The earliest ancestor of the Fall family discovered at this writing is Johann Dietrich Fahl. He was barn on the Hesse Castle estate in the German highlands in 1708. He married Anna Magretha who was presumably of the same region, but the date of their marriage is not known. The Fahl name with variations of spelling was common in Hesse, and in 1955 a small village named Fahl in southern Bavaria was inundated in order to construct a hydro- electric dam.
The Fahl family is believed to have come from German Lutheran background following the period in which bitter religious warfare and persecution had raged over many parts of Europe. Undoubtedly hardships resulting from these wars or religious or economic oppression contributed to the decision to migrate to America. Johann and his wife together with six children embarked at Rotterdam on the ship Lydia captained by James Abercrombie and arrived in the port of Philadelphia on September 20, 1743. Immediately upon landing in Philadelphia, Johann signed an oath of allegiance, signing in german script. The name Fahl was later anglicized to Fall, however German continued to be the spoken language of the family for two generations. Rupp's listing of arrivals in Philadelphia between 1721 and 1776 show eleven immigrants with variations of Fahl spelling arriving from Rotterdam and probably Hesse. A great grandson, Daniel Wesley Fall, wrote that his grandfather told him that two brothers came to America with Johann Dietrich Fahl.
For a more comprehensive account of the hardship and tribulation endured by immigrants traveling out of Europe to America in those days, see Nettie May (Fall) Zamos' account referenced earlier. In summary immigrants usually arrived in America so indebted to the ship owners that they were sold as indentured servants in order to pay the transportation expenses incurred. This may have happened to Johann however within twenty three years he appears to have become a prominent citizen of Berks County, Pennsylvania serving as tax collector in 1766 and owning 350 acres of land and numerous cattle according to a tax listing for that year. Johann died an May 28, 1768, apparently still residing on his several hundred acre farm in Berks County. Anna then lived with her son, George, reaching the age of one hundred and four years, dying in 18l2.