Post by Doris McCraw
aka Angela Raines
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| Evergreen Chapel, Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, CO. Photo(C) Doris McCraw |
This month's post on Civil War Wives is Helen Rood Dillon. Links to last month's post and the Civil War Veterans on another blog will be posted at the end.
Helen was born Helen Rood on May 27, 1827, in Broome, New York. She was the second wife of Chester H. Dillon of Pennsylvania. Little is known of Helen's family and even less is known about Chester's first wife Delilah S. Hicks. I still hold out hope more records about each woman will eventually appear online but until then I work with the information available.
When Helen's husband, Chester, registered for the draft in 1863 he was a class II, which meant he was married with children and would only be called to duty if all other eligible men had been called up. By 1864, Chester was required to report for duty.
This left Helen to care for their two children John and Elma. It also left her to deal with any business matters that her husband would normally have dealt with. Chester was only on active duty for about one year. Upon his return, the couple remained in Pennsylvania until about 1875.
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| Photo (C) Doris McCraw |
By 1880 the couple moved to Colorado Springs, CO. where they lived until Helen's death. (Chester preceded her by four years.)
Their son John married Florence Crawford in Jefferson, Iowa in 1885. He also resided in Colorado Springs.
Their daughter Elma married Andrew Green a man twenty-three years her senior in 1896 at age thirty-eight.
Helen died December 25, 1897, of pneumonia and heart disease. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, Colorado next to her husband.
Virginia Strickler - Prairie Rose Publications Blog
Henry C. Davis - Western Fictioneers Blog
Chester H. Dillon - Western Fictioneers Blog
For anyone interested, I have a monthly substack newsletter: Thoughts and Tips on History
It must have been an awful time for families, watching their loved ones being called up for war. I visited a few Civil War sites and found the atmosphere incredibly still pervasive in the air and soil. I'm glad the Dillons got their daddy and husband back.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was writing this post I thought of how it must have been for those left behind. Although Chester was only gone for about a year, what a year that must have been for his family. I thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts about Helen & family. Doris
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