History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 214

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

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 214

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NIEU YORK, LE 27 JULIET, 1691.

MONS. ALLAIRE :

Monsieur Notre Amy Mons. Bouhciler, avant de partir me donnera ordre qu'en cas quil viu-se à mourir il suit fair donuation de ses térres à sa filleule votre fille, Sy vous pouvez faire quelque Benefice des dits terres. Soit a Couper des arbres ou a faire des foins sur les prairies vous Je pouves a l'exclusion de qqui quese soit, Je suis.

Mons, votre trè humble serviteur, ETIENNE DE. LANCEY, Ceu est la vèrétable coppie de l'original. 2

He was a vestryman of Trinity church, New York at the time of his death, in 1741. He married Jannary 23d, 1700, Anne Van Cortlandt, danghter of Stephanns Van Cortlandt (whose family was then one of the most opulent and extensive in the Province). Stephen de Lancey at his death in 1741 left issne surviving, James, Peter, Stephen, John, Oliver, Susan and Anne. Of these sons Stephen and Jolin died bache- lors. Susan married Admiral Sir Peter Warren, and Anne the Hon. John Watts of New York. The cldest son, James de Lancey, a man of great talent, was born in the City of New York, 27th November, 1703, and received his education at the University of Cambridge, England. He was a fellow commoner of Corpus Christi College (where he was styled the " handsome American") and studied law in the Temple. In 1725, he returned to New York, and on the deccase of John Barbarie, his uncle by marriage, was appointed by George II. to succeed him in the Provincial Council. He took his seat at the board, January 29, 1729, and held it to April 9, 1733, when he was appointed Chief

Justice of New York and continued so the remain- der of his life. In 1753, on the accession of Sir Dan- vers Osborne as Governor, in the place of George Clinton, he received the commission of Lientenant- Governor, which had been conferred upon him in 1747 by George II. and had been kept back by Clin- ton until this time. The oath of office was adminis- tered October 10, 1753. The tragical death of Sir Danvers Osborn by suicide two days afterwards, oc- casioned the elevation of Mr. de Lancey to the Gn- bernatorial chair, which he occupied till the 2d of September, 1755, when the new Governor, Admiral Sir Charles Hardy arrived, who administered the government till the 2d of July, 1757. Preferring a naval command Hardy resigned, and sailed in the expedition to Louisburgh, and Mr. De Lancey again took the reins of Government.

The ministry of England wished to keep the com- mand of New York in the hands of Mr. de Lancey, but it was then, as it is to this day, a rule of the Eng- lish Government never to appoint a native colonist to the supreme command over his own colony. To effect their object in this case without violating their rnle, they decided not to appoint any new Governor as long as Mr. de Lancey lived; he therefore re- mained the Governor of New York under his commis- sion as Lientenant-Governor until his death, some three years afterwards, on the 30th of July, 1760.3

"On the 19th of June, 1754, Governor de Lancey convened and presided over the celebrated Congress of Albany, the first Congress ever held in America, over which he presided. This was a Congress of delegates from all the colonies, which the home government di- rected the Governor of New York to hold, for the pur- pose of conciliating the Indian nations who were in- vited to attend it; of renewing the covenant chain and attaching them more closely to the British inter- est, and comprising all the provinces in one general treaty to be made with them in the King's name, and for no other purpose.4 Specches and presents were inade to the Indians who promised to do all that was asked of them, but no formal treaty whatever was concluded. The Congress voted instead, that the delegation from each colony except New York, should appoint one of their number, who together should be a committee to digest a plan for a general union of all the colonies.

The choice of the New York committee-inan was left to Governor de Lancey, who, acting most impar- tially, appointed his political opponent, William Smith, Esq., the elder.5 This movement, which was not within the objects of the Congress as defined in

1 Miscellaneous works, by Gen. de Peyster ; De l'eyster Gen. Ref. p. 54.

2 Copied from original MISS. in Rec. of New Rochelle.

3 For a full biographical sketch of Governor De Lancey, see Documen- tary History of New York, vol. IV, p. 1037.

+ Virginia and Carolina did not send delegates, but desired to be con- sidered as present. Doc. Hist. N. Y., II, 567.

5 See Letter of Lords of Trade, directing the holding of the Congress, and the minutes of its proceedings in full, in Doc. Hist. N. Y., II, 555, and N. Y. Col. Hist., vi. p. 853.

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the letter of the Board of Trade above inentioned, re- sulted in the adopting of a plan of a union to be made by an act of Parliament, which, after the provisions were resolved on, was put into form by Benjamin Franklin, who was a delegate from Pennsylvania, and which was not decided upon, but merely sent to the different provinces for consideration.

