Dillsburg). Pa.; m. Ireland abt 1718 -- Mary, b. -- ; d. 1756; Shem. (2) Geo. Rosebrough abt 1751-2. The older children of Capt. Mathew Dill were born in Ireland; the younger children of Mathew and Mary (-) Dill were born in Chester Co., Pa. or Delaware. · · Children: 2 1. James, b. abt 1720; d.J~n.-Feb., 1796; m. Jean Armstrong. 3 11. Thomas, b. abt 1722; d. Oct. 10-27, 1750; m. Mary ---. 4 111. Matthew, Jr., b. 1726; d. Apr. 10, 1812; m. Jean Bracken. S 1v. Mary, b. 1728; d. 1768; m. Richard McCalaster. 6 v. John, b. abt 1735; d. Aug.-Sept., 1766; m. -- Wilson. 7 v1. Ann (Nancy), b. abt 1737; d. -- ; m. John Sharp. 8 vn. Sarah, b. 1741 ; d. ---. Mathew Dill, head of the Pennsylvania Dill family in Ameri­ ca concerning which this narrative deals, was born in 16')8, presum­ ably in Monaghan, Ulster Plantation, Ireland, of Scotch parentage. He died at "Dills" in Monaghan Settlement (now Dillsburg), York County, Pennsylvania, on October 13, 1750. · The Scotch and English people who had settled in Ireland and had taken up Irish estates, confiscated by Queen Elizabeth and James I., were known as "Ulsterites" by their contemporaries. The coming of these Ulstermen to America began about 1700 and continued with unabated vigor, during the following fifty years. On land west of the Susquehanna, bought from the "Five Nations" by the Indian treaty of 1776, these newcomers pushed in great numbers. In particu,lar, the • Will Matt: Dill, Bk A. p. 16. Case 1749. York, Pa. Orph: Ct rec: ilk. A, pps, 42', 85, gz, York, Pa: ix X MATHEW DILL GENEALOGY entire territory north of York, soon became known as "The Monaghan Settlement." It was during the heavy migration of these Scotch-Irish, as they were dubbed in the New World, that Mathew Dill, the first settler of his family in America, undertook the venturesome voyage across the Atlantic. There is a family tradition Mathew Dill first settled in one of the Hundreds around the present site of Wilmington, Delaware. Early records of that section show several families by the name of Dill, but do not establish any connection with "Captain Mathew." The first authentic record of Mathew Dill, so far discovered, is found in the original tax assessment lists of Fallowfield Township, Che1,ter County, Pennsylvania, in 1732. He is taxed two shillings and six pence while his neighbors Thomas Cox, Robert Lewis and John Wilson were assessed for other amounts. (Years 1729-1742, of Rolls, at Court House, West Chester, Pa., pps. 7, II, 23, 32, 38, 42.) Mathew Dill is taxed continuously in the same township until 1742, when his name fails to appear on the rolls. However, on April 23, 1735, there was surveyed to him some 150 acres of land, in the county. His name is found in Lancaster ( now York) county records, June 16, 1742, when Henry Wilson assigned to him his own warrant of land of 504 acres. It was this plantation on which Mathew Dill built his primitive home and at his death divided among his four sons. In addition to the assignment of the Wilson tract, Mathew Dill warranted 100 acres adjoining it to himself on the same day. Three years later, September 28, 1745, he made his last purchase of land. The location of these holdings has been successively known as "Dills," "Dillstown" and in 1833, was organized into the Borough of Dillsburg. ( Pa. Arch. 3 Ser. Vol. 24, .p. 70 and 394; Scull map 1759 and 1792; 1816 State Map of Pa.; Hist. York Co. by Geo. R. Prowell, Vol. I, p. 86o, pub. by J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, Ill., 1907; Hist. York Co., by John Gibson, p. 652, pub. by F. A. Battey, Chicago, Ill., 1886.) A God fearing man and staunch Presbyterian, Captain Mathew Dill reared his family in the Calvinistic faith and to this day a number of his descendants bear the name of Calvin. He was an elder in the early Monaghan church which later became the Presbyterian church at Dillsburg. In a chapter devoted to the Monaghan and Presbyterian churches, reference is made to him by the Reverend Nevin. Among the first elders of the church-of whom any recollection exists, and whose descendants are still with us-were Lewis Williams, Mathew Dill * * * Captain Mathew Dill worshipped in the old log structure which stood a short distance southwest of the town near the old graveyard. This was replaced in 1782 by a stone ediface at, what is now the ~ge of the town. (See Churches of the Valley by Rev. Al­ fred ~evm at pages 272, 276, 277,, pub. by Joseph Wilson, Phila­ delphia, Pa., 1852.) JAMES DILL FAMILY XI The commission of "Captain" was granted Mathew Dill during his services with the Association Regiment of Lancaster f',0unty.