Saturday, November 29, 2008

One Stone at a Time

I described the Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego last week on the South San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit blog. While I was there, I photographed a number of interesting stones in the Grand Army of the Republic area of the cemetery.

Here is the stone for Albert F. Dill (1840-1905) and his wife Isabelle Gay Dill (1848-1924).


The information on the stone about Albert's service reads:

"Co. E, 43rd Mass. Inf. 1862-1863
Acting Ensign U.S. Navy, 1863-1865"

I wonder how many other Civil War veterans served in more than one military service organization?

I decided to do a little research on Albert F. Dill from Massachusetts, since I have a Dill connection to Cape Cod. Is Albert a distant cousin of mine? Here is what I found in about 30 minutes of Internet research (it helped to have my own Dill database available too!):

Albert Freeman Dill was born 27 September 1840 in Eastham, Massachusetts to Freeman and Elizabeth (Collins) Dill. He married (1) Susan Horton on 6 April 1862 in Eastham, Massachusetts, and they had at least two children - Nellie F. Dill (born 1862, died ????) and Albert F. Dill (born 20 April 1864, died 7 September 1864). Did his wife and children die at a young age? I found the death of son Albert, but not the death of Nellie or his wife Susan in the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910.

Albert served in both the 43rd Massachusetts Infantry and as an ensign in the United States Navy during the Civil War. I could not find Albert or Susan Dill in the 1870 census.

He apparently married (2) Isabella Gay (? surname?) in about 1870. There is an Isabella G. Dill, born about 1848, in the 1870 census in Providence RI. Perhaps Albert was out to sea during the 1870 census and was not enumerated.

In the 1880 US Census, Albert Dill (age 40, born MA, a sea captain) and Isabella Dill (age 32, born MA) are residing in Oakland CA with a Michael Collins family. This Collins family is from Massachusetts, so they may be related to Albert's mother.

In the 1900 US census, A. F. Dill (born Aug 1840, married 30 years, born MA, parents born MA, a pilot) and wife Isabel G. Dill (born June 1847, married 30 years, 3 children, born MA, parents born RI) reside at 239 Boston Avenue in San Diego, San Diego County, CA. They have three children, Alice L. Dill (born Dec 1882 in CA), Burt S. Dill (born Nov 1889 in CA), and Harold W. Dill (born Jan 1895 in CA).

There are two entries in the U.S. Navy Pension Index for an Albert F. Dill on www.Ancestry.com - numbers 5298 and 55035.

Isabelle G. Dill was enumerated in San Diego in the 1910 and 1920 census records.

I took this picture because I wondered if Albert F. Dill, and his children, were distant cousins of mine. Since he is from Cape Cod, I am quite sure that they are, since my Elizabeth Horton Dill was born in Eastham in about 1794.

I can trace Albert's line back to Peter Dill, the immigrant in about 1660. Perhaps some of Albert's descendants will see this post and contact me at rjseaver@cox.net. He, and they, has a wonderful New England ancestry - especially on Cape Cod and in early Plymouth!

1 comment:

Midge Frazel said...

Although I have to use FTM for one of my "jobs", I prefer my PAF software. Finding a RIN was easy. I can simply click on the RIN heading and it puts all the records in descending (or ascending) order like a good database should do.

I started "a million years ago" with a GEDCOM given to me by a cousin. I virus checked it and started adding my own data in. I would never do that today. I am still cleaning out the data. Someday, I may start fresh.