Before the motion for the appointment of this com- mittee was made, Governor de Lancey, being in favor of the colonies uniting for their own defence, pro- posed the building and maintaining, at the joint ex- pense of the colonies, of a chain of forts covering their whole exposed frontier, and some in the Indian coun- try itself. But this plan, like the other, was without effect upon the Congress ; for, as he tells us himself, "they seemed so fully persuaded of the backwardness of the several assemblics to come into joint and vig- orous measures that they were unwilling to enter upon the consideration of the matters."1 His idea seems to have been for a practical union of the col- onies for their own defense to be made by themselves ; whilst that of the committees, who despaired of a vol- untary union, was for a consolidation of the colonies to be enforced by act of Parliament. Neither plan, however, met with favor in any quarter, and the Con- gress effected little but the conciliation of the In- dians.2

In the autumn of 1754, the Governor suggested to the Assembly the system of settling lands in town- ships instead of patents, a measure which, being passed by them, rapidly increased the population and prosperity of the colony.3

Ou the 31st of October, 1754, Governor de Lancey signed and passed the charter of King's (now Colum- bia) college, in spite of the long and bitter opposition of the Presbyterians, led by Mr. William Livingston. So decided were they against the Episcopalians at this time, and so determined were the efforts of Mr. Livingstou to break down the college, that, though signed and sealed, the charter was not delivered in consequence of the clamor, till May 7th, 1755, when, after an address, Governor de Lancey presented it to the trustees in forın.+

" No American had greater influence in the col- onies than James de Lancey. Circumstances, it is true, aided in raising him to this elevation-such as education, counections, wealth, and his high conser- vative principles ; but he owed as much to personal qualities, perhaps, as to all other causes united. Gay, witty, easy of access, and frank, he was, personally, the most popular ruler the Province ever possessed, even when drawing tightest the reins of Govern- ment."5

The death of Governor James de Lancey, which took place on the 30th of July, 1760, was an event which had a great influence in the affairs of the Prov- ince. He was found expiring upon that morning, scated in his chair in his library, too late for medical aid. His funeral took place on the evening of the 31st of July, 1760. The body was deposited in his family vault, in the middle aisle of Trinity Church, the funeral service being performed by the Rev. Mr. Barclay, in great magnificence; the building was spleudidly illuminated. The accounts of the funeral and the procession from his house in the Bowery to the church, filled columns of the papers of the day.6

The following particulars are copied from a memo- randum written by the elder John Watts, of New York, in 1787 :

" James de Lancey was a man of uncominon abilities in every view, from the law to agriculture, and an eleguut, pleasant companion-what rarely unites in one person ; it seemed doubtful which excelled, his quick penetration or bis sound judgment ; the first seemed an instant guide to the last. No man in either office, (Chief Justice or Lieut. Governor,) had more the love and confidence of the people ; nor any man, before or since, half the influence. He was nufortunately taken from us in July, 1760, so suddenly that his very family suspected no danger. We had spent, very agreeably, the day before on Staten Island ; after ten at night he left my house perfectly well, in the morning he was as usual, but about nine a servant was dispatched to tell me his mas- ter was very ill. I mounted instantly and hurried to his house in Bowery Lane, but on the way was alarmed by a call 'that all was over,' and too true I found it ; he sat reclined in his chair, one leg drawn in, the other extended, his arms over the elbows, so naturally, that had I not been apprized of it, I certainly should have spoken as I entered the room. Nobody but his youngest daughter, a child, was present at the time, so little did the family apprehend the least danger. Never did these eyes behold snch a spectacle, or did my spirits feel such an impression. The idea affects me whenever I think of it; to lose such a companion, such a counsellor, such a friend."

James de Lancey married as above stated, Anne, eldest daughter and co-heiress of the Hon. Caleb Heathcote, Lord of the Manor of Searsdale. By her, he had four sons; first, James; second, Stephen ; third, Heathcote; fourth, John Peter; and four daughters ; first, Mary, wife of William Walton, who died in 1767 ; second, Susannah, born 18th November, 1737, died a spinster in 1815 ; third, Anne, born 1746, and died in 1817, who married Thomas Jones, Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, author of the History of New York during the Revolutionary War ; and Martha who died a spinster, aged 19, in 1769.

