Week 9 - Family Secret - Dillingham Family

My grandmother, Nellie (Dillingham) Porter was the youngest of 14 children of Nathaniel and Carrie (Barnhart) Dillingham. She was born 10 July 1894 in Carroll County, Iowa. After her and my grandfather Harry Edward Porter were married, they bounced around quite a bit between Iowa and South Dakota and eventually ended up in Michigan. I never heard any stories regarding her older siblings except for her brother Grover Cleveland Dillingham who ended up in Flandreau, Moody County, South Dakota. And that was because my mother would say how wonderful Grover's wife Christine (Hanson) was.

So, it wasn't until around the year 2000 that I was handed some stories about Nellie's older siblings. This led me to dive into research to uncover the answers to all the questions that abounded from those stories.  What I discovered were true family secrets.

Nellie's 2nd oldest brother Samuel Dillingham was born 8 December 1869 in Manning, Iowa. In 1894 Sam was prisoner #2941 in Anamosa Penitentiary for assault to commit manslaughter (with a knife) against O. W. "Hock" Hunter in Manning. He was remanded for two years. He was age 24, of medium height, occupation laborer and was Methodist. It was his 1st offense and was released in September 1896.

Sam married Katherine "Katie" Jones 17 Mar 1900 in Ft Dodge, Iowa. They had four children: Leona, Mary Ellen, Robert and Violet. They divorced and he married Florence Dillow 23 Oct 1918 in Webster City, Iowa. They had three children: Willard, Ruby and Florence.

In 1903, oldest brother Frank F Dillingham (born 2 October 1868 in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa was Prisoner #5033 for 'larceny from the person' i.e. a pocket watch and received nine months at the Anamosa Penitentiary. He was age 28, medium complexion and a widower. Actually, during this time, his wife Caroline (Potts) filed for divorce and moved away with their three children: Lois, Jessie and Marie.

Then in 1908 Frank got into a quarrel with his younger brother Joseph N. Dillingham. Joe was born 17 Dec 1877 in Cerro Gordo, Iowa, number six in order of the children, and died 10 June 1908. Joe and Frank were well known as troublemakers and 'tough characters' and had gotten into one of their frequent alcohol-induced quarrels in the basement of the Park Hotel in Carroll, Iowa. During the fight, Frank got the better of his brother and struck him over the head with a piece of gas pipe. Joe was seen alive, cleaning his wounds in a bucket of water and then about three hours later, was found dead in the stock yards. Meanwhile, Frank was in the saloon drinking and making remarks about how he wished Joe was dead. A gas pipe and also a large rock was found in the basement and there was blood and hair on both. Frank was arrested and bail was set at $5,000. Frank was given the maximum sentence of eight years for manslaughter, served at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.

Frank married a second time to Bessie Chaffin Cline in 1939 and died 15 June 1959 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Only some of the siblings stayed in Iowa, albeit in different counties. Nellie and Grover went to South Dakota, Katherine and Lena headed for Minnesota and Sidney went to Nebraska. Maybe those that left went because of those secrets??

Barbie












Coon Rapids 

Courier ENTERPRISE
100 Years Ago

June 12, 1908

Gory with blood and his head
crushed in, Joe Dillingham was
found dead in the stockyards in
Manning this afternoon and his
brother, Frank Dillingham, is
locked up in jail charged with
murder. While no one saw the
crime, suspicion points strongly
toward Frank and the coroner’s
jury is expected to return a verdict
against him. Drink was probably
at the bottom of the crime.
Though men grown, both more
than 30 years of age, the two Dillingham’s
grew up into worthless
“boozers”, living chiefly from
the meager savings of their parents
and working only occasionally.
When drunk they quarreled
with each other violently at times
and frequently fought with each
other fiercely over various grievances.
This morning the trouble
was uptown where they had one
of their quarrels and afterwards
Frank was heard to declare that
sometime he would kill Joe. Joe
was seen at 11 a.m. down at the
stockyards It is believed that the
brothers met here again upon
noon and that then the fatal
blows were death. Frank was arrested
soon after the crime was
discovered. When taken he was
filling up on liquor.

 






 

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