DeWolf family explained

DeWolf family
Other Names:D’Wolf, De Wolf, DeWolfe, DeWoolf
Region:Rhode Island, Connecticut and Nova Scotia
Origin:Europe
Founded:17th century
Founder:Balthazar DeWolf
Motto:Vincit Qui Patitur
Estate:Linden Place

The DeWolf family (also spelled D’Wolf or DeWolfe) is a prominent Canadian and American family that traces its roots to Balthazar DeWolf. The family's lineage can be traced back to Balthazar DeWolf, who was born in 1643 in the Netherlands and later immigrated to North America.

The DeWolf family played a significant role in the early colonial history of North America, particularly in the regions of New England and the Atlantic Canadian provinces. They were involved in various industries, including shipping, trade, and later, the slave trade.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, certain individuals from the DeWolf family rose to prominence as slave traders and held plantations in the Caribbean. They were deeply involved in the transatlantic slave trade, accumulating significant wealth from this enterprise.

In recent times, numerous descendants of the DeWolf family have been actively involved in confronting their ancestors' history of slave trading through their participation in documentaries, authoring books, and engaging in public discussions, these family members have openly addressed their family's past involvement in the slave trade.

Balthazar DeWolf

Balthazar DeWolf (d. about 1696)[1] is first mentioned in the records of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1656.[2] He married a woman named Alice by 1646, it is not known where.[3] Some believe she was Alice Peck, born on 26 February 1625, in Liddington, Rutland, England, a daughter of William Peck and Elizabeth Holt.[4] They had at least five children.[5] After 1668 they settled in Lyme, Connecticut.[6] [7]

It is thought that Balthazar DeWolf was from the Livonian branch of DeWolfs, which is an offshoot of the Saxon branch.[8] However, that is only one of the most commonly cited versions, others mentioning that Balthazar DeWolf was a Huguenot, or Pole, or Russian, or Jew, or Dutch, or German. There is a high possibility that DeWolf was English or educated in England as he and his children only married to other English settlers, which was very common at the time.

Both Nova Scotia's and Rhode Island's DeWolfs are descendants of Balthazar DeWolf as shown below:[9]

Rhode Island branch

The Bristol or Rhode Island branch sprang from Charles DeWolf of Guadeloupe (1695–1726), who was born in Lyme, New London, Connecticut, the son of Charles DeWolf and Prudence DeWolf. He emigrated to Guadeloupe, the French West Indies. During the 18th and 19th centuries the D'Wolfs of Rhode Island were the largest slave traders in the state.[11]

Notable members

Legacy

DeWolf avenue in Bristol, Rhode Island is named after the DeWolfs.

In total, the Bristol DeWolfs are believed to have transported more than 11,000 slaves to the United States before the African slave trade was banned in 1808.[13] [14]

DeWolfs of Nova Scotia

In 1761, three of Balthazar DeWolf's descendants, Simeon, Nathan and Jehiel DeWolf, with households amounting to 19 persons immigrated to Horton Township, Nova Scotia, to settle in the Grand Pre area.[15] Evelyn M. Salisbury's genealogy published in 1892 identified the three men as cousins and it also appeared in A. W. H. Eaton's, History of Kings County,[16] despite Eaton's efforts to change some parts of Salisbury's genealogy. In 1991 the publication of Dolphs and De Wolfs[17] by Carol Stark Maginnis after extensive research of original sources, reviewing the correspondence between Rev. Eaton and Mrs. Stainsbury, and examining the research of the Lyme Study Group, concluded the men were three sons of Benjamin DeWolf Sr. (born in October 1695), who was a son of Steven and grandson of Balthazar.[18] This matches Eaton's original belief the Nova Scotia family were descendants of Steven DeWolf, which had been disregarded in Salisbury's work, and which he then unfortunately copied in his own books.

Notable members

Legacy

Wolfville, Nova Scotia was renamed after the DeWolf family. Elisha DeWolf, Jr. was the postmaster of the community when the postal district name became official on August 13, 1830, replacing prior names including Mud Creek and Upper Horton. It was suggested the change was out of respect for his namesake father, Elisha DeWolf.[21]

Other DeWolfs

Heraldry

Escutcheon:Or, 3 wolf heads erased sable
Motto:Vincit Qui Patitur
Crest:A wolf gules holding his dexter paw a fleur-de-lys or, issuant from a Baron of the Holy Roman Empire's coronet
Supporters:The whole arms borne upon a double-headed eagle or
Coronet:A Baron of the Holy Roman Empire's coronet[22]
the DeWolf family[23]
Notes:The arms of the DeWolf family are canting.

