Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Dieter, Philip 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 7, 2008, 12:30 am

Author: Past and Present Will County IL; 1907

Philip Dieter, who is living retired on his farm of eighty acres, situated on 
section 21, Lockport township, is a native of Germany, born near the banks of 
the Rhine, in 1837. His father, John Dieter, was likewise a native of the 
fatherland, and in March, 1854, crossed the Atlantic to the United States. 
During the trip he cooked his own meals on shipboard and was forty-two days in 
making the voyage. Landing in New York, he at once made his way to Chicago, 
Illinois, and from there went to Naperville, where lived an uncle, Valentine 
Dieter, with whom he remained during the succeeding summer, and in the fall of 
that year he made his way to Will county and purchased the farm in Lockport 
township which is now owned and occupied by our subject. He was married in 
Germany to Miss Anna Miri, and they became the parents of seven children, as 
follows: Philip, of this review; Conrad, who is a resident of eastern Texas, 
having been the first settler in his section of the state, there being no 
settlement nearer than thirty miles, and who conducted a blacksmith and shoe-
making business; John, a retired farmer of Humphrey, Nebraska; Adam, who has 
not been heard from in many years, but who is supposed to have gone to Cuba 
during the war and was there killed; Jacob, who is now living retired at 
Reynolds, Indiana; Susan, the wife of John Gardner, a resident of Chicago; and 
Margaret, who died in 1867 of cholera. The father died in the fall of 1867 of 
cholera, his death occurring only twenty-four hours after the death of their 
youngest daughter, while the mother survived for many years and passed away in 
Nebraska, when on a visit to her sons John and Conrad. The father gave his 
political allegiance to the democracy and both he and his wife were 
communicants of the Catholic church. Philip Dieter acquired his education in 
the schools of Germany and was a youth of seventeen when he accompanied his 
parents on their emigration to the new world. After the family home was 
established in Will county, he was employed by others in his locality until 
1864, when he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining his company at 
Joliet in March of that year, becoming a member of Battery I, Second Illinois 
Light Artillery. He served his adopted country until June, 1865, when he was 
honorably discharged at Springfield, Illinois. Following his return to Will 
county from the war, he was employed near his home until the spring of 1866, 
when he was made guard at the Joliet penitentiary, being thus engaged for two 
years, when, in 1868, in that city, he was united in marriage to Miss 
Magdalena Dezel, who was likewise a native of Germany. Following their 
marriage, the young couple located on his father's old homestead property, he 
buying the interest of the other heirs in the place, and here through their 
united efforts they acquired a comfortable competence. As opportunity offered 
he invested in land from time to time until he became the possessor of 
considerable farm property, but he has since given forty acres to each of his 
sons, but retains the ownership of eighty acres, situated on section 21, 
Lockport township, on which he is living retired, his son Philip now operating 
the property. Unto our subject and his wife were born two sons and one 
daughter. John, the eldest, is a resident of Dwight, Illinois. Philip, who 
operates the old homestead, was married to Miss Bertha Hagmayer, who was born 
in 1880, a daughter of Albert and Lena Hagmayer, of Joliet, but both are now 
deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Dieter are the parents of four children: Louisa, Linda, 
Leonard and Clarence. Lizzie Dieter is now the wife of William J. Geist, a 
resident of Aurora, Illinois. The mother of these children passed away on the 
home farm, February 17, 1900, at the age of sixty-eight years. She was a kind 
and devoted mother and an esteemed neighbor and friend and her loss was deeply 
felt by all who knew her. She was a communicant of the Catholic church, while 
Mr. Dieter also adheres to that faith. Mr. Dieter possesses the traits of 
character so dominant in the German race and through his honesty and industry 
has accumulated a competence that now enables him to enjoy the evening of his 
life in honorable retirement. He is highly esteemed by all who know him, and 
having lived for more than a half century in Will county has a very wide 
acquaintance and a host of warm personal friends. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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