DeWolf family


The DeWolf family is a prominent Canadian and American family that traces its roots to Balthazar DeWolf.

Balthazar DeWolf

Balthazar DeWolf first mentioned in the records of Hartford, Connecticut in 1656. In 1645, he married Alice Peck in Guilford, Connecticut,. She was born on 26 February 1625, in Liddington, Rutland, England, a daughter of William Peck and Elizabeth Holt. DeWolf and Peck had at least five children. After 1668 they settled in Lyme, Connecticut.
It is thought that Balthazar DeWolf was from the Livonian branch of DeWolfs, which is an offshoot of the Saxon branch. However, that is only one of the most commonly cited versions with 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 times.

Family tree of the DeWolfs

Both Nova Scotia's and Rhode Island's DeWolfs are descendants of Balthazar DeWolf as shown below:
Bristol or Rhode Island branch sprang from Charles DeWolf of Guadeloupe, who was born in Lyme, New London, Connecticut son of Son of Charles DeWolf and Prudence DeWolf. He emigrated to Guadeloupe, the French West Indies.

Notable members

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.

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. 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, despite Eaton's efforts to change some parts of Salisbury's genealogy. In 1991 the publication of Dophs and De Wolfs 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., who was a son of Steven and grandson of Balthazar. 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

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.

Other DeWolfs