USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 213
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177 | Part 178 | Part 179 | Part 180 | Part 181 | Part 182 | Part 183 | Part 184 | Part 185 | Part 186 | Part 187 | Part 188 | Part 189 | Part 190 | Part 191 | Part 192 | Part 193 | Part 194 | Part 195 | Part 196 | Part 197 | Part 198 | Part 199 | Part 200 | Part 201 | Part 202 | Part 203 | Part 204 | Part 205 | Part 206 | Part 207 | Part 208 | Part 209 | Part 210 | Part 211 | Part 212 | Part 213 | Part 214 | Part 215 | Part 216 | Part 217 | Part 218 | Part 219
It is sometimes styled Larchmont " Manor " but as this sketch shows the Neck upon which it is situated never was either a Manor or part of a Manor. The Munro farm was very large and the extent of the part of it below the Boston Road, some 330 aeres, and the large Munro House now the chief Hotel, suggested the idea of calling it a "Manor" to the first or- ganizers of the enterprise simply to give it prestige and name. No pleasanter place can be found near New York for a summer home.
The origin of the name Larchmont is a little odd, as neither larches nor hills are indigenous to the Neck. When Mr. Munro built his house, he wished to plant a quick growing grove of trees along the turnpike road west of his entrance. His Scotch gardener, a man of the name of Rae, suggested the
1 From the original instrument in the writer's possession.
860
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
larches of his native land as they grow very rapidly indeed, and offered to send to his relatives in Scot- land for seed. Mr. Munro assented, the seed came, the trees were planted, and answered the purpose ad- mirably for about twenty or twenty five years, then they grew scraggy, began to die, and were gradually removed, the last of them during Mr. Collins' owner- ship, by whom the name was given to the place while it was his. This was the origin of the Scotch Larch in Westchester County, neither a handsome, nor long lived tree and not an acquisition of value. The " Mont " Mr. Collins evolved from his own conscious- ness, perhaps because the larch grows chiefly upon hills in its native land.
Larchmont possesses one of the largest and most flourishing yacht-clubs in the country. The beauty and accessibility of its situation and the wide ap- proach to its shores by water gives it very great ad- vantages, as well its position at the wide opening of the western end of Long Island Sound. The mem- bership is about 400 and is increasing, and the club house on the water's edge is a fine and convenient building. Long Beach Point the western extremity of De Lancey's Neck extending out parallel to the shores of Larchmont forms a cove or small harbour, of great beauty directly in front of the village it- self.
That part of the Munro farm west of the Turnpike was bought about 1840 by the late Judge James I. Roosevelt, who arranged the Cottage now the property of the family of the late Mr. George Vanderburg for his own residence. It has since been laid out in several small village plots, a large part of it is also owned by the Proprietors of Larchmont, through which runs the surface railway to thic Larchmont statiou of the New Haven Railroad, which is upon this property. West of the Railroad but invisible from it on account of the forest, is " Hannah's Peak," the highest point on the Southeastern shores of Long Island Sound and one of the stations of the Coast Survey. In its neighborhood can also be seen a fine specimen of that natural curiosity, the Rocking Stone. It is an immense boulder so accurately poiscd that it can be moved without being overthrown.
The part of the East Neck which early in the last century acquired the name it has since borne of " de Lancey's Neck," remained continuously iu that family without any of it being sold until 1848 when the late Mr. Thomas James de Lancey who had inher- ited the western part of it, with the assent of his uncle the late Rt. Reverend William H. de Lancey who had inherited the eastern part, sold his por- tion in large divisions to various parties. Its splendid sitnation, with its two beaches Long Beach and Scotch Beach, with Mamaroneck Harbour on its east side and De Lancey's Cove on its west side marked it out as a place for the fine seats and marine villas of gentlemen, with which its entire water front is now covered. The roads and drives upon it, and
the marine and inland views it commands are very beautiful and extensive. The central portion is dot- ted also with the handsome residences of gentlemen, and on the high ground at the picturesque entrance to the Neck is a large and handsome Hotel in the midst of large grounds handsomely laid out through the good taste and enterprise of Mr. Thomas L. Rush- more the gentleman who built it and who dwells in the neighbourhood with his children around him, each with his or her family possessing handsome places of their own.
