Person:Susanna DeWolfe (1)

Balthazar DeWolf's origins are uncertain, but he was educated and industrious. He settled in Lyme, Conn., in 1660, coming from Hartford, and became well-established in the community. He had numerous offspring, some of who resettled Acadia after the French were expelled.

About the middle of the seventeenth century a younger son of Baron de Wolf of Livonia emigrated, presumably to America, and was never heard from again by his family. The name 'Baltazer de Woolfe', however, shows up in the court records of Hartford, Connecticut, on March 5, 1656. The spelling of the name is similar to that which a court clerk might assume phonetically from a foreign accent, and Balthazar was very impatient with the puritanical restrictions of the town. Having been hauled into court with others 'presented for smoking in the streets contra to the law, it is said that he paid his fine, lit his pipe, and walked out.

Balthazar de Wolf of 1656 Connecticut is our first American de Wolf ancestor of whom we have a record. This much is indisputable. Whether or not he was that youngest son of Baron de Wolf of Livonia is still open to conjecture. In the interest of truth it must be said that he has also been made a French Huguenot fleeing persecution; a Russian; a Jew[ish person]; a Protestant refugee from Holland. One source says that Balthazar was indubitably English, witness his handwriting and the names of his children. No one has suggested he was an American aborigine, even though he smoked a pipe.

In 1668 Ba[l]thazar de Wolf's name appears again, this time in the Lyme, Connecticut, records, and in 1677 he was chosen 'Committee of the Town'. He is last mentioned in 1695. He and his wife Alice had six children, the eldest of whom was Edward."

From "Dolphs and DeWolffs", by Carol S. Maginnis, 1995

"A Wiliam de Wolve was witness to a deed in England in 1066. Arms were given, by Burke, to a De Wolfe family in England. Belthazar De Wolf established himself with the early English settlers in Lyme, wrote a good English hand, and took part with them in town Affairs as one of them. There is no evidence that his family were of recent foreign soigin, though some of his descendants have that impression." Another part of this same article states that Balthazar had a child "bewitched to death" by Nicholas and Margaret Young. This family also branched out and one group moved to Nova Scotia in 1760, and another group moved to Bristol, Rhode Island."

Citing "DeWolf Genealogy, Ascendants and Descendants of Joseph DeWolf of Granby, CT", compiled by Oratia J. DeWolf, Coraopolis, PA 1902

The DeWolfs belong to the oldest aristocracy of Flanders, Saxony and Livonia (the Baltic Provinces of Russia). According to legend, the origin of the name deWolf is practically the same in every country. According to family tradition in Belgium, Frederick de Wolf's first known ancestor, Louis de Saint-Etienne, of the French noble family of that name, was one of King Charles the Fifth's attendants on a hunting expedition. During the chase, a wolf cub crossed the King's path; Charles threw his lance at the cub, mortally wounding it, and breaking the weapon against a tree. An enormous she-wolf, seeing her offspring wounded, rushed from the forest upon the King, who had nothing but a hunting knife to defend himself with. Louis de Saint-Etienne rushed between the wolf and the King and dispatched it with his sword, thus saving the King's life. As a reward, the King Knighted Louis, who from this time was called de Loup, and was ancestor of the noble French family of that name. His grandson, Emile de Loup, accompanied the Princess Mathilda to Germany at the time of her marriage. Emile de Loup became a great favorite at the Saxon Court and had the title of Baron conferred on him in 1427. He then changed his name from French to German and was known afterwards as de Wolf. It was his direct descendant, Maximillian de Wolf who founded the Belgium branch of the family."

From "Genealogies of Connecticut Families"

Lyme city records spell his name variously as "Belthazer" and "Baltazzar." In 1681 he conveyed property by deed to his son Simon.

From Savage's Genealogical Dictionary

DEWOLF, BALTHAZAR, Wethersfield 1664, rem[oved]. to Lyme 1668, then had a d[aughter]. of age to live in a neighbor's fam[ily].; Edward, Simon, and Stephen, wh[o]. may have been all, as was Simon, his s[ons]. (or not), join[ed]. with him in 1678, as mem[bers]. of the town train band, in a petit[io]n.

1. ↑ New England Historic Genealogical Society. NEHGS Register
   Vol. 48. p. 92, January 1894; Vol. 131, p. 113, January 1877.
2. ↑ James Boyd DeWolfe. D'WOLF: The DeWolf Family Outline 1650-1985.
3. ↑ Genealogies of Connecticut Familes
   Vol. 1, p. 526.

   Citing Lyme, Connecticut, City Register Vol. XXX, p. 465 & ante

4. ↑ The Rev. Mr. Calbraith B. Perry. D'WOLF: Charles D'Wolf of Guadaloupe, His Ancestors & Descendants. (T. A. Wright, New York 1902).
5. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   Vol. 2, p. 44.