01415 William Henry Egle, Pennsylvania: Genealogies, Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German, reprint of 2nd

edition (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969).

[page 156]

DIXON OF DIXON'S FORD.

I. JAMES DIXON,1 a native of the north of Ireland, of Scotch descent, emigrated to America about 1735.
In 1738 he took up a tract of four hundred acres on the Swatara in the county of Lancaster, Province of
Pennsylvania, at what was named and known for a century as Dixon's ford. This ford is directly back of the town
of Palmyra, in Lebanon county, leading into Hanover township, and upon Smith's map of the county of Dauphin, in
Pennsylvania, published in 1816, it is so marked. "A few years ago," wrote the late Hermanus ALRICKS, Esq., in
1873, "bridge viewers located a bridge a short distance above the fording where the banks of the creek were high,
on land of Mr. LOUDERMILCH, and now it is called LOUDERMILCH's bridge or ford." ln 1765 James DIXON
obtained possession of the Graham tract on Bow creek. We have no record of his death, but presume it was prior to
the Revolution. Of his family, we have the record of oneCJOHN DIXON,1 b. about 1724, in Ireland; d. in
December, 1780, in Hanover. It is stated that the loss of his eldest son, Robert, who had been killed at Quebec, and
the non-return of another favored child, who had "gone to the war," hastened his death, through grief. The father
had been an officer during the Indian wars, and served in several civil positions of honor. His wife, ARABELLA,
died in the autumn of 1775. They had quite a large family, and the authority just quoted states that he had heard
his old Scotch-Irish friends say that the DIXONs belonged to the best blood of the Revolution. John DIXON and
wife, Arabella, had issue:
i. Robert, b. 1749; was sergeant in Captain Matthew SMITH's company of Paxtang, Colonel William
THOMPSON's battalion of riflemen, in June, 1775; and fell at Quebec, December 31, 1775, "the
first martyr of the Revolution," wrote William DARBY.
ii. Isabella, b. 1761 ; d. May 10, 1824, at Harrisburg; m. James McCORMICK, who removed to the
White Deer valley

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about 1774. Mr. McCORMICK enlisting in the patriot army, his wife and children fled from the
valley in 1778, owing to the incursions of the Indians on the West Branch. Mr. McCORMICK
never returned from the war, and she remained among her friends at Dixon's ford. They had
Hugh, m. Esther Barbara KUMBEL, of New York city, (see McCORMICK record,) and Sarah, m.
Robert SLOAN, of Hanover.
iii. Richard, b. 1753; d. February, 1848; served as a private in Captain Matthew SMITH's company in
1775; but subsequently enlisted for the war, serving until its close; was promoted to
quartermaster-sergeant in the Continental Line;* m. Elizabeth CCC, and had Anna, and Maria,
who m. and went West.
iv. James, b. 1756; d. September 19, 1782; m. Sarah ALLEN, of Hanover, daughter of William and
Elizabeth ALLEN, and had Allen. James Dixon and his wife are buried in old Hanover
churchyard.
2. v. Sankey, b. 1759; m. Anna COCHRAN.
vi. Mary, b. 1761; m. James BREDEN, and had Anabella; they removed, in 1786, to Western
Pennsylvania, and it is thought died there.
vii. Anna, b. 1763; m. first, Samuel CARSON, and had Samuel and Robert; secondly, Duncan
CAMPBELL. Mrs. CARSON, with her husband, removed in 1786, to Washington county, Pa.,
where Mrs. CARSON shortly after died. Nothing is known of their descendants.
* Robert STRAIN, a native of Hanover, and until his removal to Ohio, about the commencement of the
present century, a member of Rev. SNODGRASS' church, under date of "Dayton, Ohio, November 24, 1835," gives
this record of Richard DIXON:
"A statement of facts with regard to the services of Richard DIXON in the War of the Revolution.
"Richard DIXON, of Lancaster county, Pa., enlisted in Lancaster, Pa., in the early part of the year 1775,
under Matthew SMITH, a captain, and remained under Captain SMITH until his term of enlistment was ended.
He then enlisted for and during the war, and said DIXON was promoted to the rank of quartermaster-sergeant or
sergeant-major. I am very distinct in my recollection of Richard DIXON. When he first enlisted I made a shot

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pouch for him, and stamped on the cover the motto of 'Liberty or death!' The whole of the four brothers of the
DIXON family where in the service until the war was ended, and were of the truest kind of Whigs and Patriots.
ROBERT STRAIN."

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viii. John; nothing is known of him; he went into the Revolution, and his father, at the date of writing his
will, (1780,) in making a bequest to him, provided for him "if he ever returns." He probably died
in battle.
ix. Anabella, m. James GIBSON.

II. SANKEY DIXON,3 (John,2 James,1) b. 1759, in Londonderry township, Lancaster, now Dauphin
county, Pa.; d. November 11, 1814, at Knoxville, Tenn. He entered the army of the Revolution in June, 1775, and
served until the close of the war for Independence, holding the rank of ensign and lieutenant in the Pennsylvania
Line ; was wounded at Brandywine and Yorktown; settled, in 1786, in the Buffalo valley, where he married; the
following year removed to Rockbridge county, Virginia; in the spring of 1800 emigrated to East Tennessee, near
Knoxville; m. in 1787, ANNA COCHRAN, b. August 16, 1763, in Lancaster, now Dauphin county, Pa.; d. April
12, 1857, at Winchester, Tenn., daughter of George COCHRAN and Anna HENRY. They had issue :
i. John, b. August 14, 1789 ; d. April 1, 1791, in Rockbridge county, Va.
ii. Matthew-Lyle, b. January 24, 1792, in Rockbridge county, Va.; d. September 30, 1836, at Talladega,
Ala.; received a good education and studied medicine; served as surgeon's mate during the war of
1812-14, and afterwards located at Talladega, where he practiced his profession, lived and died,
honored and respected.
iii. Robert, b. April 18, 1794; d. October 28, 1834, near Selma, Ala.; became a minister in the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
iv. Nancy-Henry, b. January 17, 1796; d. May 12, 1848, at Louisville, Ky.; m. Charles G. NIMMO, of
Winchester, Tenn.; and had issue, (surname NIMMO,) Hiram, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Joseph
Warren.
v. Isabella, b. October 19, 1801; d. December 4, 1801.
vi. Mary-Roan, b. December 3, 1804; d. in 1837, at Shelbyville, Tenn.; m. James H. MARTIN, and had
issue, surname MARTIN,) William-H., Jane, and John.
vii. Margaret, b. April 21, 1807; d. June 3, 1850, in Winchester, Va.; m. in 1830, M. W. ROBINSON, of
Winchester, and had issue, (surname ROBINSON,) Rachel-A., m. James R. MANKIN;
Elizabeth-White, Samuel, Isabella-White, William-Darby, Sarah-Sloan, Henry-Clay, and Mary.

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