My Family Tree

John Dickey

Person Chart

Partners

Partner	Date of Birth	Children
Mary Looney		John Dickey Elizabeth Dickey Mary Dickey Samuel Dickey Margaret Dickey John Dickey

Person Events

Event Type	Date	Place
Birth	1724	Londenderry, Ireland
Marriage	12 JUN 1749
Death	1808
Burial		Bethany Presbyterian Church

Notes


JOHN DICKEY as told by Cousin Jessie Hall Bailey (grandaughter of Jesse Dickey Hall): John Dickey was born in Londonderry, Ireland. I do not know the exact time of his coming to America but some sources say he came with Oglethorpe. Some landed at Charleston, S.C., others at Savannah, Ga. In order to escape malaria, they worked up the rivers into North Carolina, mostly in Rowan County. Dickey seems to have settled near Center Church (between Mooresville, N.C. and Davidson, N.C.). John Dickey first married Mary Looney and their daughter, Elizabeth Dickey, married William Johnston, another of our Revolutionary War ancestors. John Dickey's second marriage was to Elizabeth Leasey when he was 69 years of age. John Dickey was a prominent member of the Rowan County Committee of Safety in 1775. He kept ammunition, for the army, hidden in his hay meadow and was sent, according to the minutes of the Committee of Safety, on some very touchy errands, which he always successfully carried out. He was one of the first to kick at the British Government. He signed a petition for a Charter for Queen's College in Charlotte, N.C., which by the way, George III refused because he didn't want a hive for turning out Presbyterian clergymen. Dickey later signed a protest to the tyrant, took up arms and "fit" at Camden, Cowan's Ford, Kings Mountain, and Ramsour's Mill. At the latter place, he disobeyed Colonel Francis Locke's orders to retreat and led his company to an advantageous position, where their marksmanship soon turned the battle into victory. John Dickey was credited with saving the day at the Battle of Ramsour's Mill. When ordered by his superior officer, Colonel Locke, to retreat, he soundly swore (Presbyterian elder that he was), that he would not retreat. So was cited for bravery and in military parlane... " won his spurs!" The soldiers thereupon composed a ballad which for many years was sung about the countryside in the old man's honor. Only one verse of this song is preserved in Washington: "Old Colonel Locke kept pretty well back, While brave Captain Dickey commenced the attack. He, Colonel Locke, ordered us to retreat and reform, Which made our old hero mightily storm." One affadavit recites that he called out, "Shoot straight, my boys, and keep on fighting; I see some of them beginning to tumble." Anyway, when there was something to do that required judgement and determination, John Dickey was called upon to do it. The following are comments made by Atty. T. Bailey Lee of Burley, Idaho, who in a letter written to Aunt Sarah Adams Whip, dated February 4, 1934, wrote: "Like your husband, I do not believe in bragging on ancestors. But I feel that while it is possible, we should do all we can to preserve their history for our children whose wild, fly-by-night generation knows little and cares less for the part played by their sturdy, devoted forbearers in laying the foundations of this beloved nation that is theirs. How better can we impress upon them their responsibility as citizens and the blood in the long ago? Verily, Scotch Irish won the Revolution in North Carolina, and our own folks were in the thickest of it all! General William Lee Davidson's bosom friends and trusted comrades were our old grand-dad, John Dickey, and our fighting parson of an uncle, the Rev. James Hall, Honor graduate of Princeton, if you please. When these highbrows in Boston talk about their building the U.S.A., I just reply: 'Oh yeah!' and me think of a bunch of Bluestockings scrapping George III to a finish down in Piedmont Carolina and saying darned little about it while doing so!" John Dickey died in 1808 and was buried in Old Bethany Cemetery along with a company of Halls and Graceys. @S7@

JOHN DICKEY as told by Cousin Jessie Hall Bailey (grandaughter of Jesse Dickey Hall):

John Dickey was born in Londonderry, Ireland. I do not know the exact time of his coming to America but some sources say he came with Oglethorpe. Some landed at Charleston, S.C., others at Savannah, Ga. In order to escape malaria, they worked up the rivers into North Carolina, mostly in Rowan County. Dickey seems to have settled near Center Church (between Mooresville, N.C. and Davidson, N.C.). John Dickey first married Mary Looney and their daughter, Elizabeth Dickey, married William Johnston, another of our Revolutionary War ancestors. John Dickey's second marriage was to Elizabeth Leasey when he was 69 years of age.

John Dickey was a prominent member of the Rowan County Committee of Safety in 1775. He kept ammunition, for the army, hidden in his hay meadow and was sent, according to the minutes of the Committee of Safety, on some very touchy errands, which he always successfully carried out. He was one of the first to kick at the British Government. He signed a petition for a Charter for Queen's College in Charlotte, N.C., which by the way, George III refused because he didn't want a hive for turning out Presbyterian clergymen. Dickey later signed a protest to the tyrant, took up arms and "fit" at Camden, Cowan's Ford, Kings Mountain, and Ramsour's Mill. At the latter place, he disobeyed Colonel Francis Locke's orders to retreat and led his company to an advantageous position, where their marksmanship soon turned the battle into victory. John Dickey was credited with saving the day at the Battle of Ramsour's Mill. When ordered by his superior officer, Colonel Locke, to retreat, he soundly swore (Presbyterian elder that he was), that he would not retreat. So was cited for bravery and in military parlane... " won his spurs!" The soldiers thereupon composed a ballad which for many years was sung about the countryside in the old man's honor. Only one verse of this song is preserved in Washington:

"Old Colonel Locke kept pretty well back,
While brave Captain Dickey commenced the attack.
He, Colonel Locke, ordered us to retreat and reform,
Which made our old hero mightily storm."

One affadavit recites that he called out, "Shoot straight, my boys, and keep on fighting; I see some of them beginning to tumble." Anyway, when there was something to do that required judgement and determination, John Dickey was called upon to do it.

The following are comments made by Atty. T. Bailey Lee of Burley, Idaho, who in a letter written to Aunt Sarah Adams Whip, dated February 4, 1934, wrote:

"Like your husband, I do not believe in bragging on ancestors. But I feel that while it is possible, we should do all we can to preserve their history for our children whose wild, fly-by-night generation knows little and cares less for the part played by their sturdy, devoted forbearers in laying the foundations of this beloved nation that is theirs. How better can we impress upon them their responsibility as citizens and the blood in the long ago? Verily, Scotch Irish won the Revolution in North Carolina, and our own folks were in the thickest of it all! General William Lee Davidson's bosom friends and trusted comrades were our old grand-dad, John Dickey, and our fighting parson of an uncle, the Rev. James Hall, Honor graduate of Princeton, if you please. When these highbrows in Boston talk about their building the U.S.A., I just reply: 'Oh yeah!' and me think of a bunch of Bluestockings scrapping George III to a finish down in Piedmont Carolina and saying darned little about it while doing so!"

John Dickey died in 1808 and was buried in Old Bethany Cemetery along with a company of Halls and Graceys.
@S7@

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