Diehl, Levi H. bio

Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County, Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890; page 612–613; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Levi H. Diehl, a retired farmer, was for several years actively engaged in agriculture in this county, but abandoned his calling two years ago, having acquired considerable wealth, and bought one of the comfortable pleasant homes of Astoria, where he is passing life’s decline amid the comforts that years of well-directed labor have brought to him.
Our subject is a Pennsylvanian by birth, born in Coleraine, Bedford County, November 28, 1821. His father, John Diehl, was born in the same State, June 21, 1796, and his father, bearing the same name as himself, was a native of Loudoun County, Va. He removed from that part of the country to Pennsylvania and for a time resided near Harrisburg before he became a pioneer of Bedford County. After his removal to that county, he bought a tract of timber, cleared a farm, and spent the remained of his life there. He married Ann Mary Harklerode, a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. She also died on the home farm.
The father of our subject was one of thirteen children, of whom two are now living. He was reared to man’s estate in Colerain Township, and inherited from his father thirty acres of land there. He bought another tract from his father-in-law and in time improved an excellent farm in his native township where he resided until death closed his career at the age of seventy-four years. In his days there were no railroads there and Chambersburg, sixty miles distant was one of the markets. His farm was six miles from Chambersburg & Bedford pike which was the main thoroughfare from East to West. The south branch of the Juniata River, or the stream called Raystown Branch was six miles from his father. In those times the people use to build what they called arks, and load them with produce and float them down the river to Columbia and there sell the boat and the contents. Mr. Diehl was a member of the Reformed Church, and reared his children in the same faith.
The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Mary Magdalina Koons. She was born in Pennsylvania, April 2, 1801, and died in the month of March, 1865. Of the thirteen children born of her marriage, twelve grew to maturity. Mrs. Diehl was a daughter of David Koons, a native of Loudoun County, Va., who removed from there to Pennsylvania, and was one of the early settlers of Colerain Township. He bought a large tract of land and built saw and grist mills, which he operated and at the same time superintended the improvement of his land, and there made his home until his life was rounded out by death. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. He married Susan Smouse, a native of Virginia. She died on the home farm and is now lying there in the family cemetery beside her husband.
Levi H. Diehl of this biographical review, was reared on his father’s farm, and remained an inmate of the parental household until he was nineteen years old, when he started out in life for himself as a clerk in a store in Rainsburg. He was thus employed two years, and then had to seek other work, as the close confinement impaired his health. He was very well educated and he turned his attention to teaching. He was thus engaged seven years, and then bought a farm, the price of which was $1,600. All his wealth amount to $300 but he had a fine prospect for a rich harvest the first year. He was, however, doomed to disappointment, as in September a freshet came and destroyed his crops and fences. He repaired the fences and the next year sold his place, with the intention of going to Indian, but about that time he attended a public land sale I Hopewell, bought four hundred and twenty-nine acres for $1,200, and settled on that land instead of going to Indiana. It was in a wild condition and then and during the thirteen years that he lived on it he erected suitable buildings and improved about ninety acres.
In 1863 Mr. Diehl traded his place for land in Iowa. He did not move there though but bought another tract in Snake Spring Township, and lived there two years. At the expiration of that time he sold his property there, and the following year, 1865, came to Fulton County. He bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Pleasant Township and in the course of time purchased other land until he had a valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres. He placed it under excellent cultivation, provided it with substantial buildings, and was very prosperously engaged in its management until he retired from farming in 1888 to his present home in Astoria. He showed intelligence, pruduce and forethought in the management of his affairs and was a sterling member of the farming community where he resided. He was prominently identified with Woodland Grange, No. 866, and has taken the degree of Flora.
Mr. Diehl and Harriet Whetstone, were married June 12, 1845, and seven of the children born of their union are living, namely: Elias H., Mary A., Sarah E., Rueben E., Mathew L., Benjamin S. and Jacob L. Mrs. Diehl was born in Indiana County, Pa., June 4, 1823. Her father, Jacob Whetstone, was born in Colerain Township, Pa., while his father, Henry Whetstone, was a native of the eastern part of that State. He was an early pioneer of Bedford County, where he cleared a farm, and a part of the time worked at the trade of a blacksmith, spending his last years there. Mrs. Diehl’s father was reared and married in his native county and afterward removed to Indiana County. He lived there a few years, and then returned to Bedford County, engaged in farming, and resided there the rest of his life. He married Nancy Hendricks, also a native of Bedford County, and a daughter of Amariah Hendricks, a miller by trade. He spent his last years on a farm in Indian County. Mrs. Diehl’s mother lived to be very old, dying in the month of February, 1890, in her ninetieth year.
Mr. and Mrs. Diehl are sincere and earnest members of the Reformed Church, and wherever they are know, they are greatly respected for their kind hearts, pleasant manners, and solid worth. Mr. Diehl belongs to the Astoria Lodge, No. 100, A. F. & A. M., and is a member of Vermont Chapter, R. A. M., and of Eastern Star Lodge, Astoria.