Daniel Rapelje was descended from a Huguenot named Jean Rapareillier, who was born in Valenciennes, France, in the late 1500s. His son emigrated to New Netherlands (now lower New York State) and his name became Dutchified to Joris Janssen Rapalje. Daniel Rapelje (as his name had been modified again) arrived in Upper Canada in 1802, settling in Norfolk County before moving to the Talbot Settlement in 1810. Daniel applied for and got Lot 1 of Concession 8 in Yarmouth Township. This lot contains all of the land on which Kettle Creek Village was eventually built but had not much farming land apart from that. Rapelje wanted the land for the creek, Kettle Creek, that ran through it.

During the War of 1812, his property was burned by the Americans and he had to wait until the end of the war before he built a mill at the bottom of what is now Stanley Street Hill. Shortly after, he lost two of his sons within a year of each other and he buried them on his farm. He later donated that part of his farm for a church so that his sons would be buried on consecrated ground. The new mill was the magnet that drew settlers to the area and, in 1821, Rapelje commissioned Mahlon Burwell to survey the 35 acres of his farm that fronted on the Talbot Road. Rapelje is buried near his two sons in the churchyard of St Thomas' Church.