BIO:  John H. DIEHL, Franklin Township, Adams County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania
Chicago:  Warner, Beers & Co., 1886
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Part III, History of Adams County, Page 406

JOHN H. DIEHL, teacher, Cashtown.  The great-grandfather of this gentleman, 
Frederick Diehl, is the first one of the family of whom any information can be 
gleaned.  His son, Jacob, was born in 1768, and married Christina Bosserman, who 
was born the same year.  They resided near Gettysburg during life, and reared a 
family of eight children:  John, Jacob, Daniel and Frederick (twins), Mary, 
Sarah, Susan and Eliza, who were all born on the farm, now the property of John 
Trostle, on Rock Creek.  The Diehls were residents of Adams before it was 
created a county, and Frederick, the father of our subject and a farmer, was 
born in 1807.  He married, in 1836, Matilda Black, a daughter of James (who was 
born in 1781) and Jane (Hamilton) Black, and granddaughter of Capt. Henry Black, 
of the Revolutionary war.  William Hamilton, grandfather of Mrs. Diehl, married 
Mary M. Bittinger, whose father, Nicholas Bittinger, was taken prisoner during 
the Revolutionary war.  These parents had twelve children:  Margaret, their 
first daughter, was born while her father was a prisoner in the hands of the 
British, September 21, 1776; John’s birth, in 1778, was followed by the births 
of Florence and Jane (twins), William, Joseph, Enoch, James, Robert, George (who 
was born in 1792, and is still living), David and Jesse.  The Hamiltons and 
Blacks both lived near Gettysburg, and were among the first white residents of 
what is now this county.  After marriage, Frederick Diehl and wife moved to a 
farm near Cashtown, which is still in his name, and there their six children 
were born and reared:  Cleopatra, Van Buren, Jane A., James, John H. and Oscar 
D.  All are married except John H., subject, who has for several years been a 
teacher in this county.  His brothers, Van Buren and James, also his eldest 
sister, were teachers.  The death of the father occurred April 1, 1883, at which 
time he and his wife were living in retirement in Cashtown.  During the 
occupation of this neighborhood by the Confederates, their farm was guarded, and 
very little damage was done.  Mrs. Diehl and her daughter were active in 
furnishing provisions for the soldiers, and thereby secured protection until the 
fight, when considerable property was taken by the Rebels.  A competency has 
been secured the widow, and all the children are engaged in farming.