This is what I have on the Dillon family in Little Bay. The miner John Dillon (pictured) was present by 1882 and two of his sons remained in town into the 1950s. I’m pretty proud of my research work on this one. I remembered a Dillon reference in the police diaries but when I went back to double check I found I was mistaken. It was a man named William Ditton referenced in the diaries of Constable Thomas Wells and not a Dillon. I contacted my friend and fellow researcher Doyle Wells as he had transcribed those diaries and asked if it could have been Dillon. He said the writing made either possible. This clarified nothing as I was looking for a John Dillon not William anyway but it bothered me. I couldn’t find any other references to Dittons. Later when I got into the Dillon military files I discovered that John Dillon’s wife was named Mary Corbin. It was Mary Corbin who was arrested with William Ditton. Ditton was likely a Dillon reference after all. It could be his brother but I’d like to think it’s the same guy with his full named being John William Dillon.

The following is what I’ve pulled from my sources on Little Bay where Dillon is referenced. If you’re doing genealogical work on the family you’ll undoubtably look beyond the town to find more. Please share what you find. I’d also love to hear any memories you’ve got of them.

1882 – John Dillon (Voter’s List)

1886 – William Ditton and Mary Corbin were arrested by Constable Meaney on suspicion of Peter Manely for maliciously placing mining powder in his stove pipe – Aug 10th

Magistrate Blandford found the evidence against them was insufficient and discharged them – Aug 11th (Wells)

1888 – January 25th: John Dillon and Mary Anne Corbin were married by Rev. Stephen O’Flynn. Margaret Corbin and Abraham Rowsell witnessed. (Marriage cert)

1889 – John Dillon (Voter’s List)

1892 – John Dillon – miner, wife Mary has Thomas (Vit Stats)

1894 – John Dillon – miner, lived in the Stafford’s Town part of Little Bay (Vit Stats)

1895 – John Dillon – labourer, wife Mary has Matthew William (Vit Stats)

1892 – Oct 24th: Birth of Thomas. Nov 13th: Baptized by Rev. Stephen O’Flynn. Sponsors Joseph Hunt and Bridget Fitzgerald (Birth cert)

1894 – Birth of Thomas

1896 – Birth of Matthew

1898 – Birth of John

1900 – Birth of James

1903 – Birth of Patrick (These dates are from the 1921 Census. There are some slight differences in dates from other sources)

1906 – Death of John Dillon. Rev. John Lynch was the minister. – May 10th (Death cert)

1918 – John, Matthew, and Thomas Dillon enlisted for WW1. Thomas enlisted first on May 5th with the other two following after on May 31st. (Military records)

John – fisherman, joins – May 31st 1918

Embarked for overseas on the H.M.S. Columbella – July 25th 1918

Arrived in the U.K. – Nov 28th 1918

Joined battalion – Jan 5th 1919

Discharged due to disability – April 29th 1919

Returned from overseas on the S.S. Corsican May 29th 1919

Matthew – fisherman, joins with his brother John – May 31st 1918

Returned from overseas on the S.S. Caesarea – July 1 1919

Discharged due to disability – Aug 15th 1919

Thomas – joins May 5th 1918

Thomas on leave – June 22nd 1918

While on leave in Tillt Cove he took ill with what was first suspected to be smallpox but turned out to be a cerebral hemorrhage. His father John rented a motor boat from P. Burke to carry Dr. Lidstone from Little Bay to Tilt Cove to tend to him. He was reported sick by Magistrate Wells on July 29th. He was reported to be suffering from fits on Sept 18th. He could not speak for several days and was not able to sit up until Sept 23rd. He was discharged from military service as medically unfit on Nov 15th. He returned to his parents home as he could no longer work. It was reported that he had fits each month but did not fall as he felt them coming on and would lie down. He had facial paresis on the right side with the grip on his right hand slightly lessoned.

1921 – Mary Dillon – widow (1921 Census)

1929 – Death of Thomas Dillon – Dec 29th

1930 – Mary Dillon applied for his pension – April 3rd

She listed her adult children still living:

Margaret age 39 – married. occupation unknown. does not contribute to mother

Mathew age 35 – married. labourer. contributes to mother

John age 33 – unmarried. labourer. does not contribute

James age 31 – unmarried. occupation unknown. whereabouts unknown

Patrick age 27 – unmarried. woodsman. contributes but not frequently employed

I got a lot of this from the military records which The Rooms has online. There is more in there if you’re interested, Thomas’ record in particular has a lot of letters which I have not transcribed yet. It’s a lot of work figuring out old cursive so if you get into them before I do please let me know what you find.

I can add from conversations with my mother that two of the elderly Dillon brothers lived in Little Bay during her childhood there in the 1950s. They were John and Patrick, known as Jack and Paddy. She remembered them well and said one of them would pretend to confuse her with her brother Junior. She also noted that one of them was a known atheist which was a source of public gossip. He was buried outside of the RC cemetery there, a situation which was remedied at some point in the later part of the 20th century when the fence was moved to accommodate him. The atheist was most likely John following his experiences in WW1.

Thanks for your interest!