George Dellefield
George M. Dellefeld
History of the Western Reserve
pages 1814 - 1815
Quoted by permission.
Elyria Township is fortunate in having been settled by a remarkably enterprising,
industrious and intelligent class of people, among those that assisted in developing its
agricultural resources having been George Dellefeld, father of the subject of this sketch.
Henry Dellefeld, grandfather of George M. was a life-long resident of Germany, where
his birth occurred about 1776. Serving under that brilliant soldier, Napoleon Bonaparte,
he was with him in his Russian campaign, spending the winter near Moscow. He was twice
married. His second wife, whose maiden name was Dute, was the mother of his son George.
She survived him, and with her three sons, Henry, George and Anton, came to the United
States, locating in Ohio, where she died in 1872, aged seventy-seven years. Henry, the
eldest son, died in Amherst, Lorain county, in 1863. Anton, the younger son, now resides
in Birmingham township, Erie county, Ohio.
Born in Germany, June 20, 1833, George Dellefeld came to Lorain county, Ohio in
1847, going first to Amherst, where he secured employment with Judge Harris, grandfather
of the present postmaster general of the United States. A few years later he bought fifty
acres of the Brace tract land in Elyria township, and continued buying sixty, forty,
sixty, twenty and ten acres, until he had two hundred and forty acres, and was there
busily and successfully engaged in tilling the soil until his death, April 14, 1901.
His first wife, whose maiden name was Mary Schmitkons, died Feb 17, 1873. She bore
him seven children, namely: John, deceased; Anton, deceased; John H., of Elyria; George
M., the subject of this sketch; Anton A., of Amherst township; Annie died at the age of
two years; and a child that died in infancy. He married second Margaret Schmitkons, a
cousin of his first wife, and to them ten children were born. She still occupies the old
homested on the town line road. The family are all members of the Amherst Evangelical
church.
George M. Dellefeld was born on the parental farm, in Elyria township, August 30,
1866, and received his early education in the schools of his district. Working with his
father until attaining his majority, he was well trained in many brances of agriculture,
and in 1892 bought from his father the old Ab Ely place, consisting of sixty acres of
swamp land, and twenty acres of the old Wilford farm. Here Mr. Dellefeld has made various
and substantial improvements, having in 1895 erected his fine residence, while in 1898 he
repraired and remodeled his large barn.
Mr. Dellefeld, on November 27, 1888, married Eliza Ernst, a daughter of Henry Ernst,
of Amherst township, and they are the parents of five children, namely; Mayme, Elmer,
Pearl, Earl and Irvin. Mr. Dellefeld is interested in local affairs, and has served as a
member of the Elyria Township School Board. He belongs to the Grange and is a member of
Saint Paul's Evangelical church of Elyria.
George's brother Antony (81-4) and step-sister Christena Dellefeld Baus (103-7) are
buried here at North Murray Ridge Cemetery.
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