DFA Most Wanted is a weekly spotlight on one specific Dillman family group with no representation yet in the Dillman DNA Project — who they were, what’s still unknown, and what a single Y-DNA test could resolve. Know this family, or think you might be connected? Read on.

Family Group 112: The Philadelphia Dillmanns

William H. Dillmann Sr. settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania sometime in the mid-1840s, arriving from Germany with no ship’s manifest yet located to confirm the exact date or port. His son, William H. Dillmann Jr., was born in Pennsylvania on 30 June 1849 and lived in Philadelphia until his death on 26 May 1919. Jr.’s death record names his parents as William H. Dillmann and Margaret Shawl, both of Germany — which is nearly everything currently documented about this line’s origin.

What’s Unresolved

The family’s specific German origin — what region, what town — is not yet narrowed down beyond “Germany.” No immigration record has been located to help pin down the year or the port of arrival. And with no DNA testing yet from this line, there’s no way to know whether the Philadelphia Dillmanns connect genetically to any of the other German-origin lines already documented in the DFA’s database, or represent a distinct line of their own.

What a Test Could Answer

A Y-DNA test from a direct male-line descendant of William H. Dillmann Sr. could match this family against the DFA’s other tested lines — potentially narrowing the German origin by connecting it to a documented region, or confirming this is a genuinely separate line with its own history to trace.

Are You Connected?

Genealogist Cody Dillman has done research on this family group. If you’re a male-line descendant of William H. Dillmann Sr. and Jr. of Philadelphia — or know someone who might be — the DFA would like to hear from you. Contact the DNA project administrator at dnaprojectadmin@dillmanfamilyassociation.org to get connected and learn about testing.

This spotlight is drawn from the Dillman Family Association’s Family Group Sheet Database and written with the assistance of Claude, an AI assistant developed by Anthropic.