Helpful Tips and Hints from our members:
💬 Connect With Other Researchers
The DFA Forums are a great place to share tips, ask research questions, and connect with other members working on the same Dillman lines. Have a question not answered here? Post it in the forums.
🎯 Dillman-specific tips
- Check the Dillman Surname Index first. Before searching any external database, visit the Dillman Surname Index to see if your family is already documented in our 163 known family groups. It may save you hours of searching and connect you directly to a detailed Family Group Sheet.
- Always search for spelling variants. Dillman, Dillmann, Dielmann, Dihlmann, Dilman, Tillman, and Stillman can all appear within the same family across different records and time periods. Our Surname Variants Search Guide explains which variants to try in Ancestry, FamilySearch, and other databases, and how to use wildcards and Soundex effectively.
- If your line is German, start with church records. Most Dillman families in North America trace to Germany, Alsace, or the Volga German colonies of Russia. Church books (Kirchenbücher) predate civil registration by centuries and often go back to the 1600s. See our German & European Records Guide for the key databases and region-specific advice.
- Read the Dillman Research Tips page. Our Dillman Family Research Tips page collects advice specific to Dillman research accumulated by DFA members over more than 20 years — covering Pennsylvania German records, Ohio county histories, Indiana land records, Mennonite and Lutheran congregation records, and more.
📚 General research tips from our members
- Get a DNA test. Test everyone you can afford!
- Have a relative who is an eager searcher accompany you on your trips to the library or court house.
- Use a mirror to assist in reading hard to read tombstones.
- Never throw anything away.
- When photographing tombstones with worn lettering, try raking light — take photos in early morning or late afternoon when sunlight hits the stone at a low angle to bring out faded text. Avoid using flour, shaving cream, or chalk on stones as these can cause permanent damage.
- Read and reread all documents – many little clues are overlooked on previous readings.
- When stuck on your main research take a break and research a side line.
- The internet is your friend. If you are not techno-friendly, take a class through a local university or college.
- Read newspaper obituaries as a follow up on genealogy research.
- Record your children’s and grand children’s oral history as well as your own. They may not be interested in genealogy now yet the recording will be a great research source when they are interested.
- When you are researching in a library take a couple of interested family members with you who can “browse” and are not focused on one or two items as we probably will be. You’ll be surprised at what they will find on those genealogy shelves that you might overlook.
- Ask at the court house where you are researching if they have a genealogist either volunteer or employed. They are extremely helpful.
- Frequently back up or print copies of computer files. Computers do crash!
- Talk to everybody for their tips: locals, visitor centers, etc. If they don’t know about your line they might give you a lead.
- Document even the most trivial bit of information.
- Keep the story alive. Tell your children and grandchildren (whether they want to hear or not) maybe someone down the line will remember something and pick up the ball.
- Put yourself in the picture at gravesites (for future generations.)
- Become a map reader. State maps – early, historical, county plat books. Don’t forget to visit the map rooms of the Library of Congress.
- Document the Document. Write down the source be it a book, a person etc, the page number, the date, the place found such as Crawford County Library city and state.
Got a suggestion? We welcome any helpful tips and hints you have found to be useful in your own family searches!