See also

Notes and references

  1. Torrey, Clarence A., U.S., New England Marriages before 1700, p. 218
  2. Book: Anderson, Mary Audentia Smith, 1872–1963.. Ancestry and posterity of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale, with little sketches of their immigrant ancestors, all of whom came to America between the years 1620 and 1685, and settled in the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut. 1929. [Herald Pub. House]. 191.
  3. Torrey, Clarence A., U.S., New England Marriages before 1700, p. 218
  4. Web site: Person Sheet: Deacon William PECK. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20131225223856/http://www.donparrish.com/Report1/PS04/PS04_385.HTM. December 25, 2013.
  5. Book: Salisbury, Edward Elbridge, 1814–1901. Family histories and genealogies A series of genealogical and biographical monographs on the families of MacCurdy, Mitchell, Lord, Lynde, Digby, Newdigate, Hoo, Willoughby, Griswold, Wolcott, Pitkin, Ogden, Johnson, Diodati, Lee and Marvin, and notes on the families of Buchanan, Parmelee, Boardman, Lay, Locke, Cole, De Wolf, Drake, Bond and Swayne, Dunbar and Clarke, and a notice of Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite. With twenty-nine pedigree-charts and two charts of combined descents.. 1892. Press of Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. 125–135.
  6. Book: Lineage book of the National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America. National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America. 1916. 41.
  7. Web site: Rhode Island Postal History – The DeWolf Family of Bristol, RI – Part 1. April 24, 2020. thesaltysailor.com.
  8. Perry, Calbraith B. (Calbraith Bourn), 1846–1914, "Charles DWolf of Guadaloupe, his ancestors and descendants. Being a complete genealogy of the "Rhode Island DWolfs," the descendants of Simon De Wolf, with their common descent from Balthasar de Wolf, of Lyme, Conn. (1668)." 1902
  9. Book: Salisbury, Edward Elbridge, 1814–1901.. Family histories and genealogies A series of genealogical and biographical monographs on the families of MacCurdy, Mitchell, Lord, Lynde, Digby, Newdigate, Hoo, Willoughby, Griswold, Wolcott, Pitkin, Ogden, Johnson, Diodati, Lee and Marvin, and notes on the families of Buchanan, Parmelee, Boardman, Lay, Locke, Cole, De Wolf, Drake, Bond and Swayne, Dunbar and Clarke, and a notice of Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite. With twenty-nine pedigree-charts and two charts of combined descents.. 1892. [Press of Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor].
  10. Book: Whittemore, Henry. Genealogical guide to the first settlers of America : with a brief history of those of the first generation and references to the various local histories and other sources of information where additional date may be found. 1967. Genealogical Pub. Co. 147.
  11. Book: Slavery and public history : the tough stuff of American memory. 2006. New Press. James Oliver Horton, Lois E. Horton. 978-1-59558-744-2. New York. 608624600.
  12. Web site: History of Linden Place Bristol, Rhode Island. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210116050209/https://www.lindenplace.org/about-us/history. January 16, 2021. May 10, 2020. www.lindenplace.org.
  13. Web site: The Providence Journal Digital Extra. https://web.archive.org/web/20141214024651/http://res.providencejournal.com/hercules/extra/2006/slavery/day6/. dead. December 14, 2014. December 14, 2014. April 24, 2020.
  14. Web site: Tracing Center James DeWolf and the DeWolf Family. March 21, 2010. en-US. April 24, 2020.
  15. Book: Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton, 1849–1937.. The Elmwood Eatons. 1895. 23.
  16. Book: Rev. Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, M.A., D.C.L.. The History of Kings County, Nova Scotia, Heart of the Acadian Land, Giving a Sketch of the French and Their Expulsion: And a History of the New England Planters who Came in Their Stead, with Many Genealogies, 1604–1910. 1910. Salem Press Company. 629–638.
  17. Book: Maginnis. Carol Stark. Dolphs and De Wolfs. 1991. Richard Dolph. Lakeside Park, Ky. 276–278.
  18. Web site: Nova Scotia. Maginnis. Carol Stark. Welcome to Dolphs and Dewolfs – archived 2003 version. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20030622051026/http://www.csmaginnis.com/. June 22, 2003. May 8, 2020.
  19. Web site: Biography – DeWOLF, JAMES RATCHFORD – Volume XIII (1901–1910) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography. www.biographi.ca. May 10, 2020.
  20. Web site: Biography – EATON, ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON – Volume XVI (1931–1940) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography. www.biographi.ca. May 13, 2020.
  21. Book: Davison. James Doyle. Mud Creek: The Story of The Town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia. 1985. Wolfville Historical Society. 0-9691719-0-0. 31.
  22. This does not mean the family held a Barony or the title of Baron in the Empire, it could simply be a stylistic choice by an American family member, where there are no real rules on heraldry.
  23. The tinctures of the blazon below are taken from the hatchings found in the previous version of the file, as found in the file's history in Wikimedia Commons. That image was taken from the book "Charles DWolf of Guadaloupe, his ancestors and descendants. Being a complete genealogy of the "Rhode Island DWolfs," the descendants of Simon De Wolf, with their common descent from Balthasar de Wolf, of Lyme, Conn. (1668).", 1902 by Calbraith B. Perry.

Further reading

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