01415William Henry Egle,

Pennsylvania: Genealogies, Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German

, reprint of 2ndedition (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969).

[page 156]DIXON OF DIXON'S FORD.I. JAMES DIXON,

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 townof Palmyra, in Lebanon county, leading into Hanover township, and upon Smith's map of the county of Dauphin, inPennsylvania, published in 1816, it is so marked. "A few years ago," wrote the late Hermanus ALRICKS, Esq., in1873, "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 DIXONobtained possession of the Graham tract on Bow creek. We have no record of his death, but presume it was prior tothe Revolution. Of his family, we have the record of one

JOHN DIXON,

b. about 1724, in Ireland; d. inDecember, 1780, in Hanover. It is stated that the loss of his eldest son, Robert, who had been killed at Quebec, andthe 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 heardhis old Scotch-Irish friends say that the DIXONs belonged to the best blood of the Revolution. John DIXON andwife, Arabella, had issue:

i. Robert

, b. 1749; was sergeant in Captain Matthew SMITH's company of Paxtang, Colonel WilliamTHOMPSON's battalion of riflemen, in June, 1775; and fell at Quebec, December 31, 1775, "thefirst martyr of the Revolution," wrote William DARBY.

ii. Isabella

, b. 1761 ; d. May 10, 1824, at Harrisburg; m. James McCORMICK, who removed to theWhite Deer valley[page 157]about 1774. Mr. McCORMICK enlisting in the patriot army, his wife and children fled from thevalley 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 in1775; but subsequently enlisted for the war, serving until its close; was promoted toquartermaster-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 andElizabeth 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 WesternPennsylvania, and it is thought died there.

vii. Anna

, b. 1763; m. first, Samuel CARSON, and had

Samuel

and

Robert

; secondly, DuncanCAMPBELL. 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," givesthis 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