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Johann Nicolaus Diehl - Bornheim 1741- Philadelphia, PA 1818

Updated June 11, 2010


Johann Nicolaus Diehl arrived in Philadelphia as a passenger on the snow SQUIRREL. He took the oath of allegiance to King George, III on October 21, 1761. On February 21, 1763 he married Anna Maria Meyerlin who died in June 1827. On December 20, 1774 he was chosen to be a member of the Chester County Committee of Observation. He received an appointment on May 14, 1777 as a Captain in the Chester County Militia and participated in the New Jersey and Long Island Campaigns. Captain Diehl was one of the first to volunteers to form a Light Horse Brigade.

At his death he was buried in the cemetery of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, PA. In 1924, he was removed to South Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA as the church and its property were acquired by the State as the site was needed in the construction of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge across the Delaware River.

Nothing is known about the German life of Johann Nicolaus Diehl. It has been written that he was from Frankfurt on the Main and was born about 1741. During the past 2 years contacts were established with the LDS Family History Centers, various genealogical web sites in Germany and the United States, German Churches and Stadtarchives, Germans who volunteered an interest in the search, and individual home pages seeking information on Johnann Nicolaus Diehl. Of the many Diel/Diehl families that were identified during this search there is sufficient documentation on LDS films to conclude that Johann Nicolaus Diehl was born in Bornheim, a part of Frankfurt, on January 15, 1741/42 to Johann Adam Diel and Anna Margaretha Ruehl.

First, a side entry dated 3 February 1843 on the official birth certificate states “that he was declared legally dead because no body was ever presented for burial”. LDS Film #1347495 bk 1, page 45

Second, the Free Library of Philadelphia provided a copy of the obituary noting Nicolaus’s death on Saturday evening 5 December 1818 in his 77 year. St. Michael and Zion Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has an entry for Nicolaus Diehl, died at the age of 77.

Third, if Nicolaus were born in Bornheim on 15 January 1741, he would have been 77 in December 1818.

Fourth, Nicolaus’s first son died in infancy and named his second son Johann Adam Diehl following the old German custom of naming first born sons after the father’s father.

The fact that a body had never been presented for burial in Germany is confirmed because he was buried in Philadelphia. The date of birth and age at death are confirmed both by the church records at birth and death. The old German method of naming sons adds more confirmation.

Comments would be appreciated from other Diehl Family members and those who do genealogy research.

The American Family of Nicolaus is far from complete. Seeking information from related surnames: ARROCK, ASHHURST, BOWMAN, CATLIN, CLEAVER, DUFF, HENDERSON, HOUGH, LACEY, MCCLELLAN, RENDIGS, SKIRVEN, SMITH, SMYTH, STICHTER, and TRACY.


FTM Software has been used to record the family information. I would be willing to share family information with other members of the Diehl family.

For additional information, click on Robert Diehl's Home Page. http://community.webtv.net/robo2630/



George S. Diehl, Jr.
8419 Tally Ho Road
Lutherville, Maryland 21093
United States
gsdiehljr@verizon.net

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