4:03 p.m. e.s.t. 1-7-2011 THIS IS BY DAVID GEORGE DELANCEY In reference of The DeLancey's "A Romance of a Great Family" by D.A. Story an author of it of 1923 to 1930 based in Halifax Nova Scotia and the New York area and other parts of the U.S. by family connection one in particular Jones History of New York. Etienne was born 1663 Caen France The family of this deLancey, which is of Norman-French origin, was, previous to the outbreak of the Revolutionary war in America, one of the wealthiest in the New World, and among the foremost in its commercial, social, intellectual, and religious life. It had been well represented, also, in its military forces, and in the judicial, legislative and executive positions in the colony of New York.
During the troublous times immediately preceding it, many of its members were active in public affairs, and were aware of the duplicity, and deliberate breaches of faith on the part of the representatives of some of the colonies in their dealings with the mother country, and the bigotry and inherent disloyalty of the Puritan element, which constituted one of the greatest difficulties in the way of a peaceful settlement of the questions at issue.
They were, however, in sympathy with many of the demands of the Colonists as a whole, and not only joined, but led them, in some instances, in their protests against such Acts of the London parliament as seemed to them to be either oppressive or unjust, and on the other hand, endeavoured to secure a reasonably honest adherence, on the part of the Colonists, to the oaths of allegiance which they had taken, either individually, or through their representatives, as a condition of the granting of the charters to each Colony, by the Crown.
The deLanceys fully appreciated too, the resourcefulness and fighting qualities of the colonists, a large proportion to whom were as much at home with a rifle as with a plow, for they had led them successfully against both the French and Indians, and realized how much the nature of the country would favour them in the event of the struggle, which seemed imminent. Yet when the Revolution broke out, they, with but one notable exception, though not of British, but largely of French and Dutch descent, remained loyal to the oaths they had taken to that Crown, under which, nearly a century earlier, their ancestor, the first American representative of the family, had sought and found refuge from religious persecution.
During the war they took an active part on the side of the Crown, made great sacrifices in its behalf, and were valiant in the field. As a consequence they suffered much through wilful destruction of property, and were subjected to great indignities and inhuman treatment at the hands of the rebels.
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After its close they, and a number of adherents of the Royal cause, especially those who were their close friends or relatives by marriage, were mercilessly persecuted by those in authority, an Act of Attainder was passed against them, and their property confiscated. This action, while allegedly taken in the interest of the new government, was, in reality, largely to satisfy the envy and rapacity of those whose birth, social standing and circumstances were less fortunate then their own.
Even Sabine, in his attempt to defend their banishment, and incidentally, the confiscation of their property, ( an act unparalleled in the history of civilized nations, and one that has left an indelible stain on the early history of what is now a great country) pays respect to their reputations when he says: " If they remained at liberty, their characters and modesty rendered their counsel of vast service to their own, and of course vast harm to the opposite party, amid the doubts and fears which prevailed, and had a direct tendency to prolong and embitter the contest. It became necessary to secure them either by imprisonment or exile."
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Of these matters much has been written in the histories of the war and its time, in those of the counties in the State of New York in which their princely homes were situated, and in those of the Province of Nova Scotia to which some members of the family came. Also in many other publications including the magazines and newspapers of the period, and of later years in both countries. But the attachment of the family to the British crown did not end with the cessation of hostilities, nor the singing of the treaty of peace. On the contrary the British military files exhibit a record of subsequent service in its armies, ending only with the great European war of 1914-1918, that those of few others can equal, and without which, the family history, remarkable as it otherwise is, would be robbed of much of the lustre to which it is entitled, yet I cannot find that this record has been more than lightly touched upon, and then only in a desultory way, or in connect with some individual biography.
One of the purposes of this sketch is, therefore, by incorporating it with such other family history as I have been able to gather, to make some slight amends for this neglect.
It is most fitting that this should be undertaken by Nova Scotia, and dedicated to the memory of those particular members of the family who selected this province for their new homes, and who remained in it regardless of the privations they had to suffer and hardships they had to endue; and , moreover, took for many years after their arrival, an ative and prominent place in its affairs.
Some few of their descendants, it should be pointed out, are still living within its borders. D. A. Story. Halifax, N.S. 1930 and Part of David George DeLancey Art Economics History DeLancey History Files
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5:52 P.M. THE ARMS OF THE DELANCEYS "The arms of the deLanceys are thus blazoned in the 'Armorial General de la France.'
"Arms,d'or a l'aigle eployee de sable, chargee sur l'estomac d'un ecussion d'azur, a trois lances d'or, posees en pal, les pointes en haut," which translated into English heraldic idiom is "Arms; or, an eagle displayed sable, charged on the breast with a shield* argent, bearing three tilting lances proper, in pale, points upwards." Over the main shield they carried the seignorial coronet of Vicomte.
Those arms, originating before crests were introduced in heraldry, were modified like his name, by Etienne deLancey, on becoming a British subject, to make them more like English arms, most of which have crests. However, they were never registered in the English college of arms and do not, therefore, appear in its publications.
As used by him, his son, Governor James deLancey, and the family up to the close of the revolution they were, Arms, Azure; a tilting lance proper, point upward with a pennon argent, bearing a cross jules fringed or floating to the right debruised of a fess or, crest, a sinister arm in armour, embowed, the hand grasping a tilting lance, pennon attached both proper. Motto: "Certum Voto Pete Finem."

