DILLION Family Genealogy-History
(Updated April 18, 2024)
SOURCE NOTES: [N591]
Quincy Perry DILLION
Source of Name:
- Book [0012] lists Quincy Perry DILLON.
- Internet Website [0013] lists Quincy Perry DILLON.
- Internet Website [0155] lists Quincy Perry DILLON.
- Internet Website [0291] lists Quincy Perry DILLON.
- Internet Website [0558] lists Quincy Perry DILLON.
- Gerald Lee "Jerry" Offholter [0064] lists Quincy Perry DILLION and Quincy Perry DILLON.
- Tombstone [0468] lists Quincie DILLION.
- Obituary [0469] lists Quincy DILLION.
Source of Birth Date:
- Gerald Lee "Jerry" Offholter [0064] lists About 1827.
- Internet Website [0013] lists About 1827.
- Internet Website [0558] lists Unknown.
Source of Birth Place:
- Gerald Lee "Jerry" Offholter [0064] lists Franklin County, Virginia.
- Internet Website [0013] lists Franklin County, Virginia.
- Internet Website [0558] lists Unknown.
Source of Marriage Date:
- Catherine McGhee:
- Internet Website [0013] lists 1847.
- Internet Website [0155] lists ____.
- Jennie Chambers:
- Internet Website [0013] lists January 6, 1885.
Source of Marriage Place:
- Catherine McGhee:
- Internet Website [0013] lists Monroe County, West Virginia, United States.
- Internet Website [0155] lists ____.
- Jennie Chambers:
- Internet Website [0013] lists Monroe County, West Virginia, United States.
Source of Death Date:
- Gerald Lee "Jerry" Offholter [0064] lists February 12, 1902.
- Internet Website [0013] lists February 12, 1902.
- Obituary [0469] lists February 12, 1902.
- Tombstone [0472] lists 1901.
Source of Death Place:
- Internet Website [0013] lists Cashmere, West Virginia.
- Obituary [0469] lists Cashmere, West Virginia.
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Source [0510]
"Henry Reed grew up in Monroe County as a member of a large extended family. His father and at least one uncle were musical, and at least two older brothers played music as well. An early photograph reveals him playing banjo with his older brother Josh. But to judge by his stories about his early life and the sources of specific tunes, his early musical influences seem to have come not so much from his immediate family as from the surrounding community. Music was clearly a big part of his early life, and his renditions of tunes learned from elderly musicians like Quince DILLION, who was born around 1810 and served as a fifer in the Mexican War and the Civil War, show that he was an attentive musical apprentice as a boy."
"Henry Reed said he learned the song "Folding Down The Sheets" from Old Man Quince DILLION and John DILLION."
"Quince DILLION's High-D Reel - Henry Reed gave no name to this tune, though he played it twice and also played two sets of a tune in G with the same first strain. This tune cannot be traced to other sources. It somehow came to be thought of as a tune Henry Reed learned from Quince DILLION, though there is no concrete evidence of this in the fieldnotes from the 1960s, and it has gone back into circulation among some performers in the old-time music revival under the title "Quince DILLION's High-D Reel," the title used here."
"British Field March" and "Santa Anna's Retreat," are both marches that Henry Reed learned from Quince DILLION, an elderly fiddler and fife player from whom Henry Reed acquired many tunes as a boy. These two were specifically identified as fife tunes, and a trill at one juncture--not a normal feature of Henry Reed's fiddling--must be an echo of the fife original. In calling this piece "British Field March," Henry said that it was the march used by the British to retreat in the Battle of New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson and his American forces routed the British contingent. The tune is in fact an old British air that crops up in various forms, particularly from Irish sources; for instrumental sets."
"Henry Reed said--presumably on the authority of his fiddling and fifing mentor Quince DILLION, who was a fifer in the Mexican War--that this march was used by Santa Anna's army to retreat from the American forces during the Mexican War. Since the tune is a venerable British air, it seems more likely that it was played by the American contingent, though there were in fact Irish (or Irish-American) participants in the Mexican army."
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Source [____]
Quince DILLON's High D / Richmond Blues
Quince DILLON's High D was composed by a Confederate soldier named Quincey DILLION, or at least that's how the name appears on his military service records. A search through those records reveals that Quince first volunteered as a fife player in the 166th Virginia Militia in August of 1861, at Red Sulphur Springs in Monroe County, (West) Virginia. Fife players, along with drummers, were used in Civil War military organizations to give the soldiers a cadence to march by and to lift their spirits when the marches became particularly monotonous and grueling, which was pretty much all the time. The musicians also played a role in the army camps, providing musical signals for a variety of camp routines. During battles,
the fifers and drummers were often used as aids to the medical staff and sometimes served as stretcher bearers.
Quince's unit, the 166th Virginia Militia, was eventually incorporated into the 59th Virginia Infantry, which along with other Confederate units, was
captured at the Battle of Roanoke Island, North Carolina, on February 8, 1862. Members of the 59th Virginia Infantry who either escaped or where later paroled were reorganized as the 26th Virginia Battalion. Quince DILLON enlisted in this organization in February of 1863 at Centerville, now Greenville, (West) Virginia, and was promoted to Chief Musician. It is difficult to tell from the record, but it appears as though Quince was present at most of the engagements of the 26th Virginia Battalion from their skirmishes in western Virginia to the large battles of New Market (May 15, 1864), Third Winchester (Sept. 19, 1864), and Cedar Creek (Oct. 19, 1864).
Evidently, Quince DILLION came from a musical family. The military records show a William DILLION in the 26th Virginia Battalion listed as a
private/musician, and also a Hugh DILLION who was recorded as being a fife major in the 23rd Virginia Battalion (which, along with the 26th and 22nd Virginia Battalions, was in Echol's Brigade). Also of interest to me was a document I found in Quince DILLION's file that he had signed with an "X." While it was not uncommon in those days for a man to be illiterate, it does seem odd to me that he could have functioned as a military musician when that position required an almost complete dependence on written notation. Perhaps he just had a really good ear.
At any rate, Quince survived the war and lived well into the 20th century. He was said to be quite a fox hunter in his day, and his "doghorn" still survives. As far as I know, Quince DILLON's High D is the only tune that he composed that has survived down to the present day. The West Virginia banjo version on this recording comes from Sheila Adams.
Richmond Blues refers to a pre-war Richmond militia organization, and can be found in Volume 2 of Knauff's Virginia Reels. The more common
title for this tune is My Love, She's But a Lassie Yet. Extremely popular during the Civil War, this Scottish piece was a favorite among military fifers
like Quince DILLION.
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