The Dillers of Buffalo descend from Francis Diller, a Swiss immigrant about whom little is known further than the information contained in his passport, dated April 10, 1754. He was born in Biglen, a village in northwestern Switzerland. The earlier years of his life up to 1743 were spent in the canton of Bern. He was a Mennonite, a sect which, on account of their hostility to a union of church and state, their refusal to bear arms, take the oath or hold office, suffered great persecution. The persecutions were most intense and long continued in Bern, and it seems most probable that he was among those exiled from his native land, for during the last eleven years of his stay in Europe he was resident at La Chaux-de-Fonds under the authority of the King of Prussia, who had invited the exiled Bernese to settle in his own kingdom. His passport shows that he leased a considerable estate at Chaux-de-Fonds, where he resided continuously for eleven years, that he was a man of good character, and had a family. As his eldest son was born about 1743, possibly as early as 1731, he was most likely married in Biglen, and that his other three children were born at Chaux-de-Fonds. The passport was obtained April 10, 1754, and it seems more likely that he began his journey down the Rhine at once and made no stops of long duration in Holland or elsewhere before sailing for America. There is no record of the voyage, but tradition has it that his household goods were lost at sea, and that the family arrived destitute. This is improbable, as in a few years after his arrival Francis Diller bought a farm, paying over $2000 cash, and assuming a mortgage on the property. This farm, which he purchased April 10, 1760, contained one hundred and forty acres, situated on a branch of Muddy Creek, in now Brecknock township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. During his early residence there he built the first distillery in Lancaster county, and operated it during the revolutionary war. He made his will November 12, 1782, and named his son Peter as executor. He died soon after his will was made, and is supposed to have been buried at Mennonite meeting house, in Bowmansville, about one and three-quarters miles from his farm. No trace of his grave has been found. His wife Anna, maiden name unknown, was born June, 1707, and died between 1809 and 1811. A stone to the memory of Francis Diller has been erected in the graveyard of the Diller church in Cumberland county. Pennsylvania, with inscription: "Francis and Anna Diller of Biglen, Switzerland, emigrated in 1754 from La Chaux-de-Fonds, to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where Francis died in 1783, and was buried near Bowmansville. Anna died about 1810, lies here with her three sons Francis, Peter and Abraham." Elizabeth, the only daughter, married David Eshelman, and lived in Berks county, Pennsylvania. Three of her six children lived in Niagara county, New York. The sons are all the founders of families found all over the United States.
Francis (2), son of Francis (1) and Anna Diller, is the ancestor of the Buffalo branch, and grandfather of John Diller, father of Alice M. Diller, wife of George W. Fargo.
John Diller, of Plainfield, Pennsylvania, was born January 26, 1818, removed to Buffalo about 1847. He was one of the organizers of the Hollister Elevator Company, and later was connected with the City Elevator Company. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, prominent in the Masonic order, and a Democrat. He married, April 22, 1847, at Plainfield, Pennsylvania, Emmeline Carothers, born October 2, 1826, died June 14, 1906, in Buffalo, daughter of William Carothers, born in England, in 1787, died October 27, 1838; he married, October 26, 1809, Elizabeth Showers, born at Plainfield, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1792, died December 5, 1874; they had ten children. John and Emmeline Diller were the parents of two children: 1. Albert John, born September 5, 1852, died October 28, 1903, at Buffalo; he was a railroad contractor, and prominent in the Masonic order. 2. Alice M., married George W. Fargo.
Emmeline Carothers Diller, mother of Mrs. Fargo, was a member of the Central Presbyterian Church, and a woman of great energy and force of character. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Fargo returned to the old Diller home on Franklin street, where she cared for her aged mother until the death of the latter in 1906.
Source: Cutter, William A. Genealogical and Family History of Western New York. A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation, vol. II. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912, p. 550.
Contributed by: Nancy.