The Pennsylvania Quakers spread out into the neighboring colonies of Maryland and New Jersey. Later, when the Virginia government relaxed their policy of forcing Quakers out of the colony, they moved into Virginia and settled. Though there were several thriving colonies of Quakers within Virginia during the first half of the eighteenth century, and the persecution was generally not very harsh, there was some government harassment and social stigma to be endured. About the middle of the century, many Quakers chose to migrate to other, more backwoodsy, areas to escape the persecution, as well as to seek new lands. Later, they would spread throughout all the colonies.
ISAAC’s
father was DANIEL
DILLON-2, who had moved to Guilford from
Virginia. DANIEL
was the son of LUKE-1
and SUSAN
__?__ DILLON,
who had come from Ireland into Pennsylvania and/or Maryland, and
migrated to Virginia sometime around 1732.
We know that ISAAC was alive when his father died in 1805 since he was mentioned in the will. No further records have been found in North Carolina concerning ISAAC.
ISAAC-3 and JEMIMA “disappeared” from North Carolina. However, a reference to “Isaac Dillon, Sr.” was found on the 1816, 1817, and 1818 Sumner County Tax lists in Sumner County, Tennessee, that very well could be our ISAAC. He was also listed with 150 acres on “Long Creek.” Long Creek was a branch of the Baren River in Sumner and Smith Counties. James Donoho, the husband of SUSANNAH TURNER Donoho, also owned 150 acres of land on Long Creek in 1816, as did William Donoho, the son of James Donoho, and YANCY’s step-brother. In addition to this, our YANCY TURNER also owned 75 acres on Long Creek. No deed abstracts were found where they bought these lands in any of the deed abstract books from 1793-1805 or the 1806-1817 books. However, it appears that this “Isaac Dillon” satisfies the “first three rules of genealogy” of “Look at the Neighbors” and very well could be our ISAAC DILLON-3. Since ISAAC was born in 1766, he would have been only 52 in 1818. No record of his death in Sumner County has been found. He possibly moved on, maybe in one of the migrations of the Quaker-connected families taking place about then.
In 1822, a man named Daniel Dillon owned 50 acres in Sumner County [area not mentioned] but ISAAC was not mentioned in the county. No estate or land sales were found.
A secondary source was found for ISAAC-3 which states that the other children of ISAAC and JEMIMA are: in order listed, Isaac Dillon-4, Fanny Dillon-4, MARY DILLON-4, Nathan Dillon-4, Jesse Dillon-4, James Dillon-4, John Dillon-4, Elizabeth Dillon-4, and William Dillon-4. Tim Heath gives a birth date for MARY DILLON TURNER as October 20, 1788, and her death date as August 11, 1870, in Macon County. If this is the case, then she would have been the oldest child of ISAAC and JEMIMA, born only a little over 11 months after the marriage.