| Biography |
BIOGRAPHY: STAHL. There are two branches of the Stahl family in Northumberland county whose progenitors came hither from Northampton county, the descendants of John and Adam Stahl. As the former lived in Northampton county for some time before removing to this county, and as the latter was a native of that county, it is possible they were related, though the present records do not establish the fact.
John Stahl, a native of Germany, born Aug. 18, 1741, came to America when a young man, and lived for some years in Northampton county, Pa. He was one of many signers of a petition addressed to the Honorable Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania relative to conflicting civil and military laws then existing. The petitioners were from Northampton county, which was the early home of John Stahl in this country, as stated, and the same volume of the Pennsylvania Archives in which the foregoing is recorded shows (page 190) that he was captain of the 6th Company of the 2d Battalion from Northampton county; (page 359) that he was captain of the 5th Company, Associators, of Militia of Northampton county, which was part of the 4th Battalion from Sept. 18 to Nov. 18, 1780; (page 29) that he was second lieutenant of Capt. John Roberts' 5th Company, 1st Battalion of Northampton county Militia. In Volume IV, page 349, John Stahl, captain, is mentioned among soldiers of the Continental Line who received depreciation pay; in Volume VI, page 8, he is mentioned in the muster roll of Cumberland county militia, in 1777, as of Capt. Thomas Askey's Company. It is known that he served as quartermaster and recruiting officer, was with the army at Valley Forge during the memorable winter of hardship and at the crossing of the Delaware, Christmas night, 1776. Being a skilled mechanic, a gun and blacksmith, his services were often valuable in repairing implements of war during the Revolution, and he had as many as twenty men working under him at one time, engaged in making guns for use in that war. His son Philip had one of these guns. After the war he (having already married) moved to Northumberland county, Pa., where he took up four hundred acres of land in what is now Lewis (then Turbut) township. He died Feb. 27, 1809, and is buried in the old Follmer Church graveyard. His wife, Elizabeth, born in 1746, died in September, 1832. They were the parents of the following children of whom we have record: Jacob, born Feb. 16, 1776, who died Sept. 3, 1796; Johann Philip, born Dec. 17, 1781, who died March 24, 1832; and John George, born June 11, 1791, who died Aug. 4, 1820. The son John settled in Niagara county, New York.
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1741 - 1809 (67 years)