Whilst in Britain the main spellings of our name are; Steggles, Steggall, Stygall, and Stagles, in the USA they are Stegall (9,000), Stigall (3,000), Steagall (600), and Stagles (300). The estimated populations are shown in brackets.

USA
Many long established families claim descendency  from to William Steggall . The ship's manifest of the Plaine Joan that sailed from London to  Plymouth, Virginia in 1636 records the passage of a 26 year old William Steddall. It is generally thought that they are one and the same person and that Steddall was a misspelling of Steggall.

However one of our members, Bill Steagall who's DNA is currently being tested traces his ancestry back to William Stedall, baptised in Bearsted, Kent in 1609. Stedall is a rare English name that may have originated from Studdal in Kent.

We have also seen immigration records for people with the Germanic names Steigle and Stiegle arriving from Austria, Switzerland, and Germany and Stagl from Austro- Hungary. It is probable some of these people had their names anglicized to Stegall, Steagall, Stigall, or Stagles.

Moses Stegall of 1735 to 1840 of Anson County NC is another name to note. Apparently he was a farmer and Baptist preacher who whilst drunk fell off his mule one night and froze to death at the age of 105. Some believe that he was a grandson of William Steggall, others that he sailed from Cardiff. We think that this is unlikely as until the opening of the Merthyr to Cardiff Canal in 1794 Cardiff was a small village and trading port with a population of less than 1,900.
A transcript of his will can be seen by clicking this link.

Steagall's in Brazil
In 1868 Henry Farrar Steagall, b Franklin NC, 1821 a Texan farmer, amongst many others from the Confederate states emigrated 5,000 miles to Brazil following the defeat of the Confederates in the civil war. They were assisted by the Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil who valued their farming skills. Today many of their descendants live in and around Americana, San Paulo. Amongst the Confederados Steagall is a common name. For further information click to see the article entitled The Brazilian Migration published in the Washington Post.

Our DNA Results
To date we have matching DNA results from descendants of Moses Stegall, Henry Farrar Steagall, and Randolph Stegall showing that they are all descended from the same male ancestor. Results from a descendant of William Steggall (Steddall) are expected in the next few weeks..
For further information see our DNA Results page.

Tom Stagles,
January 27, 2008