W. Leonard Dilliplane Home Page


W. Leonard Dilliplane

Background

Walter Leonard Dilliplane was the son of Charles Dilliplane and Rachel Boughter. He was born in October 27, 1895 in Pottstown, PA. His siblings were William Henry, Laura Estella, Herbert C., Pearl Eva, and Charles Merle. He also had a younger brother, Alvin Freeman Dilliplane, who was killed in action in WWI in 1918.

Like his brother Alvin, Leonard also served in WWI in the US Army. Before and after the war, he worked for the Stanley G. Flagg Company in Stowe, PA, as a coremaker. He was employed there 50 years, retiring in 1960. He was the last employee to make the cores by hand. In August of 1918 he married Mary Ann Sassaman in Elkton, MD. They had three sons.

Click here to see a Pedigree Chart for Leonard Dilliplane.

Paternal Ancestors of W. Leonard Dilliplane

The immigrant Dilliplane ancestor of Walter Leonard was Nicholas DeLaPlaine, who was born in 1633 in France. In 1658 in the Dutch Reformed Church at New Amsterdam (now Manhattan) he married Susanna Cresson, daughter of Pierre and Rachel (Clauss) Cresson. She was from Holland. Their oldest son James married Hannah Cook in 1692 and shortly thereafter, moved to Germantown, PA. In the early 1700s he was the coroner of Germantown. James and Hannah had a son Joshua about 1707. Joshua married Maria Shelar. He lived in Earl Township, Berks County, PA. His occupaton was a weaver.

Joshua and Maria had a son James, born in 1753. James married a woman named Henrietta, possibly Henrietta Eberhardt, daughter of Jacob Eberhardt and Henrietta Drumheller. James and Henrietta had John, Maria, Thomas, Hannah, Elizabeth, Eleanora and Joshua. William Dilliplane, the father of Charles and grandfather of Walter Leonard, was the son of Thomas. Thomas was born in 1786. His wife was Mary Swavely. Mary died prior to 1842 and Thomas died between 1860 and 1870.

William Dilliplane was born in Berks County circa 1821. He married Rachel Weidner, daughter of William Weidner and Susanna Yoder. William Wiedner's parents were Jacob Weidner and Elizabeth Price. Susanna Yoder's parents were Daniel Yoder and Esther Hoch/High. It was in the mid-1800's that some of the Berks County Delaplaines began to adopt the spelling Dilliplane, or in some cases Dilliplaine. Our branch opted for the spelling of Dilliplane.

Charles W. Dilliplane was born September 9, 1855, to William and Rachel. He grew up Earl Township in Berks County. On January 21, 1882, he married Rachel L. Boughter, and they moved to Pottstown, PA.

Maternal Ancestors of W. Leonard Dilliplane

The mother of Walter Leonard Dilliplane was Rachel L. Boughter, daughter of Henry Boughter and Rachel Levengood. The Boughter family (which was originally spelled Buchter) has been diffucult to trace. The earliest confirmed ancestor is Martin Buchter, who was born in Berks County about 1799. He might be the son of Matthias Buchter and grandson of the immigrant Johannes Buchter, but so far this cannot be proved. It is known that Martin Buchter married Elizabeth Baer, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Baer, in 1825. One of their sons was Henry, born in 1825. He married Rachel Levengood in 1847, and in 1863 they had a daughter Rachel Levengood Boughter, who became the wife of Charles Dilliplane.

On the other hand, the family of Rachel Boughter's maternal ancestors can be reliably traced back to Ulrich Leibenguth, who emigrated from Switzerland, arriving in Philadelphia October 13, 1733 on the Charming Betsy with his wife and several children. One of those children was a son Adam, who was born in 1718. He married Christina Gansert, and one of their sons was Matthias. There is some dispute over Matthias' date of birth. Baptism records show that he was born December 22, 1753; however, his tombstone at St. Paul's Church in Amityville, Berks County, says that he was born January 20, 1749.

In 1783, Matthias married Catherine Schuster. One of their sons was Matthias Jr. He was born in 1801. Matthias Jr. married Elizabeth Reinert, a daughter of David and Anna Maria. Their daughter Rachel, who was born in 1825, became the wife of Henry Boughter, mother of Rachel Boughter, and grandmother of Walter Leonard Dilliplane.

Page Last Modified: Monday, 02-Jul-2012 06:00:51 MDT