FindaGrave includes the following:
JAMES C. DIXON was the son of unknown parents and may have been born in County Armagh. His year of immigration from Ireland to America is not yet established. He may have served in the Continental Army from Duchess County in NY in 1779. The year of his arrival in Cayuga Co, NY is recorded as 1801, but he and his family were living in Hebron, Washington Co, NY on the 1790 and 1800 censuses. In 1800 a JOSEPH HAMILTON was listed on the same census page as JAMES C. DIXON, and this may have been his brother-in-law.
Some records list his residence in Cayuga Co. as either Mentz or Port Byron. They are essentially the same since the village of Mentz was absorbed by Port Byron. The old village of Brutus is now called Sennett.
He married ELIZABETH PETRI on 23 July 1757, according to informal sources, location unknown They may have had a son named THOMAS, and some genealogies claim a daughter named ELIZABETH DIXON b. 1781, d. 1848. This record may also pertain to another man of this name.
Note: The first list of burials made for this old cemetery was done by FRANK and CLARA SKILLING in September 1920. At that time they noted that about half of the burials were unmarked. It's possible ELIZABETH PETRI DIXON is also buried in the Wilson-Dixon cemetery, but that her marker has been gone for decades, and the exact location of her grave is lost in time.
There is a JAMES DIXON listed as a sergeant with Washington's Continental Army on microfilm 246, roll box 132 in the NARA records. He served in the 5th. Co. of the First Regiment from NY of Col. Moses Hazen, and under Capt. MOSES WHITE. This JAMES DIXON was paid $50 for being in the infantry from June to September of 1779. The image is found about 1/4 of the way through the roll, and is image 203 on Ancestry.com.
There is also a JAMES DIXON who claimed his land bounty warrant for service in the Revolutionary War. Under the rules of the time small acreage awards had to be combined into one large tract in order to be surveyed. An ABRAHAM BALDWIN headed up a group of men including a JAMES DIXON who wanted to exercise their claims. Sergeants and enlisted men could get 100 acres, and that is the amount this JAMES DIXON is listed as claiming on 12 August 1799, on page 24 of the "Army Land Warrants". His claim number was 5695.
JAMES C. DIXON married MIRIAM HAMILTON around 1779. Their children almost all have Hebron, Washington Co, NY as their birthplaces.
Their known children:
1) Jane Dixon
2) James S. Dixon b. 1779 d. 1870.
Wife: Almira C. Jewett
3) Thomas Dixon b. 1782 d. 1860.
Wife: Lydia Wheedon
4) Moses Dixon b. 1784 d. 1874.
Wife 1: Jeanette "Jenny" Hopkins
Wife 2: Abbie Merrick
5) John C. Dixon b. 1786 d. 1876.
Wife: Sylvia Unknown
6) David Dixon b. 1788 d. 1843 in MI.
Wife: Lucinda Kellogg
1790 Census - JAMES is present living in Hebron, Washington Co, NY with eight other people.
JAMES was "received" into the First Congregational Church in Brutus, NY on 7 June 1806. The town of Brutus is now known as Sennett.
Sources: US federal censuses for 1790 , 1800, 1810, and 1820.
Cayuga County, New York Directory, 1867-68. U.S. War Land Bounty Warrants, 1789-1858. New York City Marriage, 1600s-1800s. "A Twentieth Century History of Berrien County, Michigan" by Judge Orville W. Coolidge. Pub. 1906. Pp. 351-352.
Records of the First Congregational Church in Brutus, Beginning with the Formation of the Church January 8 1806, and Federal census.
Burial list made by Frank and Clara Skilling on 24 Sept 1920, found in Book 45, Accession #1273, Collection of Regional History and University Archives at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. The Skilling list was made into a composite with one done by Pauline Cuykendall and Vera Ward in 1963. Presented online via the Cayuga County NYGenWeb site by Kathleen Shaw Decker in June 1997. With much gratitude to all these people.
