Diller, Isaac R.

Born: 1819-06-20 Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Died: 1891-11-19 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Isaac R. Diller was a printer, newspaper publisher, army officer, state government official, businessman, and postmaster. Diller moved to Downingtown, Pennsylvania, as a young child and apprenticed as a printer in West Chester. After his apprenticeship, he became co-owner of Philadelphia’s Citizen-Soldier and later at a newspaper in Harrisburg. He enlisted in the First Pennsylvania Regiment during the Mexican War and became the unit’s commissary, with the rank of captain. Following the war, Diller moved to Springfield, Illinois, and won election as clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives. He later became involved in the real estate business. In 1850, Diller was a real estate agent and owned real property valued at $6,000. A Democrat, Diller eventually became the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Committee and worked closely with Stephen A. Douglas. In June 1851, he married Lenora S. Heaton, with whom he adopted one child. In March 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Diller postmaster of Springfield, a position he held until March 1857. James Buchanan appointed Diller as Consul to Bremen, Germany, a position he occupied until 1861. He was a Mason.

J. F. Ringwalt, The Diller Family (1877). Reprint (New Holland, PA: 1942), 62-63; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Greene County, 24 June 1851, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 125; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1845-1855, 18:172, 1855-1865, 20a:124, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2011); U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2007); Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1857 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1857), 7; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1859 (Washington, DC: William A. Harris, 1859), 7; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1861 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1862), 7.