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Dillman Family Research Tips

This page collects Dillman-specific research advice accumulated through more than two decades of family research by DFA members. Unlike general genealogy tips, these suggestions are tailored to the records and repositories where Dillman families are most commonly found. Use this page alongside the Family Group Sheets and the Dillman Surname Index to identify which family group your ancestors belong to before targeting specific record collections.

🔎 Start with the basics: Before searching any of the records below, confirm which Dillman family group your ancestor belongs to. The Dillman Surname Index and Family Group Sheets will tell you your ancestor’s probable state of settlement and country of origin — essential for targeting the right records.

Always Search All Spelling Variants

This is the single most important Dillman research tip. The surname was recorded inconsistently throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, sometimes varying within the same household across different records. Always search for:

  • Dillman, Dillmann, Dielmann, Diehlmann, Dihlmann, Dilman, Dilmann
  • Tillman, Tillmann, Tilman, Tilghman, Tilghmann (especially in Maryland and Pennsylvania)
  • Stillman, Stillmann (especially in Nova Scotia and New England)
  • Dillaman, Dillaman, Dillemon (variant forms found in some census and court records)

In one documented case, a minister confused a handwritten “l” with an “e”, permanently converting a Dillmann family into a Dielmann family. In another, a Dillmann became a Stillman when a clerk misread the “D” as “St.” Never assume consistent spelling.

Pennsylvania Records

Pennsylvania was the primary entry point for most Dillman immigrants arriving from Germany and is central to the research of Family Groups 1, 2, 89, 96, 100, 129, 137, and many others. Key record sources include:

Church Records

Pennsylvania Dillmans were predominantly Lutheran or German Reformed. Many early church records have been published or microfilmed:

  • Pennsylvania Church Records — The FamilySearch Pennsylvania church records collection includes many Lutheran and Reformed registers from the 18th and 19th centuries. Search both the Adams County and Lancaster County records particularly.
  • Pennsylvania German Church Records — The Pennsylvania State Archives and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania hold extensive German church records. The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania has published many transcripts.
  • Mennonite and Brethren (Dunkard) Records — Several Dillman families were associated with the German Baptist Brethren (“Dunkards”). The Mennonite Church USA Archives and the Brethren Historical Library and Archives (Elgin, Illinois) hold relevant records.

Land and Court Records

  • Adams County and Lancaster County deed and court records are particularly relevant for early Dillman research. The Revolutionary War service of Andrew Dillman (Family Group 2) is documented in Pennsylvania pension files available through Fold3 and the National Archives.
  • Pennsylvania Land Records — Available through the Pennsylvania State Archives. The Pennsylvania State Archives holds land records, warrant applications, and surveys from the founding of the Commonwealth. Their online catalog links to digitized land record collections.

County Histories

19th-century published county histories frequently contain biographical sketches of prominent local families including Dillmans. Search HathiTrust and the Internet Archive for histories of Adams, Lancaster, York, Northumberland, and Berks counties.

Kentucky and Ohio Records

Many Pennsylvania Dillman families moved west through Kentucky and into Ohio between 1790 and 1840. Family Groups 4, 84, 91, 93, 97, 129, and others are rooted in this migration corridor.

Key Counties

  • Kentucky: Bracken County, Mason County, and Jessamine County have the strongest Dillman concentrations. The 1910 Houser-Rhorer-Dillman-Hoover genealogy documents this migration in detail (see Bibliography).
  • Ohio: Brown County, Clermont County, and Decatur County (Indiana, where many Ohio Dillmans later settled) are key areas. The Ohio History Connection’s online catalog has family history files including Dillman materials.

Church Records

  • German Baptist Brethren (Dunkard) congregations were active in both Kentucky and Ohio. Contact the Brethren Historical Library and Archives (Elgin, Illinois) for congregation records.
  • Kentucky Historical Society — Holds church and family records for central and northern Kentucky counties. Their genealogy department offers research assistance.

County Histories

Published county histories for Brown County OH, Bracken County KY, and Decatur County IN often contain Dillman family entries. Many are freely available at HathiTrust and the Internet Archive.

Indiana Records

Indiana has one of the highest concentrations of Dillman families in North America, particularly in the central and southern counties. Family Groups 5, 32, 65, 138, and many Pennsylvania-origin groups settled here.

  • Indiana State Library Genealogy Division — One of the best state genealogy collections in the country. Holds county histories, family files, newspaper indexes, and compiled genealogies. Their online resources include the Indiana Biographical Index.
  • Allen County Public Library (Fort Wayne) — Home to one of the largest genealogy collections in the US, including the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) which indexes thousands of genealogy journal articles. The DFA’s own book has been deposited here. Search their catalog at acpl.lib.in.us.
  • Indiana Historical Society — Holds county histories, church records, and manuscript collections including family papers. The William H. Smith Memorial Library offers research assistance.
  • Key Indiana counties: Crawford, Decatur, Bartholomew, Delaware, and Rush counties are worth searching.
  • German Lutheran and Reformed church records  hold information on several Dillman families throughout central Indiana.

