The origins of our Dillow family have been shrouded in mystery, much like those the original Caseman immigrant. Thanks to the work of Bettye Dillow and her grandson, Eric, we have known about the generations back to Abraham Dillow, Sr. and his son Abram, Jr. who lived in southwestern Virginia, his son Robert who migrated to Greenup, Kentucky, and his son, Abraham - Ramona’s grandfather - who fought in the Civil War. Records on generations before Ramona’s grandfather grows thin.
Reasonable evidence, though, suggests a compelling story of a young man taken from his home in London - Christ Church to be precise - transported as a prisoner to the American colonies, and ultimately forging a new life on the Virginia frontier.
The Kentucky and Virginia Generations
Our Kentucky Dillow line is well documented to second great-grandparents Robert Dillow (1796-aft. 1873) and his wife, Elizabeth Cassady (1806-1881), who migrated from southwestern Virginia to Greenup County, Kentucky, about 1845 by way of Pike County, Kentucky.
Earlier generations are more difficult to document. Record preservation in the 18th century frontier for Robert’s parents, Abram Dillow, Jr., (1768-1852) and Elizabeth Steele (1777-1860), and Abram, Jr’s parents, Abraham Dillow, Sr., and Mary, is scarce and largely limited to land transactions, militia lists, and tax records.
Even so, the Dillow lineage can be reasonably traced from London to Augusta and Montgomery Counties, and ultimately to the banks of Walker’s Creek, Wythe County (now Bland County), Virginia through military records, land deeds, and family connections.
Abraham Dillow Sr. and his children were the only Dillows located in the Walker’s Creek area in the late 1700s. Their descendants bought and sold land and married into families of Wythe and Tazewell counties.
But where was Abraham’s origin?
Possible Origins of the Surname Dillow
The surname appears in multiple forms—Dillow, Dellow, and Delo—and likely has medieval origins. It may derive from the Norman French de l’eau, meaning “of the water.” Early references appear in England as far back as the 13th century.
A later wave of similarly named families may reflect Huguenot influence following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when French Protestants fled to England, Ireland, and the German Palatinate, and eventually to the American colonies.
Both English and German Dillows appear in early American records. Among them are John Dellow in Pennsylvania, Thomas Dillow in Virginia, and Michael Hartman Dillow, who arrived in Philadelphia from the Palatinate in the mid-18th century
Our Original Dillow Immigrant
The Abraham Dellow who arrived in Virginia on the English prison ship Whiteing in January 1754, is a compelling candidate for our original Dillow immigrant.
Court records from London, the Surrey Quarter Sessions, November 1753:
Abraham Dellow confesses to stealing from Messrs Low and Co's glasshouse at the Old Barge [?] house in the parish of Christ Church, 2 iron bars which he intended to sell to Gibbons Pemberton a blacksmith in White Chapel as he had done 2 other iron bars which he also stole from Messrs Low and Co. He also says that 'Gibbons Pemberton has frequently encouraged and told him this examinant that if he would get any iron bars he would buy them of him, to be worked up and made into heaters...'
*The Old Barge House was built by Henry VIII in 1530 on the south bank of the River Thames and used to store the royal barges until the mid 1600s.
One has to wonder what led Abraham to confess to all these crimes, and whether he left a family behind when he was abruptly transported to the colonies.
Indentured Servitude in the Colonies
England was sending convicts to America long before she began the practice of shuttling them to Australia. In the years from 1614 to the American Revolution, approximately 50,000 English convicts were transported to the American colonies, chained in the hold for the duration of the journey. Once there, they were sold as indentured servants, typically for four to seven years of labor.
An indentured servant worked without wages, often under harsh conditions, and received only food, shelter, and clothing. The vast majority remained in the colonies after completing their terms, due greater economic opportunity and the cost of returning to England.
Most convict ships landed at ports along the Potomac and Rappahanock Rivers, then sold to private plantations owners to work grain and tobacco fields. By 1753, prisoners were increasingly sent inland to support settlement in the colonial backcountry, notably Shenandoah Valley.
Abraham Arrives in America
Once Abraham arrived in the colonies, he could have been indentured anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region, but the timing suggests he was sent inland to the Shenandoah Valley where labor demands on plantations were growing.