Under the Loyalist Act of King George III in 1789, the title of +Banneret of Quebec of the United Empire was conferred upon Brigadier-General Oliver deLancey and with it the authority was given to add the coronet of a Banneret above the coronet of Vicomte and the azure octofoll of the noblesse at the point of the shield.
The arms then granted them, as British subjects, by Garter King of Arms were----Gules----Two bars argent, in chief three cinque foils of the last.
Crest---A demi-leopard guardant, supporting an anchor proper.
To this is alo added the coronet of a Banneret and the azure octofoil.
There is no motto, but all his descendants, by either male or female lines, are entitled to use the arms with the addition of the coronet and the cinque foil "Marks of Honour" granted in acknowledgments of loyalty to the crown; the other direct descendants, the arms as described, only..
deLancey French Noblesse /// Arms of Gov. James deLancey New York /// deLancey as granted by King George III

6:36 P.M. EARLY FAMILY HISTORY Jones History of N.Y. Folio 651. "The family belongs to the "Isle of France", the old French province of which Paris is the capital, and to that part of it adjoining Picardy, anciently, and sometimes still, termed the 'Laonnois' from the chief city of Laon, for centuries the city of the Prince-Bishopric or Duchy of Laon and to-day the capital of the Department of the 'Aisne'. The allusion in text to the 'French peerage' of Etienne deLancey is explained by the following statement, drawn from the authorities cited at the close of this note.
"It also explains the reference to his family and inheritance in the New York Weekly Journal of the 30th November, 1741.
"The first of thename, of whom there is authentic record, was Guy deLancey Ecuyer Vicompte deLaval et de Nouvian (or Novion), who in 1432 held of the Prince Bishop of Laon the fiefs of Laval and Nouvion, villages and territories a few miles south of that city. His wife was Anne deMarcelly. He had a son John, who succeeded in 1436; he, a son also named John who succeeded in 1470, who was a deputy to the States General of Tours in 1484 and present at the battles of Fornoue and Ravenna, he a son Charles I, who succeeded in 1525 and a daughter, Isabeau, who married the Seigneur deBarenton. This Charles I gave, on the 16th of May, 1525, to Louis deBourbon, Bishop and Duke of Laon, his acknowledgment of the feudal tenure of the fief entitled 'le four banier deLaval' a dependency of the Duchy od Laon. He married/twice: 1st to Nicola St. Pere, by whom ha had one child a daughter, married to Antoine Pioche of Laon; 2nd to Marie deVilliers, by whom he had two sons, Charles II and Christophe, created Baron deRaray. Charles II succeeded in 1535 as fifth vicompte; his wife was Isabeau Branche, daughter of Furie Branche Ecuyer, Sieur deBrean, whom he married 15th April 1534, They had three sons, Charles III, Jacques, and Claude, and one daughter, Barbe. Charles III, sixth vicompte, married; 1st, on July 21st, 1569, Madeleine LeBrun ; and 2nd on 15th January, 1593 Claude deMay. He was present at the battle of Ivry in 1590. By his first wife he had Charles IV Seigneur de Cocquebine, created by the King a Counsellor of State in 1652, who died in 1667, leaving by his first wife, Francoise deCrochart, a son CharlesVIII, Seigneur deChariemont, who died unmarried, whom this first line of the whole blood of the eldest branch became extinct in the males; and two daughters, Marie died unmarried in 1674 and Anne wife of Antoine leParmentier, Ecuyer, Sieur deCauroi. By his second "Charles III, by his second wife above mentioned, Claude deMay, had Charles deLancey, Sieur de Suine et de Neville, Counsellor of the King in 1654, Antoine, a Canon of the Cathedral of Laon, and, of course, unmarried, and Claude, Charles, Seiur de Suine et Neville, married 25th June, 1653, Jeanne Ysore, and died 23rd November, 1689, aged 78 years. He had one son Charles Ambrose deLancey, Ecuyer, Seigneur de Neville et du Coudai, who was confirmed in the possession of his nobility by an 'arret', or decree of the King in Council, of November 30th, 1697, in consequence of the proof of the descent then made; which declared that 'la Maison deLancey' was maintained in its 'nobless d'ancienne extraction', and as such of right enjoyed, and were entitled to all the privileges belonging to the 'noblesse' of France. This Charles Ambroise maried, 9th January 1702, the Demoisselle Marie Madeleine Labbe, and had only one child, a son. Pierre Charles deLancey Ecuyer, Seigneur deNeville et deBlarus, born 5th June 1707, who died without issue in 1750, when this line of the half blood of the eldest branch became extinct.