Upon Long Beach Point on the west extremity of the Neck stands the splendid homc of Mr. Henry M. Flagler. This point, originally with a splendid beach on each side of it, juts into the Sound from the Body of the Neck. The late Mr. John Greacen bought it of Mr. Thomas J. de Lancey. and built a large double brick house, now a part of Mr. Flag- ler's magnificent mansion, at the western end of this unique situation, and surrounded the point with a huge wide stone sea wall upon the top of which he laid out a drive, which is without a rival of its kind on the American sea coast. The Neck itself is the "Satanstoe " of Fenimore Cooper's novel of that name and is therein gencrally described. To this point the late Mr. Greacen gave the name of " Orienta," the origin of which as he himself told the writer was this. After he got his house built he found that in the summer mornings, he could lie in bed and see the Sun rise directly out of tlie water far up the Sound, and therefore he called his place "Orient," but "subsequently " said he, finding that a little hamlet at Oyster-pond Point, Long Island, had appropriated that name, I just tacked an " a " to the end of it and called my place "Orienta." Being a musical name it is often heard as applied to the Neck itself, a fact Mr. Greacen said, he did not like " for it ought to be kept for the place I made, especially as everybody on the Neck laughed at me when I adopted it." Unfortunately it has been taken of late to designate drinking saloons &c in the village of Mamaroneck.
" Vergemere " the writer's place is at the East end of the Neck. It and Mr. Flagler's are the only places upon it which have a double water front, and where vessels can lie in safety in all winds. It is surrounded by old forest trees, is very handsomely laid out, and commands extensive and striking marine views. Be- twcen these two are the seats of Mr. James M. Con- stable, Mr. J. A. Bostwick, the Hon. David Dudley Field, Mr. Wm. G. Read, Miss Van Schaack, Mr. Ambrose McGregor, as well as those of Mr. Leonard Jacob, Mrs. Eldridge, Mr. Meigham, and that of the late James M. Miller, and Mr. James T. Burnet.
The town records of Mamaroneck consist of two volumes, one a small parchment covered folio, begin- ning only on the 2d of April, 1697, containing the records of the annual elections down alinost to the present time, when it became full. The other is a
861
MAMARONECK.
large folio about half full of deeds and miseellaneous papers among which are many freeing negro slaves uuder the state laws gradually abolishing slavery. It was opened in 1756.
The first entry in the records of Mamaroneek is as follows :
" Captain James Mott elected and ehosen assessor for the ensuing year 1697, Samuel Pahner ehosen supervisor, Henry Disbrow ehosen collector and sur- veyor of the highways, William Palmer elceted and ehosen eonstable and reeorder. All doue by the free- holders and inhabitants of the above said plaee at a town meeting held at the house of Madam Riehbil's on the 2d day of April 1697."
The entries of eleetions are made irregularly for a few years subsequently to the above date, but after- wards quite regularly. From an examination the following is a list of the supervisors and elerks of the town from the beginning as aeeurate as it cau be made :
SUPERVISORS.
1697. Samnel Palmer.
1698-99, 1702. James Mott. 1707-8. Ileury Disbrow. 1710-11. Samuel Palmer.
1712-14. Nehemiah Palmer. 1715-16. Silvanus l'ahuer. 1717. Josiab Quinby. 1718. John Griffen. 1719-20. Henry Fowler. 1721-22. Silvanus Palmer. 1723. llenry Fowler. 1724. Silvanus Palmer. 1725-26. llenry Fowler. 1727-42. Silvanus Palmer.1 1743. Underhill Budd. 1744. Nehemiah l'almer. 1745-47. Underbill Bndd. 1748-58. Jolin Stevenson. Dec. 1758. John Townsend.º 1759-60. Reuben Bloomer. 1761-70. John Townsend. 1771-75. William Sutton. 1776. Renben Bloomer. 1783-93. Gilbert Budd.
1794-97. Benjamin Griffen.
1798-1800. Joliu P. De Lancey. 1801-2. Edward Merritt. 1803-6. Aaron Palmer. 1807-13. Jolin Pinkney. 1814. John l'eter De Lancey.3 1815. Monmonth Lyon. 1816. Aaron Palmer. 1817-19. John Pinkney.
1820-24. John B. Underhill. 1825-27. Aaron l'almer.
1828. John Morrill.
1829. Edwin Post.
1830. Henry Munro.
1831-32. James Il. Gnion. 1833-34. Monmouth Lyon.
1835-42. James II. Guion.
