I wrote about the oldest direct female ancestor in the previous post. Now we are going to talk about the oldest male. I found Martin Dial, my 6th great grandfather and he lived to be 98 years 11 months and 27 days old; almost 99 years old.
Martin Dial was born 30 Dec 1744 in North Carolina (though some stories say it was England) to Henry Arthur Dial and Isabella May Hastings. Henry and Isabella had the following known children.
1) Hastings Dial (1732-1809)
2) James Dial (1734-unknown)
3) Martin Dial (1744-1843)
There are ten years between Martin and his next oldest sibling, which usually indicates that there were other children born. I have not seen any information regarding other siblings, though I would not be surprised if there certainly were more, sisters even.
It is said that Martin Dial served in the Revolutionary War for America while his brothers were indeed Torries. There have been many stories written about Martin Dial and genealogical books such as "Martin Dial and Related Families" by Hastings Harrison.
Martin married Chrystie Abercrombie in 1775. They had the following children that I've found. I am missing many dates for these children.
1) John Hastings Dial (abt 1882-aft 1860)
2)Isaac Dial (1791-1864) ***my 5th great grandfather
3) Jonathan Dial
4) Martin Dial Jr
5) James Dial
6) Hannah Dial
7) William Dial
8) Colvill Dial
There are many, many Dial descendants. Martin passed away in Gray Court, Laurens County, South Carolina on 26 Dec 1843.
Almost 99 years old!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI have been searching to find out more about the Dial family because I have recently run into an extensive number of DNA matches between descendants of the Dial and Peavey families (there was a Dial Peavey quite early on in North Carolina) and two of my older relatives (a great aunt and a first cousin to my grandmother). My relatives involved in this matching (and it is well-triangulated) had ancestors who lived in the Haw River basin in what is now Alamance, but was then Orange Co., NC. You may have read that Martin Dial (according to his obituary printed in the Southern Christian Advocate) was born in the Haw River section of North Carolina. I wanted to let you know that in studying this family, I have discovered that Isabell Dial (spelled in this record, Doyle) renounced her right of administration on the estate of Martin Doyle at November 1763 Orange County Court and another Martin Doyle was appointed administrator in her stead. Actually, I think that is a mistake, because when a return was made at Aug Term 1765 of the sale of the estate, the administrator was named Hasting Doyle. Most of the purchases were made by Hasting and Isabell Doyle. This has got to be the family you are discussing, and it suggests to me that the husband of Isabell Doyle and the father of Hasting and Martin was actually another Martin Doyle or Dial who d. about 1763. Write to me if you want more details -- civilisation75@yahoo.com. There was also an Isaac Dale (or Dial) who remained behind in Orange County and died here in 1815. I'll gladly send you copies of these records.