"Jacques 1st above named, second son of Charles II, the father of Jacques of Caen whose son Etienne, born 1663, came to New York in 1686, as above stated, was an ancestor of the Huguenot, or second line of the elder branch. His descendants, as Protestants, being 'civily dead', and by law incapable of being registered, of course do not appear in the French genealogies subsequent to the beginning of the seventeenth century.
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ESTATES, and after his escape reached Rotterdam, and from thence crossed over to England. There he took the oath of allegiance on March 11th 1686, and obtained an "Act of Denization" from King James II. Soon afterwards he sailed for the English Colonies in America, and landed in New York on the 7th June, 1686. He took out letters of denization in New York, also, under Governor Dongan's hand and seal, on 7th July 1686, and on 7th September 1687, took the oath of allegiance under the Colonial Act of 1683.
Etienne deLancey, except for some jewels given him by his mother, was without means when he left France. These he was able to conceal about his person, and on them he realized some 300. His lineage, education, and refinement, however, secured him immediate recognition in the new world, in which he was soon to become a central figure.
On January 23rd, 1700, he married Anne Van Cortlandt, third child of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Chief Justice of New York, and his wife Gertrude Schuyler. They had ten children, seven sons of whom two died in infancy and two others young and unmarried, and three daughters, one of whom also died young.
The three surviving sons, and the two daughters all left descendants.
In time he became wealthy. He was a member of the New York Assembly 1702-1708, 1710-1715, 1725-1737, in all twenty-six years, and gave the first town clock to New York City. He also, with his partner, John Watt, imported and presented to it its first fire engine. At his death he__perhaps continued/ will seek more history. 8:40 P.M.

The first Old DeLancey Home of Etienne at 54 Pearl Street had The Chamber of Commerce was organized in it in 1768, John Cruger, whose son, John Harris Cruger, married one of Oliver deLancey's daughters, was its first president. In one of its rooms. It is now owned by one of the patriotic societies and carefully looked after. The ten children of Stephen and Anne (Van Cortlandt) deLancey were: 1. Stephen 2nd, b. Aug. 28th, 1700, died young (Etienne). 2. James 3rd, b. April 5th, 1702, died young (Jacques) 3. James 4th, b. Nov. 27th, 1703, Lieutenant-Governor of New York---Anne Heathcote and had issue. 4.Peter1st, b. Aug. 26th, 1705, M.L.A.,New York---Elizabeth Colden and had issue. 5. Susannah 1st, b. 1707---Admiral Sir Peter Warren K.B., and had issue. 6. Anne 2nd, b. Nov. 11th, 1711, died young. 7. Etienne 3rd, (Stephen) b. July 1, 1713, a bachelor, died in 1745 8. John 4th, b. July 11th, 1716, a bachelor, d.1741 9. Oliver 1st, b. Sept. 16th, 1718, Brigadier-General---Phila Frank and had issue. 10. Anne 3rd, b. April 23rd, 1723---John Watt, Sr. a member of H. M. Council and had issue.
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My branch, from myself David George DeLancey to Peter DeLancey to Etienne DeLancey and will gather the previous DeLancey Ancestrial Files of Etienne's Family prior to entry of a newer country and the expanding of establishments.

I have a start up collection of History at www.Anciently DeLancey.com 1-7-2011 9:06 P.M.

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