Small World Department- Delfosse Descendant

I think it is because I do genealogy that I am so aware of people and events around me. Take a few days ago for example when a house guest and I were touring Old Salem in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Old Salem is a “living museum” created within the limits of the city. It was founded about 1753, as a settlement for a religious sect known as the Moravians from former Moravia in Bohemia, Germany. Today, Moravia is in western portion of the Republic of Czech. The descendants of the Moravians, with the help of others, preserved many of the homes of the original settlement and have recreated many of the shops and activities of the original settlers such as gardening and baking and gunsmiths.

My guest and I prepared to take a break on this warm, sunny Fall day and eat our fresh raisin and oatmeal cookies we had just purchased from the Moravian Bakery. I noticed the lady sitting across from me wore a name tag identifying her as Darlene Delfosse. I told her I was interested in her unique surname because one of my ancestors married a Delfosse.

“Oh, my husband was a Delfosse from Smoke Run, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania”, she informed me.

“And it’s nice that you pronounced the name correctly” she added. (I pronounced the ending like “boss” with a silent “e”).

Well that clinched it. Her late husband was undoubtedly related to the former Mae Louise Delfoss, who was the wife of my father’s step brother, Richard M. Kramp. Mrs. Mae Kramp, nee. Delfoss, or Mary as we called her, was a daughter of John B. “Jack” Delfosse and the granddaughter of Desire Delfosse and his wife, Marie. The progenitors had immigrated from Lievin, in northern France, in the 1880’s and settled in Pennsylvania. They had nine other children besides Jack Delfosse.

Image: Mrs. Darlene Delfosse, of Bern, North Carolina, whose husband's family line is related through marriage to our Kramp Family Line from Pennsylvania.

Of course, I did not have my computer with me; nor did I have my genealogy books and printouts nearby. And I didn’t even think of giving her one of my personal cards- which I had left at home anyway. From now on, I will carry several cards with me- at least giving information on how to access this blog. I wish I could have shown Darlene the following photograph taken at IOOF Cemetery, Brisbin, PA, which shows the tombstones of her husband’s ancestors.

Image (above): The Delfosse Plot at IOOF Cemetery, Brisbin, in southeastern Clearfield County, PA. Desire and Marie Delfosse were the grandparents of Mae Louise “Mary” Delfosse, who married Richard Melvin Kramp, son of Richard Otto Kramp and Bertha, nee. Fox. Louise M. Delfosse was the first of ten children born to Desire and Marie.

Incidentally, Mrs. Mary (Delfosse) Kramp was the last and only KRAMP listed in the Clearfield County (PA) telephone book before she died in August 2005.

One more note on the Delfosse name: On a recent car ride in Virginia, on state route 29, about halfway between Charlottsville and Danville, I noticed a road sign announcing the location of "Delfosse Winery". I better get up there again soon, as I may have a family discount waiting for me on a case of my favorite libation.

References and Links:
The Defosse Winery in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I would have never seen the details if I had not blogged this entry. It was there in Google all this time waiting for me to search and find it.