Illinois and the Midwest

Illinois (particularly Crawford County) was home to the Florence ‘Dillman’ Criss family whose photographs are preserved in the DFA Photo Collection. Several other Dillman lines settled across Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

  • Illinois State Archives — Holds county deed and court records, naturalization records, and military records. Available at ilsos.gov.
  • Newberry Library (Chicago) — Holds an outstanding collection of Midwest county histories and genealogical materials. Free to the public for research.
  • Wisconsin and Minnesota: German immigrant Dillman families (Family Groups 40, 57, 74, 76, 134, 141, 148, 153) settled particularly in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Historical Society holds extensive church and county records.

Great Plains and Mountain States: Volga German Families

A large portion of the documented Dillman family groups — particularly those in Family Group Sheets 50, 53–58, 87, 94, 102–128, and many more — descend from Volga German colonists who emigrated from Russia to the Great Plains of the US and Canada beginning in the 1870s. They settled primarily in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, and Washington State.

  • Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) — The primary organization for Volga German genealogy, with an extensive research library in Bismarck, North Dakota. Visit grhs.org.
  • Norka Russia database — The Norka colony was the origin of many Dillman Volga German families. The Norka Russia website has searchable baptism, marriage, and burial databases.
  • State archives and historical societies in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota hold naturalization records which often document the immigrant’s origin colony in Russia. These are invaluable for connecting American families to their Volga German roots.
  • Lutheran church records — Volga German communities maintained their own Lutheran congregations. Many records were kept in German. County seat courthouses also hold naturalization records that name the Russian colony of origin.

New York and the Mid-Atlantic States

A significant number of German immigrant Dillman families arrived directly through New York rather than Pennsylvania, particularly in the mid-to-late 19th century. Family Groups 27, 38, 44, 51, 61, 62, 66, 69, 77, 88, 90, and others settled in New York and New Jersey.

  • New York Passenger Lists — Available on Ancestry and FamilySearch. The Castle Garden records (1820–1892) predate the more famous Ellis Island records and are essential for mid-19th century immigrants.
  • New York City church records — German Lutheran and Reformed congregations in New York kept detailed records. Many have been digitized through FamilySearch.
  • New Jersey State Archives — Hold vital records, naturalization papers, and county histories relevant to New Jersey Dillman families (Family Groups 31, 45, 75).

Nova Scotia and Canada

The Nova Scotia Dillman families (Family Group 18) trace primarily to Christoph Georg Dillmann of Langenschwalbach, Hesse, Germany. The Stillman families in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (Family Group 2a) stem from Georg Adam Dillmann, who emigrated to Pennsylvania before his descendants moved to Canada.

  • Nova Scotia Archives — Holds church, land, and vital records for Nova Scotia Dillman families. Available at novascotia.ca/archives.
  • Meagher’s Grant area records are particularly relevant for the Group 18 line. Local church records from the area have been partially transcribed by Nova Scotia genealogical societies.
  • Library and Archives Canada — Holds census records (1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911), naturalization records, and military files. Available at bac-lac.gc.ca.

Tips for Using Online Databases

Ancestry

  • Use the “Exact” spelling option when you already know which variant to look for, then run a second search with fuzzy matching to catch additional variants.
  • Try searching by first name and location only (no surname) when surname spelling is uncertain — then filter results manually.
  • The Ancestry card catalog (search.ancestry.com/search/CardCatalog.aspx) lets you search all databases by collection type and location before searching within them.

FamilySearch

  • FamilySearch uses Soundex and phonetic matching by default. The Soundex code for Dillman is D455. Search for “D455” in Soundex-indexed collections to catch many variant spellings at once.
  • The FamilySearch Catalog (familysearch.org/catalog) is separate from the main record search and lists microfilmed collections by location — essential for finding specific county or church record collections.
  • FamilySearch Books (familysearch.org/library/books) contains over 500,000 digitized family histories — search “Dillman” and each major variant.

Newspapers

  • Newspapers.com and Chronicling America (Library of Congress, free) are excellent for finding obituaries, marriage announcements, and farm sale notices that document family relationships not found in official records.
  • GenealogyBank has extensive historical newspaper archives, particularly strong for the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states where Dillman families concentrated.

Common Research Pitfalls

  • Multiple Dillman families in the same area: Because multiple unrelated Dillman groups settled in the same regions (particularly Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio), it is easy to accidentally merge two distinct families. Always verify connections with multiple independent records before linking generations.
  • The Andrew Dillman problem: There were multiple men named Andrew Dillman in early Pennsylvania and Kentucky research. DNA testing has disproved some long-standing assumptions about parentage. If your research includes an Andrew Dillman, check the current Family Group Sheet for his group before accepting published genealogies at face value.
  • Common given names: Johann, Johannes, Heinrich, Georg, Conrad, Adam, and Jacob were all extremely common among German Dillman families. A patronymic or geographic identifier is essential to distinguish individuals with these names in the same community.
  • Transcription errors in online databases: Dillman is frequently transcribed as Dillman (correct), Nillman, Billman, Hillman, or Pillman in automated transcriptions. Always check the original image rather than relying on the indexed transcript.

Getting Further Help

The DFA’s collective research knowledge is one of your best resources. If you’ve hit a brick wall:

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