Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series
Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission.

The Dixon Family Reunion

"Our Heritage" By Claude Moore
Friday, November 6, 1987

The eleventh annual reunion of the Dixon family was held on Sunday, November 1, at the community building near Beautancus in Duplin County with about 75 members attending from far and near. It included the descendants of the late Everett and Flora Swinson Dixon, who lived in the Bear Marsh Community. The president of the clan, Joe Dixon presided. Special music was rendered by Renee Dixon and words of welcome were given by Beverette Dixon. The secretary of the clan, Ray Dixon, read the minutes of the last meeting and Annie F. Sasser, the treasurer, gave the financial report.

I was the principal speaker and I was glad to do just this because I have known members of this family all my life. The Dixons (also spelled Dickson) are believed to have been from England originally and then to Ireland and later to America. The fore father of this immediate family was Noah Dixon who was born in Beaufort, N.C., in 1798, married Polly Leggett (1797-1895) and moved to Wayne County. He had the following eight children: M. Everett, Sophea, Spencer, Ashley (Confederate soldier, killed at the Battle of Spottsylvania Courthouse in 1864), Daniel, Nancy and James (called Jim).

M. Everett Dixon (1840-1926) was a Confederate soldier and I remember him well since he married Elizabeth Casey and moved to Turkey where he lived until just before his death. I remember that he enjoyed relating stories about his experiences in the Confederate Army. He would attend the Confederate reunions and dinners sponsored each year by the Ashford-Sillers Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy on May 10th in Clinton.

Elizabeth Casey was descended from Micajah Casey (1745-1800) a pioneer settler of Wayne who married and had nine children. His son, William Casey (1774-1834) was the grandfather of Elizabeth. Many Casey descendants now live in Wayne County.

M. Everett and Elizabeth Dixon had eight children: Everett Jackson Dixon; John Dixon; Boss F. Dixon; Stella Dixon, who married George W. Bird; Minnie L. Dixon, who married Frank Flynn; Annie C. Dixon, who married D.C. Vann; Katie Dixon, who married Jesse Niece; and Cora Dixon, who married Cleamon Butts. M. Everett and Elizabeth Dixon are buried in Mount Olive.

Everett Jackson Dixon married Flora Swanson of Duplin County in 1906 and moved from Turkey to Wayne County and later to Duplin. They had the following 10 children: Sadie, who married Johnnie Mac Wells; Virginia Pearl, who married Archie C. Holland; Dora Bettie, who married Benny Bell; Elwood J., who married Nellie F. Sasser; Wilma, who married Bonner Hugh Jones; Marie Holt, who married Clarence Brogden, and works at the cafeteria at Mount Olive College and their grandson, Jeff Brogden is now enrolled in my North Carolina history course; Julius Robert, who married (1) Jean Butler (2) Donnie Marie Heath; Annie Flora, who married Paul Leonard Sasser, and he has collected much data on this family and related families; Brower Lucille, who married Warren David Strickland of Sampson County; and Emerson Ray, who married Janet Gayle Bell. These 10 children literally have hundreds of descendants.

A most delectable and tasteful buffet dinner was served which could have equaled any ever served at the Waldorf. The fellowship was good and everyone would have agreed that heritage and the extended family were worth preserving in modern America.