Delvalle and Maduro

The Delvalle Family

Two brothers, Jacob and Mordechai Salom Delvalle, born in 1668 and 1678 respectively, were from Peyrhehorade (Penhorade), France. This small town, close to Bayonne near the Pyrenees, became a refuge for Jews after the Expulsions from Spain in 1492 and later Portugal. The two brothers eventually settled in Amsterdam. Jacob's descendants remained there and the Delvalle name became van Daelen. The name appears in its Dutch form - van Daelen - and also Dovale, de Vale, and Delvalle in Curaçao beginning in the late 1600's. All translate as "of the valley." 

Mordechai's grandsons Solomon (b. 1767) and Abraham (b. 1769) immigrated to Curacao. 

One of Solomon's sons, Benjamin Salom Delvalle/Shalom Delvalle, and his wife Judith de Castro moved from Curaçao to the Virgin Islands about 1833. Their first son, Solomon, was born there in 1836.

When was the first Maduro - Delvalle marriage?

In 1886 Avelyn "Lyn" Levy Maduro married Benjamin "Benny" Delvalle in New York City.
He was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands in 1862, the second of fourteen children. As the firstborn male, according to Sephardic naming tradition he was named for his paternal grandfather Benjamin Salom Delvalle (above). His parents Solomon Benjamin Delvalle and Rachel "Achie" Piza both were born in St. Thomas and died in San Francisco, California.


Avelyn Levy Maduro was born in Nicaragua in 1868, one of three children of Abraham Haim Levy Maduro and Hannah/Anna Sasso who both were born in St. Thomas, Danish Virgin Islands. (What are now the U.S. Virgin Islands  were Danish colonies from the 17th century until the U.S. purchased them in 1917.) 

Avelyn Levy Maduro (1868-abt.1952)
with grandson John Delvalle

Benjamin Delvalle (1862-1928)

Although this may be the first marriage between two people with the names Delvalle and Maduro, it was not the first between their two families. In fact, Avelyn's mother Hannah was Benjamin's first cousin. Both were grandchildren of Judith Sasso and Joshua Piza whose nine children spanned 18 years, from Hannah's mother Judith Piza Sasso born in 1819 to Benjamin's mother Rachel Piza Delvalle born in 1837. Another sister, Esther Piza Maduro, born 1831, was the mother of Judith Maduro who married David Henry Brandon.


Following Avelyn and Benjamin's marriage, there were seven other marriages linking the Maduro and Delvalle names, but that was over the course of 150 years.

With thanks to my 8th cousin René van Wijngaarden for Delvalle historical information and photos. René and I met through the JewishGen discussion group in 1997 when he posted a query including the name of his - and my - 7th great-grandmother Ribca Salom del Valle, mother of Jacob and Mordechay.