Surname Saturday - Dillman

It seems appropriate for my first Surname Saturday to go with my surname, the one on the blog title.  I am a member of the Dillman Family Association, a group formed to research and link as many Dillman lines as possible.  To date we've got over ten separate groups, and have successfully linked a few groups together using a combination of both old fashioned paper trail detective work and up-to-the-minute DNA testing.  That said, my line happens to be in a niche not connected to any of the other Dillman lines like the best known, which is connected to the Houser-Rhorer lines and very well documented.

My Dillman line originates in Germany, more specifically Lautzenhausen, Rhein-Hunsrueck-Kreis, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.  If you google Lautzenhausen, you'll find many references to a US air base there, but it's a fairly small town in western Germany.  I must admit that the information I have on my emigrating ancestor was researched and passed along by someone else, but the notes are pretty extensive and the reasoning looks good.  I don't possess any of the primary documentation to verify.


Johann Michael Dillmann entered the US on 14 June 1785.  He was born about 1754, and died on 28 Dec 1821in Harrison County, Indiana.  On 14 May 1785 he married Maria Elisabeth Legrand at Saint Leopold Church in Vienna, Austria.  Obviously, the newlyweds immediately left for the New World!  A website listing Vienna marriages including theirs lists them as being of the Catholic faith.  I've seen mention of Johann's possible father, Johann Nicolaus Dillmann, but I have absolutely no documentation on him.  Ah, well, a genealogist's work is never done!

Johann and Maria had children.  Michael Dillman (whose tombstone was featured in my initial Tombstone Tuesday) was born 28 Dec 1810 in Ohio.  I will feature him more fully in a future post.  Christena Dillman was born about 1812 and later married James Wilton on 5 Sep 1832 in Harrison County.  In the 1840 census they are still in Posey County; ages of family listed as follows: 3 males under 5, 1 male 20 to 30, and one female age 20 to 30.  There is another possible sibling, Catherine, but I lack sufficient documentation to be sure she's connected, and when she was born.

Other notes on Johann Michael:
1. Document apparently written in German - Date uncertain.
2. Two dollar bond filed by Jacob Friedly as administer of the estate of John Dillman, Dec. 22, 1821.
3. Appraisal submitted by John Zenor, Amos Blunk, & George Zenor of the estate of John Dillman, dec on Dec 28, 1821.
4. Receipt of purchase - cow and calf and grindstone by Amos Blunk on Sep 21, 1822.
5. Fee of Jacob Friedly 25 cents for administration of estate on Sep 10, 1822.
6. Receipt by Fielding Cromwell, JP accepting payment by Jacob Friedly on three judgments against the estate of John Dillman in favor of Peter Leffler for $5 dated Oct 31, 1822.
7. Receipt from George Hosirnmer to Jacob Friedly accepting payment of $3 on account as payment for medicine to the first of November 1821 for him self, wife and children.  Question?  Does this indicate that John was still alive in Nov 1821 ? It would seem so as indicated!
8. Settlement of court executed on Sep 16, 1823.
9. Court awarded Jacob Friedly 50 cents as his fee for settlement of the estate of John Dillman, deceased.

Hopefully I haven't wandered too far afield.  Although I have these notes about Johann, I hope to someday have more concrete documentation including copies of primary source documents.  Until then, this will have to do.