AREA HISTORY:  The Dills, Carroll Township, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/
_______________________________________________ 

History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
_______________________________________________

THE DILLS – Page 660

Matthew Dill was one of the first settlers of the vicinity of Dillsburg, 
locating there about 1740.  He came from county of Monaghan, Ireland.  The name 
“Dill” is Danish.  The ancestors moved to England and some of them from thence 
to Scotland, during the time of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell.  Matthew 
Dill, the immigrant, in 1749 became one of the court justices of York County, 
but before this had commanded a company against the Indians.  He died October 
13, 1750, aged fifty-two years.  His remains were interred in the Presbyterian 
graveyard, a short distance west of Dillsburg, and the spot is marked by a 
marble slab.  He had several sons, but none of his descendants by the same name 
now live in the village.  Dr. A. B. Dill, of York Springs, is a descendant.  
Col. Matthew Dill, son of the settler, was very prominent in York County during 
the Revolution.  Col. Richard McAllister, founder of Hanover, was chosen 
lieutenant of York County, an office created by the government, to organize all 
the militia of the county during the Revolution.  He was married to a sister of 
Col. Dill whom he had appointed sub-lieutenant of York County.  Col. Dill served 
in that office from January, 1781, to April, 1783, during which time he paid to 
various captains of companies $2,136 in government money.  The names of those 
persons, most of whom lived in the upper end of York County, according to his 
account paid by the government July 1, 1788, were William Dodds, Alexander 
Nesbitt, John O’Bleanes, Andrew Wilson, Thomas Gould, John McMaster, William 
Coulson, Francis Bonner, William Ashton, Daniel Williams, Peter Spese.

Col. Dill commanded the Fifth Battalion of York County for three years, and was 
one of the framers of the constitution of 1790.  For his services in the army he 
obtained a free patent for a tract of land three leagues square, on part of 
which Dillsburg is built, and on another part is a valuable ore bank.  He was 
also granted a tract of land in Washington County, Penn., now known as 
“Dillwood.”  He married a second time.  Late in life he moved to Fairfield, 
Adams County, where he died and was buried.  He left seven sons, Col. Matthew 
Dill, Jr., Maj. James Dill, Col. John Dill, Capt. Thomas Dill, who was a student 
at Princeton College, entered the army and was wounded at the battle of 
Brandywine.  He was afterward presented by his father the tract called 
“Dillwood,” where he moved.  His daughter Jane Dill married Henry Wilson, from 
whom descended Rev. Thomas B. Wilson, and whose children are Rev. Maurice 
Wilson, of Baltimore, and Rev. Calvin D. Wilson, of Harford County, Md.  A 
second son of Jane Dill Wilson, was Rev. Samuel J. Wilson, D. D. LL. D., late of 
Alleghany, Penn., whose son Robert D. Wilson is a prominent lawyer of 
Pittsburgh.

A daughter of Jane Dill Wilson viz. Elizabeth, was married to John Paxton, whose 
sons are Rev. John R. Paxton, a clergyman in New York City, and Capt. Wilson A. 
Paxton, of Washington, D. C.

Dr. Armstrong Dill, a graduate of Princeton College, was a son of Col. Matthew 
Dill.  He died at the age of twenty-seven years, December 31, 1788.  His widow 
married Dr. Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  The 
following paragraph is copied from the United States Gazette, published in 
Philadelphia, and appeared June, 1791:

WITHERSPOON DILL – Married, at Philadelphia, Penn., on Monday evening, the 30th 
ult., by Rev. Dr. Nesbit, President of Dickinson College, the Rev. Dr. John 
Witherspoon, President of Princeton College, to Mrs. Ann Dill, widow of Dr. 
Armstrong Dill, of York County, Penn., a lady of great beauty and merit.

On Wednesday after the President’s return to Princeton with his amiable wife, a 
deputation of the students waited upon him to congratulate him upon the joyful 
occasion, and he politely gave them two days’ holiday.  In the evening, in 
regard to their worthy President, and to testify their joy on this happy 
marriage, the students illuminated the college, which afforded a grand and 
beautiful sight to the numerous spectators, who had assembled upon the occasion.  
There were 600 candles in the front of the college, which were lighted almost 
instantly on a signal given by the discharge of a cannon, and on a like signal 
they were all immediately extinguished.  During the illumination, which lasted 
about an hour, a number of students in the belfry entertained the great 
concourse of people who attended, with a most agreeable and delightful concert 
of music from different kinds of instruments.  The wh??e was conducted with 
elegance and taste.

     Joy sparkled in every eye,
     And every heart was glad.