Listed in Abstract of List of taxable property in Wood county for 1827 - Township of Perrysburg : Dildine, Samson Neat Cattle 3 value $24

roll 136 1850 Census
CENSUS YR: 1850 STATE or TERRITORY: IN COUNTY: Blackford DIVISION: Licking Twp. PAGE NO: 26
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LN HN FN LAST NAME FIRST NAME AGE SEX RACE OCCUP. VAL. BIRTHPLACE MRD. SCH. R/W DDB
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18 135 135 Dildine Sampson 51 M Farmer 2,000 Pennsylvania
19 135 135 Dildine Sarah 52 F Pennsylvania
20 135 135 Dildine Ralph 22 M Ohio
21 135 135 Dildine Jeße 20 M Ohio
22 135 135 Dildine Mariah 18 F Ohio X
23 135 135 Dildine Eßy 15 F Ohio X
24 135 135 Dildine Joseph 12 M Indiania X

Moved to Ohio in 1812 with parents, settling in Dayton.
Were married in Hancock Co, Ohio in 1827, then moved to Blackford Co and settled near the present site of Hartford City in 1837. in 1853 they moved to a farm in Jackson Township where Sarah died in 1871, and Sampson died in 1879.

THE EARLIEST MARRIAGES in Hancock County are as follow:

Sept. 2, 1824, Samuel Kepler and Rachel McKinnis.

May 4, 1826, Jacob Moreland and Sarah Poe.

Sept. 14, 1826, Asa M. Lake and Charlotte Greer.

March 12, 1827, William Moreland and Julia Chamberlain.

Aug. 24, 1827, Sampson Dildine and Sarah Highland.

Nov. 1, 1827, John Gardner and Susan Moreland.

Dec. 23, 1827, Philip McKinnis and Susan Dukes.

"When we are told," remarks Mr. Beardsley, "that many of these parties went miles through the forests, traveling the narrow paths on horseback, bride and groom both on the same horse, all alone perhaps in search of the man of law, who was authorized to say the words that would make them one, we can easily imagine that there were no extended wedding tours, no idle honeymoons, no rounds of gaiety, except perhaps, the country dance. And yet they lived and loved and prospered.

Transcribed from: BIOGRAPHICAL MEMIORS OF BLACKFORD COUNTY, IND.; EDITED BY
BENJAMIN G. SHINN; THE BOWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY. CHICAGO, 1900. (PGs. 235-241

THE EARLY SETTLERS

“For many years, for many centuries perhaps, the aboriginal inhabitants of this section of the western continent amed through the forests of Blackford County in pursuit of bounding game, wild indeed, but no wilder than its rude pursuers. Little did they dream of the wonderful transformation that was to result from the advent of a superior race. Of these original, dusky squatter sovereigns very little will be said for reasons satisfactory to the writer and that will readily suggest themselves to the reader. On the reservation south of the Salamonie river was an Indian burying place from which quite a number of relics were taken by the first white settlers. The last claim, of the Indians to any part of the territory embraced in the limits of this county was extinguished by the deed of conveyance of the chief, Francis Godfrey, of Miami county, Indiana, to Richard Suydam, David Jackson and Alexander Keever, of the city of New York, dated February 2, 1836. The land described in this conveyance was the tract or parcel of land lying on the Salamonie river, to-wit: four sections of land in township 24, in range 11, and in township 24, range 12,and being the remaining part of the reserve granted to said Francis Godfrey by the treaty between the Miami Indians and the United States at St. Marys, in 1818, on the Salamonie river, known as Godfrey's land, as appears on the plats in the land office at Fort Wayne, containing twenty-five hundred and sixty acres, be the same more or less." The first settlements were made in the southwest corner of the county along Lick creek and in the north part of Harrison township along the Salamonie, for the reason that the best natural drainage existed in these two places and a better opportunity was thus afforded for the cultivation of he soil.”

