Regarding the Dill and McClure connection you need to be a little wary of the family histories of the Dill's. They were a very prominent family in the North of Ireland and have a number of histories written about them which are incorrect as they repeat the same mistakes.
There are effectively two branches of the family, which when the older histories discuss them, refer to them as David Dill's line and his brother John Dill's line.
On Jack's post of the 6th January there are a couple of points i would have to disagree with.
First the Dill's were not based at Springfield, Clondavadogg. Two brothers were. Well before this, some 60-80 years the family had split into two parts.....the David & John Dill lines. This is where the histories go wrong.
In the histories they say David's family is in the Fanad Penninsula, moving at various times to Glenalla, Magheradrumman [the south Fanad one] then Tullynadall further up the Peninsula.
Most histories then say John, either moved to Allsaints in the Laggan Valley or he drops off the family histories as 'gone away'.
However, in the 1660 Hearth Tax Rolls the two 'brothers' are in two locations. But the other way around. John is at Tullynadall and David near Newtowncunningham, Allsaints.
I believe a generation has been missed off all the family histories, because if you look at the supposed birth dates of some of the tree members and the events they witnessed it does not tie in with the one legal document remaining, the Hearth Tax Rolls. This then adds the possibility of more children than John & David. There is a Robert Dill in some records.
So when you look at the one Dill family [known as John's] by the 1700's they are south of Letterkenny, much closer to Kildrum and i have seen much further travel between families than that to marry.
The second point is the statement that the Springfiled Dill's went to America. Not so, in fact i think it was only one son and possibly the daughters [for a long time the actual Dill papers make little note of the female line of daughters]. The majority of the Springfield line stayed in Ireland, Counties Down, Londonderry, Antrim. then a large line is formed in England, Richard Dill in Brighton. A history called 'The Twelve Dill's' explains this line.
Look at Field Marshall Sir John Dill.......Montgomery family of Donegal is also connected to the Springfield Dill's.
The McClure line connected to the Dill's also has a connection to Rockbridge VA in the USA.
Not my line, so not 100% sure but think its Samuel McClure either brother or even father of the McClure-Dill girls. There is another daughter, Belle, married a Kelso, not sure where and in the US one daughter marries an Elliott. He is not a Donegal Elliott though, he is a Ballymena one with completely different Ydna [he's from the Elliott's of Antrim who are actually Armstrong's by dna].
There are various American Dill lines starting around 1730, with Caleb Dill in NY State. Then Delaware, Ohio later [including the Springfield ones who also go to Ohio] then a very important line in Nova Scotia.
My Elliott's were from Milford in Donegal, having been there from sometime early 1700's until around 1900 after which they went to Londonderry City.
From this family we have lots of connections to all the local Milford families.
Including Hunter who's line emigrated to Philadelphia around 1850. The Hunter's and Elliott's live next door to each other in Philadelphia.
I would recommend anyone with Donegal Presbyterian connections does a search of Mount Moriah Cemetery Philadelphia for any surname. There are 369 Hunter's buried in there, 223 Elliott's, of which around 40 Elliott's alone are my Milford line.
I am dna connected to Dill Hunter [and the Dill family of Donegal, USA & Nova Scotia].
We Elliott's also seem to have a dna connection to Raphoe McClure's in the USA via a McClure -Sage marriage.
I currently speak with most of the above families.....except McClure.
Rob
