Spouses
BirthJul 1752, Bad Schwalbach, Unteraunes Co., Hesse Hanau, Germany214
Death1848, Meagher’s Grant, Nova Scotia, Canada Age: 95
Misc. Notes
From Frances Wilcox (great,great-granddaughter):
The first Dillman in Nova Scotia was a soldier taken from his vineyard in Hesse by officers who “sold” boys to the King of England to fight in the Revolutionary War. Two of his brothers were taken at the same time, and the shock of losing her boys was so great that their mother died. His name was Christopher Jacob Dillman, and he was 21 years old when taken from Germany. After the war ended he was able to contact his family in Hesse and he learned that his mother had died. He was never able to find either of the brothers who came to America when he did.
This first Christopher was given a land grant of 400 acres on the shored of the Musquodoboit Harbor. With the overpopulated conditions in Hesse, this land grant was really a big thing.
Christopher married a little black-eyed Scotch lassie named Margaret McLeod from Glasgow. He was a blone, blue-eyed German with curly hair, 6’2” in height. She never weighed more than 95 pounds. They had 18 children, of whom there were able to raise only 8.
Christopher gave his land grant to his son Christopher, his 17th child, after he was no longer able to tarke care of the large acreage, in exchange for a home for their old age.