Statistical summaries, research findings, and data-driven articles about Dillman family groups documented by the Dillman Family Association.
Only 76 of the DFA’s 200 documented Dillman family groups name an actual town or village for their earliest known ancestor — the rest stop at a state or a country. Among those 76, six trace to two neighboring villages on the Volga, ten more to a German duchy that hasn’t existed since 1866, and Baden’s nine groups spread across seven different towns, with just one name repeating.
Of the 199 Dillman family groups now documented, 140 trace their origins to Germany — still concentrated in Hesse, the Rhineland, and Baden. New York remains the gateway and the Midwest the primary destination, with one real correction: the 1930–1945 immigration gap wasn’t actually empty.
The 199 family groups in the DFA database confirm earlier naming patterns — Johann’s dominance, predictable anglicization — and reveal new traditions.
Part Two’s headline findings reverse outright: a new largest immigration window, and a supposedly empty three-year gap that wasn’t empty at all.
Of the 160 Dillman family groups documented in the DFA database, 106 trace their origins to Germany — concentrated in Hesse, Baden, and the Rhineland. Tracing where they went reveals a clear pattern: New York as the gateway, Pennsylvania as a transit state, and the Midwest as the primary destination, with St. Louis the most frequently mentioned inland city of all.
199 documented family groups, but only 21 in the DNA project. Here’s why Y-DNA testing matters here, and how to help close the gap.
The 160 family groups in the DFA database reveal consistent naming patterns across two centuries of Dillman migration — from the dominance of Johann in German records to the predictable anglicization that turned Heinrich into Henry and Georg into George at the American border.
Sixty-six new Family Groups expand the Dillman dataset to 160 groups, revealing two distinct emigration waves with different causes, plus a stalled DNA project.
Every Dillman family in America arrived by water. From the Virtuous Grace in 1737 to the Lusitania in 1908, this article examines the ships and ports through which Dillman families crossed the Atlantic — Philadelphia, New Orleans, New York, and Halifax.
Faith was not merely a comfort to German immigrants — for many Dillman families it was the reason they left, the network that received them, and the community that determined where they settled. This article examines the religious connections documented across the first 94 family groups.
© Dillman Family Association 2026. Powered by WordPress
