Creating Fiction From History: 12/15/2021

Josaphyna De Villiers was born on May 21, 1894, to Willem and Dominique De Villiers. Although she entered this world in these United States of America, Josaphyna was of French ancestry, with both sets of grandparents having migrated to these shores from the South of France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Her grandparents, both paternal and maternal, had kept a certain part of their heritage a secret, as they had, in a manner of speaking, been forced to leave the land of their nativity. They had entered the country in the most natural of ways, being welcomed into New York Harbor by the outstretched arms of Lady Liberty, who had herself entered only a mere 8 years previous. Although headed for the big settlement near Chicago, the family De Villiers, after a few months in the Windy City, decided to push on Westward, where they finally settled in the much smaller city of Waukon Iowa.

Growing up in such a wandering family, as she did, Josaphyna, on the occasion of her 15th birthday, decided to try her luck in the big city, and leaving home in the middle of the night, crossed the Mighty Mississipp', headed for Chicago. She had always felt that she was meant for more than just a homely farm girl from the prairies, so when she immediately picked up work as a serving girl, our little heroine knew she was on the right track. Josaphyna, rather against her own heritage, because of her forthrightness, quickly rose in the ranks, so to speak, and soon became the More that she had set out to find. The picture attached is of Josaphyna De Villiers the day before she left for bigger things