Elijah H. Dilley

    Elijah H. Dilley, a farmer of Section 16, Fairbanks Township, Sullivan County, who lived on the rural free delivery route No. 3 out from Farmersburg, was born in Effingham County, Illinois, May 15, 1846, a son of Jonathan and Adeline (Henry) Dilley, natives of Kentucky. The maternal grandparents, Elijah Henry and wife, were natives of Kentucky. The parents of the subject were married in Lawrence County, Indiana, where they resided several years, and then removed to Effingham County, Illinois, and resided for a time. Then, returning to Indiana, he bought land in Fairbanks County. In 1849 he joined a company and made an overland journey to California, spending several months on the way, and he was quite successful there. About two years later he returned to Fairbanks Township and resumed farming. He enlisted early in the Civil War in the Forty-third Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged and returned home and farmed a few years. Then on account of ill health he went to Glenn County, California, and stopped a short time, but as his health continued to fail he returned to Fairbanks.

    Elijah H. Dilley enlisted in Company E, Sixty-second Illinois Infantry Regiment, February 27, 1864. While he was fortunate in never receiving wounds while in service of his country, he did contract diseases from which he never recovered. He was discharged from the Army of the Mississippi in 1866, after which he came to Fairbanks Township and bought a farm in the northern part of the township, and three years later bought the place where his widow now resides, the place being three quarters of a mile northwest of Fairbanks village. There are two hundred acres in this farm, all of which are well improved and under a high state of cultivation. He was always a farmer by occupation, and raised much fine stock. His education was obtained at the public schools in Indiana and Illinois. He was a member of the Christian Church of Middletown. He was first married in 1868 to Mary Ann Neal, born in Fairbanks Township, a daughter of Walker and Matilda (Pogue) Neal, natives of Indiana. The issue of this marriage union was:

    For his second wife he married May 25, 1878, Rose Denney, born in Monroe County, Indiana, September 1, 1850, a daughter of John W. S. and Sarah (Gaskins) Denney. The father was born in Kentucky and the mother in Washington County. Indiana. The grandparents were William and Margaret (Scott) Denney, of Kentucky, and John and Mary Ann (Kite) Gaskins, natives of Indiana. The children born to Mr. Dilley by his second wife were:

    The death of Mr. Dilley occurred November 3, 1907. Thus one by one and all too frequently are the veterans of the Civil War dropping out of the vast army that was dispersed in 1865-66. He was a brave man, a good citizen, a true husband and devoted father.

Source: A History of Sullivan County, Indiana. Closing of the first century’s history of the county and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth. Thomas J. Wolfe, Editor. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909, page 344-345.