Woolfley-Dufour

        A marriage of interest to the friends of the Woolfley family here will take place this evening in New Orleans at the home of the bride's mother, Mrs. Horace Dufour in Valmount street, when Miss Rosalie Dufour will become the bride of Captain Francis A. Woolfley, formerly of Lake Charles. Captain Woolfley spent a year overseas during the war and is now stationed at Camp Funston, Kansas.
        Guests will be limited to members of the family and intimate friends. The bride's attendants will be Miss Ruth Israel, maid of honor and a group of young girls acting as bridesmaids will include Misses Margaret Woolfley of Lake Charles, Magda Chalaron, Marion Smith, Madeline Tuttle, Marion Fay and Katherine Harvard. Captain Donovan, U. S. A. will be the groom's best man.

Francis Augustus Woolfley Papers, LSU Libraries Special Collections:

Biographical Note

Francis Augustus Woolfley was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 30, 1893. In 1901, the family moved to Lake Charles Louisiana. Woolfley enlisted in Company "K", 1st Louisiana Infantry, serving as enlisted man and commissioned officer in the Louisiana National Guard until he entered in the regular army in 1917. His time in the National Guard included active Federal service during the Mexican border mobilization in 1916. In 1917, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U. S. Army. In the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, he was a captain and company commander of Company "M", 56th Infantry, 7th Division, serving in Alsace Lorraine and during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. For his actions in these campaigns, he was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action. 

As a major, Woolfley was Commandant of Cadets and Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Louisiana State University from 1921 to 1925. Correspondence and photographs for these years are filed with the University Archives. He was assigned to National Guard duty with the Puerto Rican National Guard from 1926 to 1929. From 1929 to 1938, he was either a student or an instructor at various army training commands. In 1938, Woolfley was assigned to the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He received his star as Brigadier General in 1943 and became Assistant Division Commander, 76th Infantry Division, serving at various posts in the U.S. and in England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. For his actions in the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central European campaigns during World War II, General Woolfley was awarded the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, an Oak Leaf Cluster for the Silver Star and the Air Medal. He was also decorated by the French, Belgian, Luxembourg, and Russian Governments. In 1949, Woolfley was appointed to the Joint Military Mission for Aid to Turkey and accompanied Turkish troops to Korea in 1952. He retired from active duty on April 30, 1953 at the age of 60. 

Governor Robert Kennon appointed Woolfley Director of Civil Defense for Louisiana in 1953. He served in this position until 1958 and was reappointed by Governor Jimmie Davis in 1960. At this time, he was also named as Assistant State Adjutant General. Woolfley served in these positions until 1964. General Woolfley was active in several military and civic organizations including the 76th Infantry Division Association, the American Legion, the Military Order of World Wars, The Civil War Round Table of New Orleans and the New Orleans Opera Club. 

In 1920, General Woolfley married Rosalie Elizabeth Dufour, daughter of Judge and Mrs. Horace L. Dufour of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the father of three children: Francis A., Jr., born 1921; Rosalie Elizabeth, born 1926; and H. L. Dufour, born 1932. General Woolfley died September 16, 1993 at the age of 100. ...

Included in the collection is the typescript of General Woolfley's autobiography in six volumes which documents his life until 1975. Two different copies of the autobiography of W. C. Flanders, General Woolfley's great grandfather are also included as is a biographical sketch of Francis Augustus Woolfley, I, the general's grandfather. This sketch dates the Anglicization of the Swiss name Wolflé to Woolfley. 

A bound monograph, privately printed and titled The Genealogy of the Woolfley Family in America, traces the general's family from the arrival of Stephen Woolfley in New Orleans in 1841 through the birth of General Woolfley's first great grandchild, Francis Augustus Woolfley V, in 1972. The Dufours, Mrs. Woolfley's family, are represented by an additional volume titled "Appendix VII".