There is no single document that directly links the prisoner Abraham Dellow to the frontiersman Abraham Dillow of southwestern Virginia. However, the cumulative evidence, including naming, age, migration routes, delay in starting a family, and absence of Abrahams in other Dillow immigrant families, strongly supports that they are likely the same person.
Direct sources are meager for inland and frontier Virginia in the 1700s. Virginia officially began to keep marriage records in 1785 and birth/death records in 1853. Militia lists kept by frontier counties were used for both military service and as a basis for taxes. Early taxes were “tithables” on heads of households, much like a poll tax. Virginia formally established two sets of tax lists in 1781 - land and personal property, which might have been a mule or a cow.
Documented Records of Abraham Dillow
- 1753: Transcript of the confession of Abraham Dellow Surrey Court records
- 1753: Passenger list of Coldham’s Emigrants in Bondage, Abraham Dellow of Christ Church, on prison ship Whiteing
- 1777: Augusta County Tithables, as Ab Dillow
- 1778: Register of Virginians in the Revolution, Abraham Dillow, Captain Johnston’s Company, Augusta County, exempted for age
- 1778: Tax lists, Augusta County
- 1779: Virginia Will Book, Augusta County, showing Abraham Dillow was paid for shoemaking
- 1781: Montgomery County militia, Captain Abraham Trigg
- 1794: Montgomery County marriage record for Elizabeth Dillow, naming parents Abraham and Mary Dillow, witnessed by brother James
- 1793-1800: Personal property tax, Wythe County
- 1873: Bland County Deeds, sale of land by Robert Dillow, inherited from his father on waters of Walker's Creek
Migration to the Frontier
England had control over the coastal colonies in the early and mid-1700s, but France claimed a large swath that stretched from Louisiana to Canada. To create a buffer zone between eastern Virginia and the French and Native American interior, the British enacted generous land policies to attract settlers to its frontier areas.
The massive 118,000 acre Beverly Manor land grant in the upper Shenandoah Valley covering much of what is now Augusta County in Virginia was sold and subdivided to encourage settlement west of the Blue Ridge. Could this have been the location of Abraham’s indenture?
How did Abraham get to the frontier?
Primary access to the region west of the Blue Ridge was the Great Wagon Road (GWR), originally used by indigenous tribes, and later by tens of thousands of settlers, many of them Scots-Irish and German. The GWR began at the port of Philadelphia, ran south through the Shenandoah Valley, and split into a fork - one going to Augusta, Georgia, and the other to southwestern Virginia.
If Abraham were indentured in the Philadelphia or upper Shenandoah area, he had a straight shot down the Great Wagon Road to southwestern Virginia. Other routes to access the GWR were established by the mid-1700s. For example, he could have reached the Great Wagon Road from the Potomac River area by using the Pioneer Road established in about 1746. The Great Wagon Road passed close to the vicinity of Big Walker Mountain in southwest Virginia where Abraham eventually owned land.
Wythe County land sale records of his grandson, Robert, in the 1800s indicate the family eventually settled in that area of Wythe County on the banks of Walker’s Creek at the foot of Big Walker Mountain in what is today Bland County, Virginia.
Southwest Virginia County formation
Understanding shifting county boundaries in frontier Virginia is essential for tracking Abraham’s migration.
Augusta County, a massive frontier county formed in 1738 from Orange County, included all of southwestern Virginia, most of West Virginia, and extended, by British claim, to the Mississippi. As more settlers moved into the frontier, Augusta County was further divided into daughter counties and states.
1770 Botetourt County, created from Augusta County, was still a huge area including southwestern Virginia, parts of seven states, and extending to the Mississippi.
1772 Fincastle County was formed from Botetourt.
1776 Fincastle was dissolved and used to form Montgomery County which was still immense and included 20 of today’s counties in Virginia and Kentucky.
1790 Wythe County was formed from Montgomery County
1861 Bland County was formed from parts of Wythe, Giles, and Tazewell counties.
Colonial Virginia Land Grants and Settlement
In 1749, two land companies - the Ohio Land Company and the Loyal Land Company - were formed and awarded 800,000 acres in southwestern Virginia. An expeditionary party, including Dr. Thomas Walker, a co-founder of the Loyal Land Company, was sent out to survey and explore areas suitable for settlement. In 1750, Dr. Walker and his group were the first recorded Euro-Americans to journey through Cumberland Gap to Kentucky.
