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.htmlI 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.