Primary Ancestors:

William Francis "WF" McDiffett (1854 - 1936) | click for personal facts and charts
Missouri Hannah (Heinbaugh) McDiffett (1860 - 1942) | click for personal facts and charts

Short Family History:

WF was the last child born to a large family in Pyles Fork, WV. At some point, WF and several of his siblings made their way to Somerset and Fayette Counties, Pennsylvania. The family of WF's mother, Dorcas Youst, can be traced back many more generations... mostly in the Monongalia County, VA area. His father was from Maryland, probably born to Irish immigrants.

WF married Hannah Heinbaugh (often seen spelled as Heimbaugh). The Heinbaugh (and other spellings) families of Somerset county are extensive. It took a while to confirm the identity of Hannah's parents, but research really seems to indicate she's the daughter of Bernard Herman Heinbaugh and Elizabeth Snyder. Hannah and WF were married in PA, she apparently only 15 when the first of 16 children were born.

The family moved from PA to Beattie, Kansas (in Marshall County) in 1886. Ten years later, the family moved to a farm nine miles north of Alta Vista. I suspect the farm was actually in Geary County... if any one knows for sure, please let me know.

With 16 kids, 14 of them living to adulthood, there are scads of descendents still living in Wabaunsee and Morris Counties, Kansas.

Research Notes:

I'm not doing a whole lot of research on the McDiffett or Heinbaugh/Heimbaugh families right now. The primary reason is time, followed closely by the fact that this is such a large family that it will take a multitude of trips to the research library before I can even put a dent in what I would like to get done.

I have spoken with several family members over the past couple of years and I hope they will take the time to fill in their descendant lines.

There is currently a project underway to document and update the descendants of W.A. and Anna Dilley (McDiffett) Kietzman. Anna was the 8th child of WF and Hannah McDiffett.

If you would like to share information on the descendants of WF McDiffett, please drop me a line. - MD 11Nov2003

Surname variations:

McDiffett - none that I'm aware of, but I've seen the name misspelled with only one "f" or one "t"
Heinbaugh, Heimbaugh, Hinebaugh - As I mentioned above, there are many spellings and many families in and around Somerset County, PA. From the research I've seen on the internet, most of these families are descendants of a Peter Heimbach (~1726 - 1785) who immigrated from Germany in 1749.

Relevant Links:

website: Homepage of Lary Metz - This site contains extensive information on the Metz and Youst families. Both families were quite large and he has done a great job collecting and documenting the families over the years. WF McDiffet's mother's maiden name was Youst. Her mother's maiden name was Metz.

image: Missouri Hannah McDiffett obituary