1843-45. Benjamin MI. Brown. 1846. Stephen C. Griffen. 1847-49. Benjamin M. Brown. 1850. James 11. Guion. 1851. Charles W. Ilopkins. 1852. Louis Walslı.
1853. Zachariah Voorhees.
1854. Louis Walsh. 1855-58. Jolin Morrell.
1859-60. William L. Barker. 1861. Louis Walsh. 1862-64. Jonas D. Ilill.
1865-66. Louis Walsh. 1867. Jacob B. Humphrey. 1868. Scltureman Ilalsted. 1869-70. Thomas L. Rushmore. 1871, James J. Burnet. 1872-76. Charles 11. Birney. 1877. Matthias Banta, who has been continnally re-elected to the present year, 1886, and for the last few years by a unanimous vote of all parties, although lie is a strong Democrat.
TOWN CLERKS.
1697-99. William l'almer.
1702. Obadialı Palnter.
1708-15. Eliezer Gedney. 1718-54. Nehemiah Palmer.
1755-65. Williamu Mott. 1766-70. Jolin Townsend.
1771-1806. Gilbert Budd.
1807-16. Dr. David Rogers, Jr.+
I Died 1742. Nehemiah Palmer was elected supervisor in his stead.
2 Elected in the place of Jolin Stevenson, who had removed from the town.
3 The candidates for supervisor in 1814 wore Henry Merritt and John l'inkney. The result of the election was contested, and in June, 1814. the justice of the peace appointed Mr. De Lancey supervisor.
4 Dr. Rogers and Gilbert Budd llorton were the candidates for town clerk in 1814. A contest took place between them over the result of the
1817-24. Monmouth Lyon. 1825-26. Gny C. Bayley. 1827. Coles Tompkins. 1828-30. Monmonth Lyon. 1831. Dauiel D. T. Iladden. 1832-34. Walter Marshall. 1835. lloraco B. Slaat. 1836. Amos F. Ilatfield.
1837-11. Epenetus C. Iladden.
1842-45. Elijalı G. Dixon.
1846 47. Edward Seaman. 18-18. George Baxter.
1849-53. Edward Seaman.
1854-56. Joseph lloffman.
1857-58. Edward Seanian.
1859. Joseph lloffmau.
1×60-61. Edward Seaman.
1862-64. Joseph lloffman. 1865-66. Albert Lyou.
1867-69. Jonas D. Ilill.
1870. Albert Lyon. 1871. Jacob Buckter.
1872. John N. Boyd.
1873-74. Francis C. Corner.
1875-76. William A. Boyd.
1877. John C. Fairchild. 1878-79. Joseph 11. McLoughlin.
1880. William A. Sickles.
1881. Josepb II. McLoughlin.
1882. William 11. Lange.
1883. William A. Sickles. 1884-86. William 11. Lange.
Spaee will not permit the introduction of much curi- ous information contained in the town records which it was the intention to give, and which is found mixed up with the routine entries of town meetings, &e. &e.
The following entry however is of mnuch importanee showing as it does the burial place of John Richbell the first white man who bought Mamaroneck of the natives-the Father of the Town, his mother in law, and one of his daughters. As Mrs. Riehbell his widow continued to live in Mamaroneek and sur- vived till the first years of the eighteenth eentury, though the preeise date of her death ean not be found, it is most probable that she too is buried with her husband. There is no date to the entry, which shows beside the intimacy between the Rielibell and the Disbrow families. The James Mott who makes this declaration was the husband of Richbell's daughter Mary whose burial is mentioned in it.
The Burial Place of Richbell.
" I James Mott do give and grant to Margaret Dis- brow and her three sons Henery John and Benjamin all belonging to Momoronack to them and their fam- ylies forever the Liberty of burying their dead, whether Father or Mother, husbaud or wife, brother or sister, son or daughter, in a certain peace of Land Laying near the Salt Meadow, where Mr. Johu Rieh- bell and his wife's Mother, and my wife Mary Mott was buried in my home lot or feild adjoining to my house, written by William palmer Clerk of Momoro- naek by order of Capt James Mott."
