Harrison Dills born on the 13 May, 1812 to Tunis and Mary [Cain] Dils. 1812 was an important time in American history as war was declared against Great Britain in June of that year which was considered the second war of independence as GB decided to claim land for themselves.
Tunison and other family members of the Virginia militia had been dispatched to Blennerhassett Island by President Jefferson in 1806 when it was thought that former Vice President Aaron Burr was wanting to form a new country and plotting with Harman Blennerhassett. Plots to undermine the newly formed, United States of America, had been addressed in those times, but nothing challenged the country like the attacks from the British just a few years later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_War_of_1812
However, most American settlers moving west, went about their daily lives building a future for their growing families in the new territories. My parents were married in Parkersburg, [West] Virginia on 14 March, 1811 and went on to have five more sons though Tunis died young and mother passed on in 1826 [buried in Cain cemetary]. It was less than 20 years since Phillip Dilts [who died in Parkersburg in 1810] and his kin settled into the area after selling off land in Pennsylvania. His son, William Dils was my grandfather who willed blacksmith tools in 1811 which I used when I started a blacksmith shop in Quincy, Illinois in 1834. One of my first accounts with a government was to shoe 500 ponies for Blackhawk warriors as retribution for their grievance after a battle against the United States over land.
Widower Tunis and sons, moved to Ohio around 1826 after living with grandmother Ariante Tunison-Dills who likely helped educate the children after mother, Mary Cain Dills died. Other Parkersburg kin were going west across the Little Kenawa River into Ohio and may have stayed with other family. Many of the Dils, Dills kin settled around Athens, Ohio although Tunis returned to Parkersburg before 1840 with family while Henry joined Harrison in Quincy, Il in 1836. Son William eventually became Sheriff in Parkersburg and Tunis again left Parkersburg for Quincy in the 1840s. Henry was known as a plasterer around Adams County beside a farmer who eventually settled in Maitland, Mo. in the early 1880s.
Harrison opened his blacksmith shop in Quincy in 1834 after a brief time in Danville, Ill. and likely used tools that were passed on through grandfather William Dils. In those days, the west was largely unchanged by human hands and Quincy was teaming with snakes and wildlife when the natives were forced to move on and resettle after the Black Hawk War.
Tunison and other family members of the Virginia militia had been dispatched to Blennerhassett Island by President Jefferson in 1806 when it was thought that former Vice President Aaron Burr was wanting to form a new country and plotting with Harman Blennerhassett. Plots to undermine the newly formed, United States of America, had been addressed in those times, but nothing challenged the country like the attacks from the British just a few years later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_War_of_1812
However, most American settlers moving west, went about their daily lives building a future for their growing families in the new territories. My parents were married in Parkersburg, [West] Virginia on 14 March, 1811 and went on to have five more sons though Tunis died young and mother passed on in 1826 [buried in Cain cemetary]. It was less than 20 years since Phillip Dilts [who died in Parkersburg in 1810] and his kin settled into the area after selling off land in Pennsylvania. His son, William Dils was my grandfather who willed blacksmith tools in 1811 which I used when I started a blacksmith shop in Quincy, Illinois in 1834. One of my first accounts with a government was to shoe 500 ponies for Blackhawk warriors as retribution for their grievance after a battle against the United States over land.
Widower Tunis and sons, moved to Ohio around 1826 after living with grandmother Ariante Tunison-Dills who likely helped educate the children after mother, Mary Cain Dills died. Other Parkersburg kin were going west across the Little Kenawa River into Ohio and may have stayed with other family. Many of the Dils, Dills kin settled around Athens, Ohio although Tunis returned to Parkersburg before 1840 with family while Henry joined Harrison in Quincy, Il in 1836. Son William eventually became Sheriff in Parkersburg and Tunis again left Parkersburg for Quincy in the 1840s. Henry was known as a plasterer around Adams County beside a farmer who eventually settled in Maitland, Mo. in the early 1880s.
Tunis was an Ensign in the 1st Regiment of the Virginia militia when President Jefferson called on their militia in 1806 when former VP Burr was thought to be planning an insurrection against the government...
In his reminiscences, Captain Henry Brush described with precision what newly enlisted recruits wore during the War of 1812. Soldiers were outfitted for service in unbleached, tow-linen hunting shirts and trousers. On their heads they wore low-crown hats, on the left side of which were black cockades about two... inches in diameter. A small silver eagle (about the size of a quarter) was fastened in the center of each cockade. Each soldier strapped a leather girdle around his waist, where he carried a tomahawk, a knife, a cartridge box, a bayonet, and a quart-sized tin canteen. He was armed with a musket and shouldered a linen knapsack with a blanket lashed to the top. Both were covered with oilcloth to protect them from wet weather. A soldier’s arms and pack together weighed about thirty-five pounds, and troops travelled an average of twenty-five miles a day on foot. Writing home to his wife, one soldier confessed: “My limbs were so stiff and sore at the end of each day’s march that I could hardly walk.”
