Freestone County, Texas Biographies William Dunlap Dillon (Dec. 22, 1814 - aft 1889) William Dunlap Dillon resided in what was to become Freestone County for a while, before moving to Ellis County in 1850. William Dunlap Dillon does not appear in Limestone County's 1850 census done from June to November of 1850. Surpisingly, William Dunlap Dillon bought land in Freestone County from Bateman and Hardin Adams after he moved. There is a deed document that occurred on Dec. 23, 1850 and was filed in court with the judge on June 16, 1852. The clerk of the court wrote it in Book E pg. 271-272. No tax assessment of the land has been found, so it is assumed he sold the parcel before the 19 May 1851 date of the first 1851 tax assessment. However, there were numerous overlooked taxable parcels in 1851. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas: Containing Biographical Sketches of the Representative Public, and Many Early Settled Families - 1889; Page: 252 JUDGE WILLIAM DUNLAP DILLON, San Antonio, was the grandson of Peter Dillon, who was a Revolutionary soldier, fought at the battle of Guilford Court House, and the judge's father was Peter Dillon, a successful farmer, who was born and raised on the same farm on which this son was born, in Green county, Tennessee. He moved to Sevier county in 1852, where he died. William Dunlap was born December 22, 1814. Though living on the farm in Green county, all of his boyhood was spent at school. His mother was Lydia Babb, who was also born and raised in Green county. She was the daughter of Thomas and Martha Babb, both native Virginians, and of Welsh extraction. Judge Dillon's maternal uncle, Joshua Babb, was a colonel in the War of 1812, and was at the battle of the Horse Shoe, on the Tallapoosa river, under General Jackson. Judge Dillon's only brother, Isaac, was a private in the Florida war of 1837. He has ten sisters, all with large families, and not one of his kindred has ever tarnished the honorable name inherited from their ancestry. W. D. Dillon was educated in his native county by Rev. Samuel Doak. In 1836 he was clerk in the store of Joseph H. Earnest, of Raytown, Tennessee; in Calhoun, McMinn county, for William Bates, and in 1837 for M. B. McCoy, at Wetumpka, Alabama. In 1837 he commenced studying law under John Cherry, at Wetumpka, and completed his studies under Trewhit & Gaut, in Cleveland, Bradley county, Tennessee, where lie was admitted to the bar by Judge John 0. Cannon and Chancellor Tom Williams. He was elected justice of the peace in this county, and was also colonel of militia. From 1839 he was for five or six years postmaster at Charleston. Judge Dillon began practicing law in Liberty county, Texas, in 1843, where he remained one year. [next page] In 1844 he removed to Freestone county, and in 1850 to Ellis county, when he was again elected justice of the peace. He practiced in that and adjoining counties and in the United States district court at Tyler till the close of the war, when he abandoned the practice of his profession, and, in 1876, moved to Fort Worth and there remained, keeping the Dillon Hotel until 1880, when, on the 1st of January of that year, he went to San Antonio. He was appointed district attorney for the counties of Ellis, Hill, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, Kaufman and Van Zandt, and served from 1862 till 1864. He was the first district surveyor elected under the constitution of Texas, in Liberty land district. He was in Texas at the date of annexation, and at the adoption of every State constitution since. His first vote was cast for Martin Van Buren, and lie has voted with the democracy ever since. He voted for secession, made stamp speeches in favor of the war, but "accepts the situation." Judge Dillon has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married in Bradley county, Tennessee, August 16, 1838, was a Miss Telete J. Brazleton, a native of Roane county, Tennessee, the daughter of Isaac Brazleton. She died July 12, 1869, leaving no child. On the 2d of November, 1870, in Ellis county, Texa, Judge Dillon married Mrs. Lou McPhail, the beautiful and accomplished widow of the Rey, William McPhail, of the Methodist Episcopal church, who died of yellow fever at Corpus Christi in 1867, and by whom she had two chidren-John D. McPhail, who died in Waxahachie in 1870, aged sixteen; William Roben McPhail, born in Fannin county, Texas, December 28, 1861. Mrs. Dillon was born in Green county, Illinois, March 9, 1834. She is the granddaughter of William Chipman, descended from an old English family, and the daughter of Seth Chipman, a native of Maine who served in the War of 1812. She is a niece of Sumner Chipman, of New Hampshire, and of Cyrus and William Chipman, of Maine. Mrs. Dillon was educated at Whitehall, in Green county, Illinois. Her mother was Sarah Larton, a native Virginian, raised in Kentucky, and married in Illinois, whose father, John Larton, a native of Virginia, was a Revolutionary soldier. She is extensively known in Texas society, and hundreds of travelers who have stopped at the Dillon House, at Fort Worth, will remember her with pleasure and respect. The judge has taken and conferred all the degrees of the Odd Fellows' lodge. He and Mrs. Dillon are both members of the Presbyterian church. Being too old to enter the war in person, he hired, equipped and sent Frank Roy, a Missourian, as his substitute. To pay his debts and encourage every enterprise for the development of his beloved Texas, have always been the objects of his life.