Diehl, Leah

"MRS. LEAH DIEHL. John Adam Diehl and wife emigrated to this country from Germany in the year 1731. Their descendants to-day are numerous and are singularly prosperous, and are, with a few exceptions, stanch Lutherans. They are always to be found on the moral side of all public questions. The erection and maintenance of the Lutheran Church in New Oxford was and is due in a marked degree to the energy and liberality of that portion of the family residing in and around the village.

This original couple took up 360 acres of fertile land in what is now known as Spring Garden Township, York County, Penn., paying an English agent £12 ($60) for it. To this pair were born four sons: Peter, Daniel, George and Nicholas. Daniel settled in Seven Valleys, York County; George in Virginia, and Peter and Nicholas in Hellam Township, York County, having purchased the original tract from their heirs after the death of their father.

Peter, the grandfather of our subject’s husband, was born in Germany, and was probably three years old when his father, John Adam, came to this country. He was married in 1748, and had a family of six children: Peter, Nicholas, Jacob, Daniel, Elizabeth, married to Henry King, and Catharine, married to John Brillinger.

Peter, the father of our subject’s husband, was born in Hellam Township, York County, and had a family of three sons and four daughters: Daniel (our subject’s husband), George, Jacob, Elizabeth Golden, Sarah Blair, Mary Albert and Susan Diller. This family moved into Adams County, Penn., in all probability about the year 1801, settling in Oxford Township, having purchased a large tract of land lying along the Gettysburg Turnpike and reaching from the village of New Oxford to the banks of the Little Conowago, embracing several hundred acres of choice land. Mr. Diehl paid half a bushel of silver for the tract, and brought the money from Hellam Township to New Oxford in saddle-bags, thrown across the back of his horse. It is said the animal presented a sad sight, having been sorely blistered by the weight and friction of the coin. Daniel was born in the old mill near York, which (being rebuilt) is still in possession of the name, and was fifteen years old when the family moved into Adams County. His birth occurred on the 20th of August, 1791. His first marriage was with Elizabeth Carl, October 26, 1809, by whom he had fifteen children, seven of whom are yet living: Amanda Baehr, Amelia Butt, Catharine Schaeffer, Deliah D. Feiser, Mary E. Wagner, Jesse (a practical farmer) and Carl, a professional teacher of high rank in the schools of Illinois. These remaining seven children are all married and prospering. Mrs. Diehl died September 19, 1833. Mr. Diehl married again the 22d of February, 1883; this time Leah (Myers) Baugher, whose name heads this sketch. Her parents, John and Margaret Myers, now deceased, were residents of Bucks County, Penn., and at an early day moved to York County, settling in Warrington Township. Mr. Myers was an educated man, being able to converse in three different languages. Two of his sons lost their lives in the war of 1812. The original Myers stock came from Holland a century and a half ago. From this union of Daniel Diehl with our subject six children were born: Rebecca (now deceased); Joseph R., proprietor of the well-known “Diehl’s Mill,” on the banks of the Little Conowago; Elijah, a scientific farmer, and a newspaper correspondent of some note; Emma, wife of Henry Weikert, a successful farmer; Samuel A., a rising young minister in the Lutheran Church, who has already made for himself a name for usefulness, and Miriam, wife of Jacob Heltzel. "