“Samson Dildine used to relate an incident, prefacing it with the statement that Shroyer was either the first or second man he ever met who was a match for himself in strength. They were at a log-house raising for James Parker, who entered in 1837 and lived for some ten or twelve years on the farm known for nearly fifty years past as the Guseman farm. The logs were green timber, mostly beech and quite heavy; there were four men to carry up the corners and only eight to carry and push up the logs. Some of the men complained of the heavy work, and proposed to quit at once and wait until more hands could be had. Dildine suggested that he and Shroyer would handle one end of the logs if the other six men would handle the other. They divided off in that way and
then went to racing, and in nearly every instance Dildine and Shroyer had their end of the log up to its place first. The custom of racing at the raising of log buildings was quite xciting, but was certainly imprudent and dangerous.”

“Jacob Brugh built a horse-mill on South Jefferson street, in Hartford City, at an early day, and afterwards sold it to John Moore. Samson Dildine, another pioneer, located on land then adjoining and now in Hartford City.”
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/In/BlackfordBios?read=9

In 1837, with his (Sampson Dildine’s) wife and family of five children, he settled in Indiana, beginning life on a farm on a part of which the present Catholic church stands. To this land he added other acres from time to time until he was possessed of two hundred and forty acres, a considerable portion of which is within the limits of the corporation, to which in 1839 he donated a portion of the first town plot. He was a citizen of the county at the time of its organization, and was thus one of its pioneers. He made the brick of which the first county court house was constructed, and also the first brick at Hartford City. In addition to his two hundred and forty acres of land in Jackson township, he also owned land in Wells county; but on his Jackson county farm he lived until his death, which occurred March 29, 1879, when in his eightieth year; his wife died in 1871, in her seventy-second year.

They were the parents of five children, as follow: Ralph, who died in Neosho county, Kansas, in his fifty-third year, he having been on of the early residents of Kansas; Jesse, a shoemaker of Hartford city; Maria, who married Ira Sharp, and died in Neosho county, Kansas, at the age of forty-four; Effie, who married Thomas Moore, and died in Jackson township at the age of forty-six; and Joseph, the subject of this sketch.

Blackford Co, Indiana Tract Book
Samson Dildine 19 Nov 1836

In 1837, with his wife Sarah (Highland) Dildine and their five children moved to Blackford County, IN, beginning life on a farm on a part of which the present Catholic church stands. To this he added additional acres until he possessed two hundred and forty acres with a considerable portion within the limits of the corporation (Hartford City), to which in 1839 he donated a portion of the first town plot. He made the brick of which the first county courthouse was constructed. This information was passed down from my Dildine ancestors. Roger Wallace rogsar5@cs.com

Blackford County, Indiana, Deed Book A.
Book A, page 1
Samson Dildine and wife, Sarah,
to Joseph Reaves. Oct. 13, 1838,
SW 1/4 of Sect. 6, T23 N of R 10 East. 80 acres,
Wit: Andrew Boggs & John Moore.

Joseph Reaves and wife, Margaret, of Jay Co., Ind.,
to Sampson Dildine. Oct. 13, 1838,
NW 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of Sect. 17, T23 N of R. 10 East,
Wit: Andrew Boggs & John Moore.

Henry Gordon of Jay Co., Ind.,
to Samson Dildine. Oct.8, 1838
NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Sect. 14, T 23 N of R 10 East,
Wit: Andrew Boggs & Jeremiah Handley.

John Moore and wife, Jane, of Jay Co., Ind.,
to Samson Dildine. Oct. 13, 1838.
NW 1/4 of NE 1/4 of Sect. 14, T23 N of R 10 East,
Wit: Andrew Boggs & Nicholas Friend. (Nicholas Friend)

John Moore and wife, Jane, of Blackford Co., Ind.,
to Samson Dildine.
Feb. 10, 1840.
NW 1/4 of NE 1/4 of Sect. 14, T 23 N of R 10 East.

Samson Dildine and wife, Sarah,
to John Moore. Feb. 10, 1840
NW 1/4 of NW 1/4 of Sect. 14, T23 N of R 10 East.
Wit: Jacob Brugh & Frederick Beall, ,

Moved to Ohio in 1812 with parents settling in Lancaster Co.