William Deuel [Davol, Deuell, Devell, DeVille] first appeared in American documentation in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts on 3 August 1640 when he applied for a parcel of land. He was married to Elizabeth "Isabel" Anderson in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England sometime during 1639 (you might say they came to America as honeymooners). Both were presented to a Puritan court "...for the continewing of a meeting uppon the Lords day from house to house..." on 2 October 1650. William was made a freeman of Newport on 17 March 1653!

William Henry Deuel, along with his brothers Osmyn Merrit and Amos, built a home shortly after arriving in Utah on 2 August 1847. Their original log cabin is on display, across the street [West] from Temple Square, in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. The Deuel brothers came from Eastern New York, in the 5th Mormon wagon train, headed by Charles C. Rich. They were farmers, with blacksmith skills. The 1850 US Census indicates that each was worth about $500, a good sum back then, which was doubled by 1860. After a couple of years, he was asked by [Mormon] President Brigham Young to serve as a blacksmith in the community of Centerville (originally refered to as Deuel Creek). He later moved to and lived the remainder of his life in Esclante, Utah.

William Henry Deuel, Jr. was born in the above mentioned log cabin on 3 August 1848. This was the same Summer in which the Mormon pioneers were invaded by huge crickets, eating their crops. After much prayer, seagulls decended as a white cloud from the heavens and devoured the black wave of insects. The story states that the birds would actually eat, fly to a nearby stream, regurgitate their meal, then repeat this process until the "Mormon Crickets" were removed from the valley (I guess you could call them the bulimic-wrecking crew). In gratitude, the California Seagull became the State Bird of Utah. His mother died a few years later of smallpox in Centerville, Utah. The majority of his life was spent as a farmer in the Southern Utah town of Esclante, where he was buried in the same cemetary as his father.

Jay L. Deuel, Jr. became the first "Deuel" on the Internet by receiving an electronic mail account in 1985 while working at IBM in Tucson, Arizona. This may sound a little presumptuous, but it's the only way I can rationalize placing my [younger] picture here... Currently I'm the Program Coordinator for fully-online courses at the University of Utah. I've also made contact with many decendents of William Deuel (noted above), via the Super-Information Highway.