Edward Diehl was the son of Eckhardt Diehl and Margaret Barth. Eckhardt was born in South Easthope, the son of German immigrants. After their marriage in 1866, Eckhardt and Margaret moved to Ellice Township where they farmed on concession 6 lot 20 near Wartburg and raised their family of twelve children.

Edward was their fourth child, born in Sebringville in 1873. 

At the time of his marriage to Mary Ann Yundt, Edward was living in Rostock and working as a bricklayer. They were married on April 16, 1903. Edward was 30 years old, and Mary Ann was 20.

The next year on June 5, 1904, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, Mabel Sophia into their family. A second daughter, Meryl Margaret was born on November 26, 1906.   With the birth of their son, Edmund Frederick on June 13, 1909, their family was complete.

Edward and Mary Ann and their three children made their home in Rostock until 1916 when Edward purchased a lot in Stratford with a 37-foot frontage on the west side of John Street North. It was on this lot that he built a 2 ½ story brick house that became the family home.  The house was constructed in 1916 and occupied by the family in 1917.

Edward worked as a bricklayer until he retired in the early 1950’s.

The couple’s youngest child, Edmund, married Dorothy Ann Appel in Stratford on Aug 27, 1938. At the time of their marriage, Edmund was a Stratford City Bus Driver. By 1954 he was working at the PUC as manager of transportation and the couple had purchased a home at 24 Coriano Street. Edmund retired from the PUC in 1974. He died on April 4, 1985.

Meryl married Gordon Llewellyn (Lew) Culbert on February 8, 1940, in Miami, Florida. Meryl worked as a supervisor for the Bell Telephone Company for 15 years and Lew was a baker at Dorothy’s Delicatessen, on Wellington Street.  Meryl and Lew had no children. Edward’s wife, Mary Ann, died on February 11, 1957.

After Mary Anne’s death, daughter Meryl and her husband, Lew, moved into 182 John Street North to live with Meryl’s father and sister, Mabel. When Edward died on May 25, 1966, ownership of the house was passed on to Mabel.

Mabel never married. She worked for several years as a waitress and clerk at 88 Wellington Street (W.G. Brown Restaurant and later Olin Brown Candies).  Mabel, Meryl, and Lew became joint owners of the house around 1980 and continued to live there together.  Mabel died in May 2000; Meryl died on January 9, 2001.

When the house was sold to J. Dykes in 2003, it had been the Diehl family home for over 85 years.
Lew died the following year on May 3, 2004.

Edward and Mary Ann Diehl are buried together in section 9 of Avondale Cemetery.
Their children, Mabel, Meryl, and Edmund are also buried in Avondale cemetery, Section 4.