In response to complaints from militia officers about their bedraggled troops, Virginia governor James Barbour outlined new uniform requirements in January 1812. General officers, artillery, light artillery, and grenadiers stood out in cockaded hats, white cuffs, and epaulets. Cavalrymen wore distinctive black leather caps dressed on the crown with bearskin and a red and white plume. Riflemen wore purple linen hunting shirts and leather moccasins, while the main body of the militia donned blue hunting shirts festively trimmed with red fringe. Despite the governor’s official proclamation, any soldiers who had provided themselves with uniforms different from those specified in the regulations could wear them for six months, and many probably went to war in the everyday clothing in which they had enlisted.
Virginia soldiers and sailors found themselves in the field as the result of international politics. Through the early decades of the nation’s history, relations between the United States and Great Britain remained strained. The relationship deteriorated sharply with the outbreak of war in Europe in 1803, when Britain imposed a blockade on neutral countries, including the United States. In addition, the British seized sailors from American ships and impressed them into the British navy. In Congress, southern and western War Hawks, such as the new Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Representative John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, led the sentiment for war, calling for defence of American interests and honour. On 1 June 1812, President James Madison asked for a declaration of war. Shortly afterward, Congress approved the declaration (despite the opposition of every Federalist member), and the United States was fighting a war with the motto “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights.”
In Virginia, the British responded by blockading the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and raiding coastal settlements. In mid-June 1813, the British attempted to capture Norfolk, but were repulsed by militia stationed on Craney Island. A week later, however, the British captured and sacked the nearby city of Hampton. Although actual encounters were few, the threat of attack kept militia in the field throughout the war, which ended when the Treaty of Ghent was signed on 24 December 1814.
In his reminiscences, Captain Henry Brush described with precision what newly enlisted recruits wore during the War of 1812. Soldiers were outfitted for service in unbleached, tow-linen hunting shirts and trousers. On their heads they wore low-crown hats, on the left side of which were black cockades about two... inches in diameter. A small silver eagle (about the size of a quarter) was fastened in the center of each cockade. Each soldier strapped a leather girdle around his waist, where he carried a tomahawk, a knife, a cartridge box, a bayonet, and a quart-sized tin canteen. He was armed with a musket and shouldered a linen knapsack with a blanket lashed to the top. Both were covered with oilcloth to protect them from wet weather. A soldier’s arms and pack together weighed about thirty-five pounds, and troops travelled an average of twenty-five miles a day on foot. Writing home to his wife, one soldier confessed: “My limbs were so stiff and sore at the end of each day’s march that I could hardly walk.”
In response to complaints from militia officers about their bedraggled troops, Virginia governor James Barbour outlined new uniform requirements in January 1812. General officers, artillery, light artillery, and grenadiers stood out in cockaded hats, white cuffs, and epaulets. Cavalrymen wore distinctive black leather caps dressed on the crown with bearskin and a red and white plume. Riflemen wore purple linen hunting shirts and leather moccasins, while the main body of the militia donned blue hunting shirts festively trimmed with red fringe. Despite the governor’s official proclamation, any soldiers who had provided themselves with uniforms different from those specified in the regulations could wear them for six months, and many probably went to war in the everyday clothing in which they had enlisted.
Virginia soldiers and sailors found themselves in the field as the result of international politics. Through the early decades of the nation’s history, relations between the United States and Great Britain remained strained. The relationship deteriorated sharply with the outbreak of war in Europe in 1803, when Britain imposed a blockade on neutral countries, including the United States. In addition, the British seized sailors from American ships and impressed them into the British navy. In Congress, southern and western War Hawks, such as the new Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Representative John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, led the sentiment for war, calling for defence of American interests and honour. On 1 June 1812, President James Madison asked for a declaration of war. Shortly afterward, Congress approved the declaration (despite the opposition of every Federalist member), and the United States was fighting a war with the motto “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights.”
In Virginia, the British responded by blockading the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and raiding coastal settlements. In mid-June 1813, the British attempted to capture Norfolk, but were repulsed by militia stationed on Craney Island. A week later, however, the British captured and sacked the nearby city of Hampton. Although actual encounters were few, the threat of attack kept militia in the field throughout the war, which ended when the Treaty of Ghent was signed on 24 December 1814.
http://www.parkgaz.com/grave.php?grave_id=589 This is a photo of my elder brother William Dils. He spent most of his life in Parkersburg where he served as sheriff and Justice of the Peace. Our father, Tunis, returned to Parkersburg to sell his estate to William and returned to Quincy where Tunis died [1845].
William Dils, son of Phillip Dilts, was born in 1764 near Trenton, NJ, and died on August 11, 1811. Spouse, Arianthe Tunison, was the daughter of Tunis Tunison II and Ariantje. "William, son of Philip and Mary Hoffman Dils, was born near Trenton, New Jersey in 1764. He married Arianthe, daughter of Tunis Tunison. William and Arianthe Dils had 12 children.
from: William Dils was my grandfather. He was born in 1764 near Trenton, NJ, and died on August 11, 1811. My grandmother, Arianthe Tunison, was the daughter of Tunis Tunison II and Ariantje. "William, son of Philip and Mary Hoffman Dils, was born near Trenton, New Jersey in 1764. He married Arianthe, daughter of Tunis Tunison. William and Arianthe Dils had 12 children.
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