1. Town Records 71.
The spot is on the property of Mr. Thomas L. Rushmore on the little knoll between the Harbour and De Lancey Avenne, marked by a few trees and a few half buried tombstones of a comparatively late date. How many of the Disbrows are buried there nought remains to tell. They have had for sixty or seventy years a cemetery of their own ou West St. The last person whom the writer knows to have been buried on the knoll, was the venerable Quaker who once owned the farm and the knoll itself, Scaman Giles -and of whom he has a vivid recollection. It is the
election, which was terminated in June of that year by the justices of the peace electing Dr. Rogers to the office.
862
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
oldest burial place of civilized man in the town, and it is hoped that some proper historic monument may yet mark this spot so sacred in the memory of the earliest settler of Mamaroneck and his family and friends.
There is oue other entry in the town book of such an odd nature that it must be mentioned, an entry which shows the strength of an agricultural supersti- tion very prevalent in the last century and which may linger still in some old fashioned regions.
. " April 5th, 1785. The Freeholders and Inhabitants agree that the overseers of Highways are impowered to call on all the Men in their several Districts for the purpose of Destroying the Barbery bushes, so often as the said overseers shall think proper, until the whole are destroyed, any man refusing to come, if he is legally warned, shall forfeit 4s. for every day, to be recovered in the same manner as the fines for neglect of working the roads are, which fincs shall be lay'd out as the overseers think proper." It was the popular belief of that day that the smut or blight in wheat and other grains was caused by these unfortunate barberry buslies, hence in Mamaroneck as in many other places, ridiculous as it seems at this day, they were proceeded against as public enemies.
The de Laneeys of New York so closely connected with the Province, and State, and the County of West- chester, are of French origin, the first of them in America having been driven from France by the Re- vocation of the Edict of Nantes, being a Huguenot. The annexed account of this family is mainly from Bolton's second edition of his History of West- chester County, which was drawn up from the au- thorities referred to in it, and later information from the late Bishop de Lancey and the present writer.
The de Lanceys of New York, are a branch of the ancient house of de Lancey in France, springing from Guy de Lancey, Eeuyer, Vicomte de Laval et de Nouvion, who in 1432, held of the Prince-Bishop of the Duchy of Laon, the ficfs of the four banier of La- val, and that of Nouvion.1 These territories formed one of the four Vieomte-cies of the Laonnois, a divi- sion of the old province of the "Isle of France," bordering on Picardy.
The manuscript genealogies of this family are pre- served in the Armorial General de la France 2d Reg- ister, 2d volume, in the National Library of France 2 at Paris, and in the archives of the department of the Aisne, at the city of Laon. The latter have been given in the Dictionnaire Historique du Depart- ment de' l'Aisne of M. Melville. 3 The descent is thus given from the French authorities.4
1 Sometimes spelled " Nonvian." These lands and villages are situated a few miles from the city of Laon in the present department of the Aisne.
2 The official MSS. of this work, the great National Register of the French Noblesse, were first printed by order of Louis XV., in 1738.
3 In two vols. 8vo., published at Paris and at Laon in 1865.
4 Le Nobiliaire de Picardie, Paris, 1693, title "Lauei," Dictionnaire de
The prefixed Roman numerals are so used in the French genealogies to denote the different in- dividuals bearing the same Christian name.
1432. Guy de Lancy, Ecuyer 5 Vicomte de Laval et de Nouvion. Wife, Anne de Marcilly.
1436. Jean I, (John) de Lancy, 2d Vicomte.
1470. Jean II, (John) de Lancy, 3d Vicomte, Deputy to the States-General at Tours in 1484, present at the battles Fornoue and Ravvenna.
1525. Charles I, de Lancy, 4th Vicomte. Wives, 1. Nicole St. Pere, issue, one daughter, mar- ried Antoine Pioche, of Laon. 2. Marie de Villiers, issue two sons, Charles 6th Vicomte, and Christophe, Seigneur de Raray.
1535. Charles II, de Lancy, 5th Vicomte. Wife, Isa- bel Branche, married 15th April, 1534; issue, Charles 6th Vicomte, Jacques (James) Claude, and a daughter Barbe.
1569. Charles III, de Lancy, 6th Vicomte. Wives, 1. Madeline Le Brun, married 21st of July, 1569; issue, Charles IV., de Lancy, Seigneur de Coc- quebine, (who died in 1667, leaving by Francoise Crochart, his first wife; Charles V, de Lancy, Seigneur de Charlemont, who died unmarried. By his second wife Marthe de Resnel, the Seigneur de Cocquebine, who was created a Coun- sellor to the King, 20th of March, 1652, by whom he had no children.)
