I have been, of late, exchanging emails with a woman named Heidi Lanford of San Marcos, Texas.

She has a connection to our Chatham-Kent’s Merlin.

Heidi is a descendant of J.W. Peet who was, at one critical stage, a well-known businessperson of Merlin.

Let me tell you about him.

His family were originally from France but left that country for Lincolnshire, England, in the 1680s; they were Huguenots and wished to escape persecution.

John W. Peet was born in Lincolnshire on Feb. 1, 1851, and lived with his parents until he was 12 years old, at which time he worked on farms.

At 19 he joined the 101st Royal Bengal Fusiliers and remained with them until he married in 1875 and came, across the Atlantic, to Kent County.

He worked in road building in southwest Kent for several years and eventually settled in Raleigh Township.

© Sarnia Observer