The Reunion of the Dekle and the Deakle Families is
thanks to David Sprinkle of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, who provided all of the information on the Deakle family, and to Neil Akridge who also is studying the Deakle family.

I have long suspected that there was a link between the current day Dekle and Deakle families. Many of the records from the early 1800's use the names Dekle, Deakle, Dekel and Teckle for the same person. Many of the early records refer to John Deakle while others, such as the deed elsewhere on this site, refer to John Dekle. I had recently corresponded with a Deakle who said they thought they were descended from John Leonard but had no proof. Then, on April 24, 1999,  I received an email from David Sprinkle in Alabama asking if I was aware of the Deakle family in Alabama that was descended from John Leonard Deakle and telling me that he had information on that family.

From the evidence he provided, it appears that John Leonard Dekle had a daughter, Susannah,  who is not listed in Ansel Dekle's original book. There is some confusion here because Ansel's book gives Sarah (Sallie) Dekle as having married Henry Miller, however the Bulloch County Georgia marriage records, http://www.georgianetweb.com/bulloch/marriage_book_a_pages_5486.htm   show Susannah Teakle marrying Henry Miller on Jan 10, 1806. David says that the T in Teakle could either be a T or a D on the original document. He also says he has seen the will of Henry Miller and said that Henry left some property to Willis Deakle and Andrew Deakle, his wife Susannah Deakle's children from a "prior marriage" as well as leaving property to the children which he and Susannah had together. I don't yet have an explanation for Sarah(Sallie) Dekle mentioned in Ansel's book but is possible that she and Susannah were sisters or they could be the same person (Sarah (Sallie) Susannah Deakle?). Does anybody have any proof one way or another? All the members of the Deakle family are descended from Susannah whose sons maintained the Deakle spelling while the remaining descendants of John Leonard Dekle began to spell the name Dekle.

Susannah and Henry Miller settled in the Mobile, Alabama area very near where Charles Dekle lived and, through Willis and Andrew Deakle, have many Deakle descendants still living in the Mobile area. It is known in the area that Susannah Miller was Charles Dekle's sister. The families remained in close proximity, as noted in several census records. She died in Mobile in 1870. Most notable as evidence of her lineage is the fact that many of her descendants have the same first names as the Dekle line. The name Leonard occurs several times in her Deakle line as well as John, Mary, Susan, and Sophia.

I have seen enough evidence to convince me that the families are definitely related, and until I receive some evidence to the contrary, I have now listed Susannah Deakle as an additional daughter of John Leonard Dekle on the genealogy pages of this web site. The addition of Susannah and her descendants has added 83 new family names to the site and 221 new cousins. There are now a total of 149 families and 489 people listed who are descended from John Leonard Dekle and lived before approximately 1900.              

                                                Home