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When and where did Peightals get into the US?

The Peightal/Bechtel Murders and Genealogy

Posted: 1 Mar 2008 8:46PM GMT
Classification: Query
I am researchng the Peightal Murders in Huntingdon Co., PA in 1869. I am descended from the Bechtel family who settled in Huntingdon County around 1802. The original settlers, Peter and John Bechtel came to a following out and John changed his name to Peightal some time after 1802. His son, John Peightal b 1804 was murdered and is buried with his wife Sarah (also murdered) in the family grave yard, the Grove Cemetery in Woodcock Valley, Grafton, Huntingdon County, PA. I am preparing a family newsletter and in my research came upon the 2006 messages regarding this murder and the Peightal family. I am happy to share information.

Dee

Re: When and where did Peightals get into the US?

Posted: 17 May 2010 5:30AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Peightal, Beightol, Beightel, Pytel, Petell, Bechtel
I just found that Peightal, Beightol, Beightel, Pytel, Petell are all variations of Bechtel. Pytel shows up in Missouri; Petell shows up in Missouri and Texas. All other variations are in Pennsylvania. See various records of Peter Bechtel b. 1774 in PA and his brother John Peightel b. 1771. These Bechtels may have been Mennonites from Prussia. There is an interesting history of Pennsylvania Mennonites (including Abraham Bechtel), who were weary of being persecuted for their pacifist beliefs during the American Revolution, at:
http://www.herontrips.com/Mennonites.html

I am researching John Petell in Missouri and Texas. In the 1860 census of Lawrence County, Missouri, his widow Elizabeth (later married Jones, then Cockrum) has in her household four Petell children that are not from her Petell marriage: Catharine 6, Malinda 5, Manuel 4, and John Hoosier 8/12. There was a John Petell in Pike County, Illinois, where some of the Petell children were born, in the 1840 census, to which I don't presently have access.
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