The Vince family of Woodstock, New Brunswick, is descended from Donald McLeod Vince (1848-1912), lieutenant colonel, engineer surveyor, teacher, businessman, and lawyer. He was the son of Robert Vince, who was killed in action during the Crimean War, and the grandson of Donald McLeod, who was involved with the 74th Highlanders in Scotland. Originally from Berwick-on-Tweed, England, Donald McLeod Vince was educated at the Hibernian Military School in Dublin, Ireland, and then moved to New Brunswick in 1866. His first marriage was to Marie E. Doucette in 1870; his second, to Milicent Adeline Nevers in 1875.

Milicent and Donald Vince had four children: Lucretia (Lulu) Nevers, (1876-1957); Arthur Neville, (1879- 1917?); Jessie Gibbons, (1881-1969); and Edward Raban, (1886-1955). Arthur was appointed a justice of the peace in 1909 and signed the roll as a barrister in 1910. Arthur served in the First World War, and was killed at Amiens, France, in 1917, although the legal practice bearing his name continued into the 1940s. Edward made a career in the military, eventually serving in both the First and Second World Wars. Donald Michael Raban Vince, Edward's son, carried on the family military tradition when he became one of the youngest majors to serve in the Canadian army in World War II.