Henry William Stiegel

Henry William Stiegel (May 13, 1729 in Cologne, Germany – January 10, 1785 in Pennsylvania, USA) was a German-American glassmaker and ironmaster.

Early life Stiegel was the eldest of six children born to John Frederick and Dorothea Elizabeth Stiegel near the Free Imperial City of Cologne.

Personal life and death Stiegel married Huber's daughter, eighteen-year-old Elizabeth, the same year. The couple had two daughters, Barbara (born 1756) and Elizabeth (born 1758). Elizabeth Huber Stiegel died on February 13, 1758, only ten days after giving birth to their second daughter. Stiegel married his second wife, Elizabeth Holtz, within a year. They had a son named Jacob. He led the fundraising efforts to secure the plot of land on which the Society's first building was eventually erected. Stiegel reportedly died in poverty.

Legacy In 1934 the Lancaster County Historical Society erected a memorial to Stiegel in Manheim, Pennsylvania.

"Stiegel-type" glass 18th-century enameled bottle of the "Stiegel-type", in this case American. Stiegel advertised "enameled glass" for sale, and while he apparently did produce some actual enameled glass in his factory, it was long thought that this referred to the brightly colored style of "peasant glass" produced in Bohemia, Germany and Switzerland, some of which was imported to America. This type, whether made in Europe or America, is still often called "Stiegel-type" glass in America, even though it is now thought that Stiegel's advertisements actually meant white milk glass or the use of twisting white canes within stemware, not true enameled glass. Etched clear glasses may also be called "Stiegel-type".