Bedford County PA Archives Biographies.....Diehl, William H.    
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com May 2003


WILLIAM H. DIEHL, a wide-awake, enterprising farmer and 
stock-raiser of Colerain, Pa., son of the late Isaac Diehl, 
was born in this township, January 4, 1848.  He is of German 
ancestry and a descendant of one of the well-known pioneers 
of that portion of Bedford County included within the limits 
of the town of Friend's Cove - namely, Samuel Diehl, Sr., 
who with his son, Samuel Diehl, Jr., then a small boy, 
migrated to that place from Loudoun County, Virginia.  (In 
the sketch of Henry P. Diehl, which may be found elsewhere 
in this book, further ancestral history is recorded.)
  Isaac Diehl, son of the younger Samuel, was born in 
Colerain, Pa., in 1805, and until his death, in 1872, was 
one of its most active and esteemed citizens.  A self-made 
and a self-educated man, he valued highly the educational 
privileges that were extended to the young, and while 
serving his township as School Director he did all that lay 
in his power to advance the public school system.  He was a 
stanch Democrat in his political views and a valued member 
of the Reformed church, in which he served both as Deacon 
and as Elder.  His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine 
Kegg, is still living, a venerable woman of eighty-eight 
years.  Of their children, five in number, four survive, 
namely: Benjamin F.; Eva A., wife of Henry Bingham of 
Colerain, Pa.; William H., subject of this sketch; and 
Rebecca, wife of George Beegle, of Snake Spring, Pa.
  William H. Diehl was reared to man's estate on the home 
farm, and in the schools of his neighborhood acquired his 
education.  Choosing farming as his life occupation, and 
applying himself with diligence and good judgment to the 
management of his affairs, he has been prosperous in his 
labors, and is now the possessor of an estate containing two 
hundred and thirty acres of land, a part of which is heavily 
timbered, while one hundred and twenty acres are under good 
cultivation.  In addition to general farming, he has been 
quite largely engaged in stock-raising and to some extent in 
dairying.
  He is one of the leaders in local politics, being a sound 
Democrat, and his vote is ever cast on the side of progress 
and public welfare.  For two terms he was a School Director 
of Colerain township, a part of the time being treasurer of 
the board, and he is at present serving his first term as 
Township Auditor.  For three years he was also Township 
Assessor.  Religiously, he is an active member of the 
reformed church, of which he is the treasurer.
  Mr. Diehl married for his first wife Alice Diehl, who bore 
him five children, namely: Blanche, wife of William Snyder, 
of Bedford, Pa.; Humphrey T.; Carrie C.; Ida M.; and Grover 
C.  Mr. Diehl married for his second wife Miss Lavanda Irene 
Ott, a sister of Francis M. Ott, a well-known citizen.


Source: Bedford Biographical Review, 1899, Bedford Co., Pa