Monday, January 17, 2011

James H. Dill in the Vital and Census Records

James H. Dill, the buyer at auction of the property of Alpheus B. Smith in Medfield in 1840 may have been the brother of Elizabeth Horton Dill.  There is a birth record for a James Dill in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts on 20 November 1792, son of Thomas and Hannah (Horton) Dill.  I also found a marriage record in a search on the http://www.americanancestors.org/ site for a James H. Dill to Ruth T. Cushing on 11 March 1819 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts.  I also searched the http://www.americanancestors.org/ site for children born to a James Dill or a Ruth Dill in Massachusetts, and found no listings that fit. 

I don't know if this is the right James H. Dill or not, but it is a solid lead, so I will pursue it a bit in online historical records and family trees.

I have found that James H. Dill and his wife Ruth are fairly elusive in the United States census records.

My searches so far have used search terms on http://www.ancestry.com/ like:

*  Jam* D?ll
*  Jam* Dil*
*  Rut* D?ll
*  Rut* Dil*
*  Jas D?ll
*  J. D?ll
*  R. D?ll
*  J. Dil*
*  R. Dil*

From those searches, I have only these results that I think represents them:

1)  1820 US Census - in Boston 3rd Ward, Suffolk County, Massachusetts:

*  James Dill, aged 26-44
*  female, aged 18-25

2)  1830 US Census - not found

3)  1840 US Census = not found

4)  1850 US Census - not found

5)  1860 US Census - in Chatham, Morris, New Jersey ( Roll:  M653_704; Page:  862; Image:  397; Family History Library Film:  803704.)

*  James H. Dill, aged 62, a "gentleman," born in Mass.
*  Ruth Dill, aged 58, a "lady," born in Mass.

6)  1870 US Census - not found

7)  1880 US Census - not found

Well, that wasn't as productive as I hoped it would be!  You would think that a "gentleman" would appear in more census records.  It's not possible to tell from the limited information above if James and Ruth had any children. 

There are other James Dill persons in the census records - for instance in 1850 there are these born before 1800:

*  James Dill, born 1783, born Maine, residing in Phillips, Franklin, Maine, wife is Nancy
*  James Dill, born 1792, born NJ, residing in Winslow, Camden, NJ, wife is Ann
*  James Dill, born 1792 in NY, residing in Southfield, Richmond, NY, wife is Eliza
*  James H. Dill, born 1808 in Maine, residing in Dixmont, Penobscot, Maine, wife is Lydia

Since the James H. Dill on the probate record was a "esquire" in 1840 and the James H. Dill that married Ruth Cushing in 1819 was a "gentleman" in 1860, he may be "High Society," or at least some wealth, you know.

 What other records can I search online?  Cemetery, Military, NJ Deaths, Newspapers, what else?

No comments: