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 43: Johann Heinrich Dillmann of Hanover, Germany

Wilhelm F. Dillmann was born in Oldenburg, Germany, the son of Markus and Sophi (Gebhardt) Dillmann, and served in the German Army during World War I before emigrating to the United States in January 1929. He raised a family in New York; his son, Rev. Alan W. M. Dillman, was born in 1933 and went on to serve as a minister, later celebrating his own father’s funeral liturgy in 1983. The family moved several times — to Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1944, back to New York in 1947, and eventually to Atlanta in 1962.

What’s Unresolved

No DNA testing has been done from this family, so there’s no way yet to connect Wilhelm’s Oldenburg-area origin to any of the DFA’s other documented German lines.

What a Test Could Answer

A Y-DNA test from a descendant of Wilhelm F. Dillmann could confirm whether this family connects to other tested lines from the broader Hanover/Oldenburg region already in the DFA’s records.

Are You Connected?

If you’re a male-line descendant of Wilhelm F. Dillmann, 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.