James De Lancey, the eldest son of the Lieutenant- Governor, born in 1732, was the head of the political party, called by his name, from his father's death to the Revolution and its leader in the Assembly of the Province. He married, August 17th, 1771, Margaret Allen of Philadelphia, daughter of William Allen, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, whose sister was the wife of Governor John Penn of that Province. The late Mrs. Harry Walter Livingston (born Mary Allen) who died in 1855, was a niece of these two sisters. James de Lancey had two sons, Charles in early life a British naval officer, and James, Lieut-Colonel of

1 See his speech to the Assembly of August 20th, 1754. Ass. Jour., 11, 386, 387.

" See the proceedings of the Congress. Doc. Ilist. N. Y., 11, 386, 387. 8 Assembly Journal, II, for September, 1754.

4 Doc. Ilist. N. Y. IV, 1051.

G Doc. Hist. N. Y., p 1037.

6 Parker's Post Boy and other newspapers.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

the First Dragoon Guards; both died bachelors, the former May 6th, 1840, and the latter May 26th, 1857 ; and three daughters, Margaret, married July 17th, 1794, Sir Jukes Granville Clifton Jukes, Bart. and died June 11th, 1804 without leaving children ; Anna and Susan who both died spinsters, the first, August 10th, 1851, and the last April 7th, 1866.

Stephen the second son of Lieutenant-Governor de Lancey was the proprietor of what is now the town of North Salem in this county, which came to his father as part of his share in the Manor of Cortlandt, which town Stephen de Lancey settled. He built a large double dwelling, which he subsequently gave to the town for an Academy which is still in existence.1 He married Hannah Sackett, daughter of Rev. Joseph Sackett of Crom Pond and died without issue May 6th, 1795. Heatheote, the third son of the Lieuten- ant-Governor, died young before his father.

John Peter de Laneey, the fourth son of Lt. Gov- ernor de Lancey, was born in the city of New York, July 15th, 1753, and died at Mamaroneck, January 30th, 1828. He was edueated in Harrow school in England, and at the military school at Greenwich. In 1771, he entered the regular army as Ensign, and served up to the rank of captain in the 18th, or Royal Irish Regimeut of Foot. He was, also, for a time by special permission, Major of the Pennsylvania Loyal- ists, commanded by Col. William Allen.

He received the Heathcote estates of his mother, in the Manor of Searsdale; and having retired from a military life, in 1789 returned to America and ro- sided at Mamaroneck. He built a new house, still standing on Heathcote Hill, the site of his grandfather Heathcote's great briek manor-house, which was ac- cidentally burnt several years prior to the Revolu- tion. He married 28th September, 1785, Elizabeth Floyd, daughter of Col. Richard Floyd of Mastic, Suffolk County, the head of that old Long Island family, and had three sons and five daughters. The sons were, 1. Thomas James, a lawyer, who died in 1822, at the early age of 32, leaving by his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Ellison, an ouly child, a son, also named Thomas James, who married Frances Augusta Bibby, and died in 1859, without having had issue. 2. Edward Floyd, born 18th June, 1795 and died a bachelor, 19th October 1820. 3. William Heathcote, boru 8th October, 1797, at Mamaroneck, and died at Geneva, New York, April 5, 1865, the late Bishop of Western New York.

The daughters were five in number. 1. Anne Charlotte, born 17th September, 1786, married 10th December, 1827; John Loudon McAdam, the eele- brated originator of MeAdamized roads,2 and died at Hoddesdon, in England, 29th May, 1852, without is-

sue. 2. Susan Augusta, wife of James Fenimore Cooper, the eminent Ameriean Author, born 28th January, 1792, married 1st January, 1811,3 and died 20th of January, 1852. 3. Maria Frances, born August 3d, 1793; died 17th of January, 1806. 4. Elizabeth Caroline, born 4th March, 1801, and died, single, 25th February, 1860. 5. Martha Arabella, born 10th January, 1803, who died in May 1882.

William Heathcote de Laneey, the first Bishop of Western New York, was born at Heathcote Hill, Mamaroneck, October 8th, 1797.

After attending school at Mamaroneck, and then at New Rochelle, where his teacher was Mr. Waite, father of the present Chief Justice Waite of the Su- preme Court of the United States, he was sent to the academy of the Rev. Mr. Hart, at Hempstead, L. I., aud on the death of that gentleman, was transferred at the suggestion of his father's personal friend, the Hon. Rufus King, to that of the Rev. Dr. Eigen- brodt, at Jamaica. Entering Yale College in 1813, Mr. de Lancey graduated in 1817, and at once com- meneed the study of theology with the celebrated Bishop Hobart, as a private student. He was or- dained a deacon by that prelate on the 28th of De- cember, 1819, and a priest on March 6th, 1822.

