This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Deahl Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/IEC.2ACE/114.376.477.568.572.1 Message Board Post: Hi Jane, I am a descendant of the Deahls from Somerset Co., PA, and I do spell my last name "Deahl"; I have some relatives who spell it "Deal". I don't know of any that I'm definitely related to who spell it "Diehl". The Deahls who come from the Somerset Co., PA branch are all descendants of a Henry Deahl who lived there in the 1820's and was married to Elizabeth Sell. The 1926 Deahl family history identifies this Henry as "Henry Deahl, Jr."; the one you identify as Henry Deahl, Jr., should therefore be Henry Deahl, III, but the 1926 History does not identify him as such. The 1992 Deahl history by Eleanor Deal questions the 1926 history's identifying him as Henry Jr., saying that his father was probably named Helfrich. This might explain why the father of Jasper Newton Deahl is not identified as the 3rd Henry Deahl. And yes, Jasper Newton Deahl was a prominent professor at West Virginia University, and he founded University High School in Morgantown, WV. I can even point out the house where he lived in Morgantown.