Charles III, de Lancy, 6th Vicomte, was pres- 1590. ent at the battle of Ivry in 1590. 2. By his second wife Claude de May, married 15th Janu- 1593. ary, 1593, he had issue, Charles de Lancy, Sieur de Suine et de Niville, Antoine, a Canon of tlie Cathedral of Laon, and Claude.
1611. Charles de Lancy, Sieur de Suine et de Niville, 1653. born in 1611, married 25th June, 1653, Jeanne Ysore, was created a Counsellor of State to the 1689. King in 1654, and died 23d of November, 1689, leaving issue, one child,-
Charles Ambroise de Lancy, Seigneur de Ni- 1702. ville et du Condray, de Frenoi, et d'Orgemont, who married 9th January, 1702, Marie Made- leine Labbc. He was confirmed in his nobility 1697. by a decree of the King in Council, Nov. 30th, 1697. He had issue, an only son,-
1707. Pierre Charles de Lancy, Seigneur de Niville et de Blarus, born 5th of June, 1707 ; an officer of 1750. the King's Guards, who died unmarried in 1750.
Christophe de Lancy, Signeur de Raray, above named, the younger of the two sons of Charles de Lancy 4th, Vicomte de Laval et de 1525. Nouvion, created Baron de Raray, having no issue by his first wife, Barbe de Louen, married 1553. Secondly, January 19th, 1553, Francoise Lami, daughter of Pierre Lami, Seigneur de la Morliere.
la Noblesse de France, by Chenaye Desbois, vol. viii : title "Lancy;" An- nuaire de la Noblesse of Borel d'Hanterive for 1855, " Lancy-Raray." 6 Ecuyer, denotes a gentleman entitled to use coat-armor.
863
MAMARONECK.
1584. He died in 1584, leaving a son Nicholas de Laney, second Baron, Treasurer of Gaston, first Duke of Orleans who married Lucrèce de Lancise, a Florentine lady, and had four chil- dren. 1. Henry de Laney, third Baron, who 1654. was created January 17th, 1654, Marquis De Rarai. 2. Franeois de Lancy, Seigneur D'Ara- mont, called the Chevalier de Raray, who was killed at the siege of Conde, 17th August, 1674, mumarried ; and 3. Charles de Laney, Seigneur de Ribecourt, et Pimprè, who married Made- leine d'Aguesseau and died without issue in 1675. 4. Madeleine de Lauey, married 11th Novem- ber, 1619, Charles de Mornay, Seigneur de Mont- chevrenil.
Henry de Lancy, above named, 1st Marquis de Raray, married January 30th, 1633, Catharine d'Angennes, daughter of Louis d'Angennes, Seigneur de la Loupe and his wife Francoise, daughter of Odet, Seigneur d'Auberville, Bailly of the city of Caen, in Normandy, by whom he had, 1. Gaston Jean Baptiste de Laney, 2d Mar- quis ; 2. Charles de Lancy-Raray, killed at the siege of Lille, in 1667, unmarried; and 3. Marie Charlotte, wife of Louis des Acres, Marquis de l'Aigle, who died in Paris, August 27th, 1734, aged 82 years.1
1660. Gaston Jean Baptiste de Laney, second Mar- quis de Raray, married 4th May, 1660, Marie Luce Aubery, daughter of Robert, Marquis de Vatan, and had two sons, Charles Henry de Laney, third Marquis, made a page to the King 1679. iu 1679, who died shortly after, unmarried, and Gaston Jean Baptiste de Lancy, who succeeded his brother as fourth Marquis and died unmar- ried not long after. Both these brothers died 1680. in 1680; and with them ended the males of this branch of the family. Their sisters were five, Henriette, wife of the Marquis de Creve- cœur ; Catharine, wife of the Seigneur de la Bil- larderie ; ? Francoise, died unmarried ; Annette, died unmarried, and Marie Luee, wife of the Comte de Nonant, who died 16th March, 1743, aged eighty.
I Le Palais d'LEIonneur, Paris, 1664, page 312, family " d' Angenues."
