Springfield-Greene
County LibraryGEORGE A. DILLARD. This honorable and useful citizen has been a resident of Taylor Township, Greene County Mo., since 1837, but owes his nativity to Monroe County, Tenn., where he was born in 1826, a son of William and Sarah (Gregory) Dillard, the former of whom was born in North Carolina, his father being John Dillard, who was descended from the French people, who were early settlers of this country. Some of the early members of this family were soldiers of the Revolution, and William Dillard organized a company for service in the War of 1812. In 1837 he became a resident of Greene County, Mo., and settled in the neighborhood of where the family now lives, purchasing a claim and becoming a successful farmer. He was a Whig in politics, and after the great Civil War cast his influence on the side of the Republican Party. He was at one time a nominee for the Legislature in Tennessee. He took great interest in the affairs of Greene County after locating here, and was justly considered one of its most successful candidates. He died about 1877, at the advanced age of ninety-five years, at which time he was the next oldest man in the county. His wife was born in North Carolina; was a member of a prominent old family of that State, and died in 1861, when about seventy years of age. She became the mother of the following children: Mary, wife of Horace Snow, moved to California and there died; Stephen was a farmer and died in California; Samuel, also deceased; Elizabeth, who died in Polk County, Mo., the wife of William Maddy; John, a resident of Oregon; Robert, a resident of Greene County; Frances is the deceased wife of William Price; James died in Tennessee Amanda, a resident of Douglas County, Mo., is the widow of Albert Smith; Caroline is also a resident of Douglas County and is the wife of James Breedlove; George A.; William, who is a resident of this county, and Sarah, who is a resident of Christian County, Mo., and is the wife of J. Smith. The majority of the members of this family belong to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and are highly honored in the different sections in which they reside. The father is the owner of a fine farm of 374 acres and for years past has been engaged in stock raising. George A. Dillard was brought to this county when a lad of eleven years; attended the schools of the neighborhood, and when a young man, in 1849, began farming for himself and has since followed this occupation in connection with stock raising. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the service of his country and was chosen captain of Company E, Seventy-second Regiment of Enrolled Militia, and was in the engagement at Springfield, where he was stationed the most of the time. He was on post duty at Springfield during the Wilson Creek fight and did post and scouting duty the balance of the time. He was honorably discharged in 1865, and returned to farming on his old place on which he had resided fifty-five years of his life. One hundred and fifty acres of his land is under fence and well tilled, yielding large crops annually. He was married in 1849 to Eliza Gibson, a daughter of John Gibson, of this county, and to them nine children were given three of whom died in infancy; William has been county assessor and is now a hardware merchant of Springfield; Dudley is a conductor on the Gulf Railroad and makes his home in Springfield; James is still with his parents; Margaret is the wife of Albert Turner, of Turner Station; Bell is the widow of Harry Merrett who was killed on a railroad; and George is a railroad man living in Springfield. Mr. and Mrs. Dillard are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and in politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and as a citizen is highly regarded by all who have the honor of knowing him.
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