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 38: Bruno Adolf Dillmann of New York

This week’s family runs in the opposite direction from most: Bruno Adolf Dillmann was born in New York in 1859, then moved to Berlin in 1884, where his 1911 certificate of registration as an American citizen with the US embassy confirms his birthplace. His full story — including the journey back to Germany and his family’s eventual return to America — is told in more detail in Going Back: Return Migration in the Dillman Families. He married, had two daughters (one stillborn), and worked as a brewer until his death in 1913. His wife and surviving daughter migrated back to the United States in 1915, using his American citizenship.

What’s Unresolved

Because Bruno was born in New York rather than immigrating from Germany, the real open question isn’t where in Germany this family came from — it’s which earlier New York Dillmann family Bruno himself belongs to. No parents are documented for him, and no DNA testing has been done to connect his line to any other New York-area Dillmann family already in the DFA’s records.

What a Test Could Answer

A Y-DNA test from a male-line descendant of Bruno Adolf Dillmann — through the branch that returned to New York in 1915 — could connect this family to an earlier documented New York Dillmann line, potentially resolving the parentage question no paper record has answered.

Are You Connected?

If you’re a male-line descendant of Bruno Adolf Dillmann of New York and Berlin, 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.