Yolo-Sacramento County CA Archives Biographies.....Dill, William John 1861 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 10, 2005, 10:50 am

Author: Tom Gregory

WILLIAM JOHN DILL

   The possession of decided ability along mechanical lines and of fondness for
work with tools led Mr. Dill in early life to enter upon enterprises enabling
him to develop and utilize his occupational preferences. Like his father before
him he became a skilled blacksmith while yet a mere lad and like him also he has
given considerable attention to the pursuance of this occupation. At this
writing he owns and operates a shop near Blacks Station which years ago was
built and established by his father and which has been associated with the
family name for two generations. Since he returned to the old homestead and
resumed work at the shop in 1896 he has built up an important trade throughout
all of the surrounding country and has introduced modern machinery for the work
of horse-shoeing. One of his most recent innovations was the introduction of an
engine and machinery for the manufacture of rolled barley, also erecting the
mill, and since then he has built up a growing trade in the rolling of that grain.

   The Dill family comes of Teutonic extraction. Henry Dill, who was born and
reared in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, began to serve an apprenticeship to the
blacksmith's trade at the age of fourteen years and prior to his immigration to
the United States he had acquired a thorough understanding of every detail
connected with the calling. Upon crossing the ocean he found employment in the
new country at his trade and for some time worked in Belleville, Ill. While
living there he married Miss Eva Burt, who was born of German parentage in
Alsace, then a province of France. The young couple came to California and at
first Mr. Dill engaged in mining, but after his location in Sacramento he
carried on a blacksmith shop. Upon selling that business he moved to Yolo county
and after having earned a livelihood through different occupations for some time
he settled near Blacks Station, where he built a shop and began work at his
trade. Close to the shop he put up a neat residence for the family and
surrounding it was a tract of forty acres which he owned and developed, making
out of the whole a desirable rural location for a home. At this place his death
occurred April 23, 1887, and May 6, 1909, his wife passed away.

  Of the children born to them six are living, as follows: Josephine, Mrs.
Brandenburg, of College City; William J., of this review; Celia, Mrs. M. F.
Huber, of Grafton; Emma, Mrs. Cassilis, of Blacks; Fred, and Frank J., of Blacks.

  William John Dill was born in the city of Sacramento March 7, 1861, and there
he learned the blacksmith's trade in his father's shop, gaining the skill which
had made his father's work so much in demand among those familiar with its
quality. After leaving the shop he engaged in farming for several years, but
agriculture interested him less than mechanical activities and he soon returned
to his trade. August 28, 1889, he married Miss Nora Ely, daughter of Isaac J.
Ely, one of the prominent farmers of Yolo county. Mrs. Dill was born and reared
on the Ely farm in Yolo county and died in the city of Oakland March 24, 1894,
after a happy but brief married life. During four years of their life together
they had remained on a farm east of Blacks Station, but from there had gone to
Oakland, and in 1896 Mr. Dill returned to the old homestead where his mother
still remained. Here he opened the shop and resumed work at the trade, which
since has occupied his attention and yields him a neat income. He is a man well
informed upon all general topics and takes an active interest in matters that
tend to build up the county in which he resides. He filled one term as road
overseer of Supervisoral district No. 3, and politically is a Democrat in
national principles.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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