Rufus Winnfield DeVilbiss
Rufus was born in Frederick County, Maryland on September 10, 1846. He was a farmer and a merchant. When he moved from
Frederick, Md to Kansas in 1881 , he adopted the “V” in his last name. His descendants use “V”. Rufus moved to Calcasieu Parish, LA 1888 and returned to Maryland in 1901.
Note from Ruth Butcher (Jesse's daughter)
“My father’s family was living in Kansas when the territory in Louisiana became available for homesteading (1888). My grandparents, Rufus Winfield and Rachel Ruth DeVilbiss decided to go to the new area and homestead some land there. They traveled by train, father riding in the stock cars to care for the cattle and oxen they were moving with them. Grandfather homesteaded section 14 north of Roanoke. They built a small house there. Grandmother picked up some acorns where they were visiting one day and took them home and planted them. They grew to be huge oak trees and are still there.”
“Father (Jesse) was the oldest, then three girls, Carrie, Grace, and Irene and the youngest of the family was Clifton. There was no school at Roanoke so at age 14 Carrie was sent to Chambersburg Pennsylvania to go to school at her uncles “finishing’ school. She graduated in 4 years and received a certificate for teaching and taught in Maryland for more than 14 years. She lived with her aunt and uncle, C.E.Crawford and Olivea Ann Crawford, who had a beautiful home in Gaithersburg. She later married Ben Woodward when she was about 40 years old. He had a small acreage near Washington Grove and had several cows. He bottled milk every day and had a route in Washington Grove where he delivered milk.”
“Aunt Grace became a Registered Nurse and worked for many years as a special-duty nurse at a hospital, I think Presbyterian, in Philadelphia.
Aunt Irene was a dress maker and millner and lived in Clarksville, Virginia where she had a small shop. her husband, L.H. Yancey had a little mill just out of town on a little stream of water. He ground meal and made flour using water power. It was quite interesting to see it in operation.
Uncle Clifton became a doctor and surgeon, received many awards, and had a large practice in a rural area. He liked hospital work. Unfortunately he suffered a rattlesnake bite when he was young, living in Louisiana. That left him lame and he found he couldn’t tolerate the hard floors to work inside.“
