Martha Rosetta Dilley - Daughter of Caleb and Sophia Camp Case

The youngest of this Case family was daughter, Martha Rosetta, born in August, c. 1851.  Martha's father died when she was about three years old, so she was raised by her mother, surrounded by older brothers and sisters.  When Martha was approximately 9 or 10, three of her older siblings, Isum, Mahlon and Harriet, died, and not much later, two others, Maynard and Dexter, moved west.  In the 1860 census, Martha was enumerated with her whole family, minus her father, but by 1870, the family had shrunk to her brother, Emillus (32) and her mother, Sophia (62) and sisters, Lydia (39), Mary (21) and her husband, Levi Hollabaugh (25) and Martha, herself, listed as 21 years old.

I have not been able to locate the marriage certificate of William H. Dilley, also of Dekalb County, Indiana, and Martha Rosetta Case. William grew up in Concord township, as well, and in 1860, was with his family: Elijah and Elizabeth, father and mother, and siblings, Mary E., Vinson, Margaret, and Malinda.  William H. was the youngest at 2 years old. They probably married in Indiana, but the search is still on for the documentation.

 In the 1880 census, they were found in Bear Grove Township, Guthrie County, Iowa on July 3, both 22 years old.  William was engaged in farming.  (In the 1900 census, they reported being married for 20 years, making the nuptial year as 1880, so they were probably newlyweds in the 1880 census.  However, the birth age for Martha, at this point is still a mystery because even though ten years have passed since the 1870 census, Martha has only aged 1 year!  Obviously, a mistake somewhere.)

 

http://www.guthriecountytourism.com/index_files/ghost_towns.htm

Fifteen years later, the family still resided in Guthrie County - William H. Dilley, 36, Martha R., 41, with children, Blanche, 7, and Melville, 5.  William reported himself a farmer, a Methodist, subject to military duty and entitled to vote.

The 1900 census of Guthrie County, Iowa indicated the enumerator arrived at the Dilleys on June 20.  Married now twenty years, William was farming.  They reported his birthday to be in June, 1858 and Martha's as August, 1853.  Martha had borne five children, but only two were living: Blanche H., 12, born June 1887 in Iowa, and Melville L., 10, born December 1889 in Iowa. 

By 1910, the family had moved to Clifton, Mesa County, Colorado.  There, they owned a fruit farm, free and clear, probably with the proceeds of the sale of their Iowa farm.  William was 52 and Martha was 57 and both children were still single and at home, working on the family farm.  Blanche, 22, was listed as a farmer on the census, and her brother, Melville, 20, was a farm laborer. (They probably made the move to Colorado in about 1901.)

 

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/912/rec/1

 Melville married Mabel McMillen on November 28, 1912 and from a later census, it appeared that they settled on a farm nearby. 

The family seemed to have gained success, but in 1913, William Dilley committed suicide, leaving Martha a widow. The death was reported in a local paper, the Akron Weekly Review, Akron, Washington County, Colorado, Friday, May 16, 1913, front page:

"Clifton.  W. H. Dilley, fifty four, orchardist, who for twelve years has lived southwest of town, shot and instantly killed himself.  Despondency over ill health is given as the cause, together with a partial loss of fruit crops by frost."

Martha's  daughter, Blanche Hazel Dilley, married Ivor Hyndman at Clifton, Mesa County, Colorado, the next year, on September 17, 1914. Blanche was 27 and Ivor, an immigrant from Wales and a Methodist clergyman, was 32.

 In 1920,, Ivor was assigned to a church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the census taker found the family in Ward 1 of South Milwaukee.  Ivor, 38, had filed naturalization papers in 1913.  His wife, Blanche, 32, and son, Ivor W. Hyndman, 2 9/12, completed the family.
Also, in 1920, the census enumerator found Martha Dilley, 68, living alone in the same location in Colorado, owning her farm.  No occupation was listed for her; however, her son, Melville and his wife, Mabel B. and daughter, Marjorie, 4 9/12 lived very near her, as they were enumerated on the same page, about five farms away.  Melville was farming, and probably taking care of his mother's land, too, we might presume.

By 1930, Martha R. Dilley, 78, lived with her son, Melville, 40, and his wife, Mabel, 42.  They lived on a farm, but it is unclear if it was the home farm or Melville's farm.  Melville was still farming, and Martha would have also had her granddaughter, Marjorie, 15, for company.
Her daughter, Blanche and son-in-law, Ivor Hyndman were living on South Limestone Street in Fayette, Kentucky in 1930.  They were renting a home there for $75 a month and Ivor was sill working as a Methodist clergyman at 48 years old.  Blanche, 42, had children Ivor W., 12, born in Wisconsin; Hazel G., 9, and James M. 7, both born in North Dakota; Florence M., 5, born in Florida; and Lloyd G, 1 3/12, born in Kentucky.  What a roaming life this minister and family had! (According to Blanche's great-great granddaughter, Blanche and Ivor also had twin girls who died at birth and a daughter, Dorothy, who died in infancy.)

Martha Rosetta Case Dilley died in 1933 and was buried next to her husband, William, in Palisade Cemetery, Palisade, Mesa County,Colorado.

Birthdate on tombstone - 1851