Significant migration didn’t materialize until after the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Indian attacks, including massacres, remained problematic through the 1770s even as settlers began to flow down the Great Wagon Road. Daniel Boone traveled through the area leading hunting trips beginning in 1769 and was instrumental in clearing the Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, later to be used by Abraham’s grandson, Robert, as a route to Pikeville, Kentucky.
Abraham in Augusta County
Virginia militia records places Abraham’s birth year as 1723 or earlier, so he would have been about 25 years or older when he was transported to the colonies, and between 32 and 40 years old, now with farming experience, when his servitude ended in about 1761.
No documentation survives for Abraham’s years between prisoner ship transport in 1753 and 1777 when a record of “tithables” places Ab Dillow in Augusta County, Virginia.
Abraham’s listing in 1778 tax records, as well as Virginia militia records showing he was too old to serve in the Revolution, also place him in Augusta County. Even though too old, militia officers maintained a man on the lists when not required to muster as he was still was liable for other duties, e.g. road maintenance or taxes. Usually the exemption age was over 55, which suggests Abraham’s birth year was in the early 1720s or before.
Further, Abraham Dillow is listed in 1779 Augusta County Will Book #7 that he received payment for four pairs of shoes “for negros (sic) and servant boy” in the estate settlement for William Peas, Augusta County.
Abraham in Montgomery County
A 1781 Montgomery County militia listing for Abram Dillow, serving under Captain Abraham Trigg, indicates the family made a move out of Augusta County. The key here is that Montgomery County was formed in 1776, and records place Abraham in Augusta County until 1778, and perhaps 1779. Thus, the change in county wasn’t simply due to boundary changes, but an actual move.
An initial thought might be that Abraham traveled down the Great Wagon Road from Augusta County directly to Walker’s Creek which was in the vast Montgomery County in 1781. However, his listing in Captain Abraham Trigg’s militia indicates the family more likely relocated closer to Captain Trigg’s location in the vicinity of Roanoke.
Abraham in Wythe County
Although the large Loyal Company land grant theoretically opened up the area in the 1750s, the French and Indian War (technically between the French and British) and Indian hostilities delayed settlement in southwestern Virginia.
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ending the French and Indian War removed the French from the Continent. In order to appease the Native Americans and to discourage British-Americans from getting ideas about independence, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbade colonists from settling on lands in the Appalachians west of the Eastern Continental Divide, i.e., the Blue Ridge. Naturally, being who we are, settlers ignored the the Proclamation. Besides, exploration and investment in land claims had already been going on for a few years.
As the Proclamation Line failed to prevent migration, Native Americans responded to colonist encroachment with raids, killings and kidnappings through the 1780s, including around Walker’s Mountain and Walker’s Creek.
Sustained settlement of Walker’s Creek began in the 1790’s after decline of frontier conflict, opening of land after the Revolution, and formation of Wythe County for governance. Wythe County split from Montgomery County as settlers tired of trekking 50 miles over mountains to Christiansburg (then called Hans Meadows) to conduct any business. The piece containing Walker’s Creek became Bland County in 1861.
Abraham and family likely migrated to the Walker’s Creek area during the settlement phase beginning in the early 1790s. By now, his sons were in their late twenties and could help with the onerous task of getting to the area and clearing land for farming. Abraham was getting on in years, though, and the move may have been at the impetus of his sons who wanted an opportunity for land.
Abraham’s family
Abraham married Mary (last name unknown) and started a family in about 1764 when their first child, James, was born. Whether Mary was Abraham’s only wife and mother of all his children is unknown as Virginia only began to keep marriage records in 1785, and we don’t know about any family in England before he was transported. The only evidence for Mary’s name comes from the youngest child’s marriage record. Since several records place Abraham in Augusta County until at least 1779, all the children were likely born there.
Whether sons James and William married before they arrived in Walker’s Creek is unclear. Oftentimes, churches often kept at least baptismal and marriage records before counties became organized enough to keep vital records, but the first church established near Walker’s Creek was in 1817. Daughter, Elizabeth, has a 1794 marriage record in Montgomery County.