2 In front of the altar at the Church of Vreberie, (department of Oise, France), there is a tombstone erected to this lady, inscribed :-
D. 0. 31.
Ict repose Ilante etpuissante Dame
Madame FRANCOISE DE LANCI RARI, dame Des Terres et Seigneuries, d'Haramont, Ribecourt, l'impre St. Germain et Ruy, en partie ('hatelaine Ilereditaire et engagiste des Domaines de Béthizy et Verberie, possides par ses peres de puisplus deux cents ans venve de Slesire Barthelemi de Flahant Chevelier seigneur de la Billarderie Maitre de camp de Cavalerie, exempt des gardes du corps du Roi tue a la batalle de Mal plaquet. La dite Dame de la Billarderie est decedee la 25 Juin, 16:4. agree de 61 ans. Priez pour son âme
The Arms are .blazoned in the "Armorial General de la France," thus, " ARMES; or, a l'aigle eployee de sable, charge sur l'estomac d'un ecusson d'azur, a trois lances d'or, posees en pal, pointes en haut." In English, ARMS: Or, an eagle wings dis- played, sable, charged on the breast with a shield azure, three tilting lances or, in pale, points upward.
On becoming a British subject, Etienne (or Ste- phen) de Lancy modified these arms which had originated before the use of crests in heraldry, to make them more like those of English families, most of which have crests ; and though not registered in the English College of Arms, they appear as so modi- fied in most English heraldic works, aud have since been so borne in America, notably on the official seal of his son James de Laneey, as Lt. Governor and Captain General of New York. They are thus blaz- oned :- ARMS; Azurc, a tilting lance proper, point up- ward with a pennon argent bearing a eross gules fringed and floating to the right, debruised of a fess, or. CREST ; a sinister arm in armor embowed, the hand grasping a tilting lance, pennon floating, both proper. MOTTO ; Certum voto pete finem.
The name of this family, anciently spelled " Lanci," and later "Lancy," in France, was anglicised by Etienne de Lancy on being denizenized a British sub- ject in 1686, after which time he always wrote his name Stephen de Lancey-thus inserting an " e" in the final syllable. The "de" is the ordinary French prefix, denoting nobility.
The Seigneur Jacques (James) de Lancy, above- named, second son of Charles de Laney, fifth Vicomte de Laval et de Nouvion, was the aueestor of the Huguenot branch, the only existing one, of this fam- ily. His son the Seigneur Jacques de Lancy of Caen, married Marguerite Bertrand, daughter of Pierre Ber- trand of Caen, by his first wife, the Demoiselle Firel, and had two children, a son Etienne (or Stephen) de Lancey, born at Caen, October 24, 1663, and a daugh- ter, the wife of John Barbarie. 3 On the revocation of the edict of Nantes, Stephen de Lancey was one of those who, stripped of their titles and estates, fled from persecution-leaving his aged mother, then a widow, in coucealment at Caen, he escaped to Hol- land, where, remaining a short time, he proceeded to England, and taking out letters of denization as an English subject at London, on the 20th of March, 1686, he sailed for New York, where he arrived on the 7th of June following. Here with three hundred pounds sterling, the proceeds of the sale of some family jewels, the parting gift of his mother, he em- barked in mercantile pursuits. By industry and strict application to business, he became a successful mer-
3 MISS., "Bertrand" Genealogy :- Jolin Barbarie and his family came to New York in It's, in which year (on 5th January), he and his sons l'eter, and John Peter, were denizened as English subjects in London. Hle was subsequently a merchant in New York, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Stephen de Lancy, and a member of the Council of the Province.
864
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
chant and amassed a large fortune. He was a highly esteemed and influential man, and held, through all his Jifc, honorable appointments in the councils of the city, as well as in the Representative Assembly of the Province. He was elected Alderman of the west ward of the city, five years after his arrival, in 1691. He was representative from the city and county of New York, in the Provincial Assembly, from 1702 to 1715, with the exception of 1709 ; and in 1725, on the decease of Mr. Provoost, he was elected again to that body. The following year he was re-elected, and con- tinued in office until 1737; a service of twenty-six years in all. In 1716, being a vestryman of Trinity church, he contributed £50, the amount of his salary as Representative to the General Assembly, to buy a city clock for that church, the first cver erccted in New York. To him and Mr. John Moore, his part- ner, the city is also indebted for the introduction of fire engines, in 1731. 1 He was one of the principal benefactors of the French church, Dn St. Esprit, es- tablished in New York by the refugees who fled upou the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and a warm friend of the French Huguenots at New Rochelle. The following letter addressed by him, 1591, to his friend Alexander Allaire, is still preserved among the public records at New Rochelle.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.