The origin of the DePeel family is shrouded in a mystery that appears to be unsolvable.  There is a legend of a man from France who was a soldier in the French army, under the heroic General Montcalm, and was present at the battle of Quebec.  This man fell on the Plains of Abraham while in battle with the English.  When the news of his death was revealed to his devoted wife, the shock was so intense it caused her immediate death shortly after giving birth to a son.  That son became the beginning of a DePeel family.  The little stranger, who was so sadly delivered into this world and left without father or mother, was given to Monsieur De Peel, a brave and noble French officer, who adopted and reared him as one of his own, and from whom he took his name.  Nothing definite has been learned concerning the child's parents, but it was thought that the father was a man of rank in the French army and in his native France, as the clothing for the child was of more than ordinary value.  Thus the name and history of that gallant soldier who yielded up his life on the Plains of Abraham, so far from his beloved France, on that cool September morning in 1759, have been lost, and his posterity to this very day bear the honored name of De Peel.

 

The mother of our mystery man, was a resident of Canada, so when the War of 1812 broke out, he entered the British army.  He was in the battle of Lundy's Lane, and was detailed to guard some cattle.  For his loyalty to the British Crown he received a grant of 200 acres of land near Queenston in Lincoln County, and he resided there until his death.  This man apparently married and had at least one son named Alexander who married Keziah Trowbridge in Niagara Falls on Christmas Eve of 1827.  After their wedding, Alexander and Keziah settled in Bayham Township, Ontario, about three-quarters of a mile from the village of Corinth.  At that time, this area was a part of Middlesex County, but it was within the boundaries of Elgin County when Elgin County was formed in 1851.  Alexander and Keziah subsequently moved to Yarmouth Township, where Mr. De Peel rented a farm for several years.  Alexander and Keziah had the following children: Maria (deceased as of 1881), Edward, Alexander, Martha, Michael A., Elizabeth, Althea, Melissa, and an infant who died shortly after birth.[1]  If this list of children is in order of birth, then the eldest son, Edward, might be the same man accepted as the patriarch of the DePeel families on this site.  Edward DePeel's birth (1830) would fall between the marriage of Alexander and Keziah (1827) and the birth of their other son Michael (1840).

According to his entry in the index of Michigan Deaths, 1867-1897, Edward DePeel was born in the spring of 1830.  The death certificate of his daughter, Adeline (DePeel) Moist, places his birth in Yarmouth Township, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada.  Edward was married to Margaret Fields in St. Paul's Church in St. Catharine's, Ontario on March 14, 1855.  The Reverend George Goodson performed the ceremony.  Edward can be found in the 1861 Ontario Census living in St. Catharines with his wife and two eldest children.  He is the father and common ancestor of the DePeel families contained on this website.  Around 1862, the family moved to the United States, entering at Detroit and settling in Michigan.  The 1870 U. S. Census lists Edward and two of his children, Charles and Julia, living in the household of Daniel A. Corby in Erin Township, Macomb County, Michigan.  Edward is listed in that census as a cattle broker.  Two years later, Edward married the widow, Mary Esther Tremblay Corby, shortly after the death of his former employer, Daniel Corby.  Edward died from consumption on June 2, 1876 in Erin Township, Macomb County, Michigan.  His occupation at the time of his death is listed as Farmer.  No burial information for Edward DePeel has been located at this time. [3]

According to the death certificate of her daughter, Adeline (DePeel) Moist, Margaret Fields was born in Liverpool, England.  Census records indicate that she was born in or around 1837.  Margaret was the first wife of Edward DePeel (patriarch of the DePeel family), as well as the mother of Charles, Adeline, Julia, Hariett, and two other DePeel children.  Margaret reportedly died in Indianapolis, Indiana at an age upwards of sixty years (around 1897) but no confirmed death or burial information has been discovered at this time. [4]

Mary Esther Tremblay was born to Eustache and Cecilia (Rivard) Tremblay in Detroit, Michigan on November 17, 1844.  She was married to Daniel Corby, on June 13, 1865.  Mary appears in the 1870 U. S. Census with her husband, their three children, and farm employee Edward DePeel and two of his children.  She married Edward DePeel on June 30, 1872, which was about a year after the death of her first husband, Daniel.  After Edward died, Mary married Joseph Brownson on May 31, 1883.  Mary E. Brownson died in Grace Hospital, Detroit on May 14, 1912 and was buried in the Assumption Grotto in Detroit. [5]