Children:
- James Dillow (b. about 1764, Augusta County, VA, d. Wythe County, VA)
- William Dillow (b. About 1766, Augusta County VA, d. Wythe County, VA)
- 3rd GGF Abraham “Abram” Dillow Jr (b. 1768, VA, d. about 1852, Walker’s Creek, Wythe, VA) Abram’s birthdate and location are derived from the 1850 census record.
- Elizabeth (b. about 1776, VA) married William Mullin on June 16, 1794 in Montgomery County, Virginia. The 1810 and 1820 censuses placing the Elizabeth and William in Christiansburg, Virginia, may be a clue to where Abraham Sr.’s family was living prior to moving to Walker’s Creek 50 miles distant.
Abraham Sr. and sons James, William, and Abram Jr. all paid personal property tax in Wythe County from 1793 to 1800. Elizabeth’s marriage in Montgomery County in 1794 could suggest the women stayed behind while Abraham and the boys cleared land and built shelter in Walker’s Creek.The last tax record for Abraham Sr. is 1803. He would have been about 75 years old. The last record of Mary was on Elizabeth’s marriage record in 1794.
Abram Dillow, Jr.
Third great-grandfather Abram, Jr. married Elizabeth Steele in 1795 and they had eleven children between 1796 and 1827. They spent all their lives on Walker’s Mountain. Abram fathered children until the age of 59, and purchased land on Walker’s Creek as late as 1847.
There is no doubt this family was poor. Three of their children - Granville, William, and Nancy - appear in Mary Kegley’s Lost Children of Wythe County, a compilation of records in the 1830s of poor children given county resources to pay for their teacher and books.
His son, 2nd great-grandfather Robert didn’t marry until age 37, to 21 year old Elizabeth Cassady, and they left Walker’s Creek soon after.
Sale of the Dillow land
Land records for the Walker’s Creek acreage could not be located, but, if the land was legitimately acquired, may be in the Library of Virginia. Building a cabin and clearing land on the Appalachian frontier the 1790s as a squatter gave a low cost way to purchase up to 400 acres, but sometimes came in conflict with large land companies, such as the Loyal Land Company which had already claimed and surveyed the land.
An 1873 Bland County deed records the sale of the Dillow property on Walker’s Creek by second great-grandfather Robert Dillow, “son and heir of Abraham Dillow” who was living in Greenup, Kentucky at the time:
"Witnesseth that the said Robert Dillow and Elizabeth his wife by their said attorney for and in consideration of the sum of twenty dollars in hand paid the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, the said Parties of the first part doth grant and convey unto said A.A. Ashworth one undivided tenth part of a certain tract or parcel of land on waters of Walker's Creek, Bland County, Virginia..to which said grantor Robert Dillow is entitled as son and heir at Law of Abraham Dillow deceased being the tract known as the Brazier land and adjoining the land of William P. Bruce and others, suppose to contain eighty five acres be the same more or less.”
A Plausible Reconstruction
Taking into account available records and conditions at the time, Abraham’s timeline may have looked like this:
- 1723 Born in Christ Church, England
- 1753 Convicted of theft and transported to the colonies to be sold as indentured servant
- 1754-1760 Indentured servitude, likely in Augusta County, Virginia, or Shenandoah Valley
- c. 1764 Married to Mary, last name unknown
- 1764-1776 Four children born in Augusta County
- 1777-1779 Militia, tax, and probate records in Augusta County
- 1781 Listed in Montgomery County militia, probably in Roanoke/Christiansburg area
- 1793-1803 Personal property tax records in Wythe County
Our early southwestern Virginia ancestors were the Dillows, Steeles, Cassadys and Crocketts, all part of that wave of settlers who traveled down Shenandoah Valley on the Great Wagon Trail. A hundred years later, three grandsons of Robert Dillow serving under General Alfred Sheridan would lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley as part of the Union’s campaign to destroy the “breadbasket” of the Confederacy.
While no single document conclusively identifies Abraham Dellow of Christ Church as Abraham Dillow of Wythe County, the cumulative evidence makes a strong case.
What can’t be filled in, but can be imagined, is the loss, hardship, and seemingly unsurmountable events of Abraham’s life that he met with resilience and will for survival.
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