Captain Daniel Rapelje 1774-1828

Emigrating from New York State to the Long Point Settlement in 1802, Rapelje later received 80 ha of land on the south side of the Talbot Road at Kettle Creek. He settled here with his family in 1810. A veteran of Lundy's Lane and other battles of the War of 1812, he became a captain in the 1st Middlesex Militia. In 1814 he built a log grist-mill and subsequently divided a portion of his land into town lots. The settlement that Rapelje established formed the nucleus of the city of St. Thomas.