John Madison Dictson

born Aug. 20, 1829
North Carolina

died Aug. 26, 1914
Choctaw Co., OK

John Madison McFall was the son of James and Sarah Dickson McFall of Yancey County, North Carolina. John served in the 4th Virginia State Line. Then he was 2nd Lieutenant of the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry in Virginia where he served under Prentice's Battalion. He fought in many battles, one in particular, the Battle at Cranesnest. Upon completion of the Civil War, John left Virginia where he faced being tried for war crimes. He moved his family to Tennessee near Nashville. There on the Cumberland River he set sail on a houseboat that he built. He took all of his kids but one, Lovada Deroney. She was engaged to be married to Hezekiah Reedy. John sailed down to the Gulf of Mexico and up the Sabine River into Hunt County, Texas and settled in Dunn's Prairie just out of Greenville, Texas.

Along the way to Texas, John Madison changed his last name from McFall to Dictson. All of his military records will show him as McFall(s) but after coming to Texas, all legal records from 1865 to date, use the name Dictson. The spelling of Dictson is unique to this family only. In all research, I have found no other family with this spelling. He supposedly took on his mothers maiden name. No one knows why he chose to spell his name this way. By the way, it is pronounced like Dickson. Perhaps it was because he was the only one in the family who could read or write according to early census records. In Hunt County he bought land and became a very wealthy man.

John Madison married Louvina (Viney) Myra Elizabeth McHone in Yancey County, North Carolina about 1846. Their children were:

1. Delana Elizabeth born Sept. 1847
2. Lovada Deroney born Sept. 26, 1849
3. Myra Rufina born Oct. 20, 1851
4. Sarah M. born Aug. 20, 1854
5. Nancy Jane born in 1855
6. William E. born in 1858
7. James Madison born Apr. 2, 1860
8. Rosa A. born in 1862