Mr. de Lancey married on the 22d of November, 1820, Frances, third daughter of Peter Jay Munro, of New York, and of Mamaroneck, the distinguished lawyer, onlychild of the Rev. Dr. Harry Munro, the last English Reetor of St. Peter's church, Albany, N. Y., by his third wife, Eve Jay, daughter of Peter Jay, the first of that name in Rye, (one of whose younger brothers was Chief Justice John Jay) by his wife Margaret, daughter of the Hon. Henry White, of the Council of the Province of New York, aud his wife Eve Van Cortlaudt, of Yonkers.

While a divinity student Mr. de Lancey held the first serviees of the Episcopal Church iu Mamaro- neek; and with the aid of his father, John Peter de Laneey and Peter Jay Munro, who were its first wardens, founded the Parish of St. Thomas in that village.

After serving for short periods as deaeon in Trinity church, and in Graee ehureh, New York, he was in- vited by the venerable Bishop White of Pennsylvania to be his personal assistant in the " Three United Churches" of Christ church, St. Peter's, and St James in Philadelphia, of which he was also the Ree- tor. Mr. de Laneey accepted this position and re- moved to Philadelphia, where he continued to reside in the closest and most confidential relations with Bishop White, until the death in 1836, of that great and venerable prelate, the first Bishop of the Ameri- ean Church, eonseerated by Angliean Bishops.

During this period, in 1827, in his thirtieth year, Mr. de Laneey was chosen Provost of the University

1 Sce Town of North Salem.

2 She was his second wife. His first wife was Glorianna Nicoll of Suffolk County, Long Island; a first cousin of Mrs. Jolin Peter de Lancey, the mother of his second wife.

3 This marriage was soleninized in the house of Mr. de Lancey, at Heathcote Ilill.

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of Pennsylvania, that old " College in Philadelphia " founded by Benjamin Franklin ; and also received the degree of D.D., from his Alma Mater, Yale Col- lege-being the youngest man upon whom, up to that time, she had conferred that honor. He remained in the Provostship five years, having brought the University up to a very flourishing condition, when he resigned to resume his professiou and was elected assistant minister of St. Peter's church, Philadelphia, with the reversion of the Rectorship upon the death of Bishop White.

That event occurring in 1836, Dr. de Lancey then became Rector of St. Peter's and remained such until 1839, when, upon the division of the State of New York into two Dioceses, he was elected Bishop of that part of the State, west of Utica, and consecrated Bishop of Western New York, at Auburn, May 9th, 1839, and took up his residence at Geneva in Ontario County, a town nearly in the centre of the new Dio- cese the same year.

After a long, distinguished and successful episcopate of twenty-seven years, Bishop de Lancey died in his own house in Geneva, on the 5th of April, 1865, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. " In him," said a writer of the day, " the Church in America loses the further services of one of her oldest and wisest Bisliops. De- scended from one of the oldest and best families in this country-which dates far back in our colonial history, and was from the first one of the staunchest pillars of the Church-Bishop de Lancey had also the good fortune to be personally connected with the leading minds in our American branch of the Church Catholic. After studying for holy orders under Bishop Hobart, and being ordained by him both Deacon and Priest, he became assistant to the vener- able Bishop White, and continued in the closest and most confidential intercourse with him to his death in 1836. *

* * During his connection witlı the Diocese of Pennsylvania, he filled numerous posts of dignity and useful service, among which were the Provostship of the University of Pennsylvania, the Secretaryship of the House of Bishops, and of the Pennsylvania Convention ; his activity, high charac- ter and living influence, were inferior to those of no other Priest in the Diocese. This early promise was not disappointed, but abundantly fulfilled, in his career as the first Bishop of Western New York. He was one of the men whom nature had marked out for a ruler among his fellows. With sound principles, earnest devotion, personal gravity, and spotless purity of life, he possessed a clearness of head, a keeu knowl- edge of human nature, and a coolness, caution, readi- ness, and boldness, which all combined in making him a successful Bishop. His skill in debate was rc- markable, and was fully equalled by his mastery of all the resources of parliamentary tactics, either for carry- ing a measure which he favored, or defeating one to which he was opposed. His vigilance and unflinching tenacity were fuily on a par with his other qualities ;

and yet his courtesy and gentlemanly bearing, together with a pleasant touch of humor, so lubricated the friction of every contest, that no undue heat remained on either side when the struggle was over. No higher testimony could be given to the manner in which he discharged his high office, than the fact of great and steady growth in his Diocese, together with a main- tenance of an internal harmony, unity and peace, such as no one of our great Dioceses has been able to equal, much less surpass; nor was he ever the subject of systematic attack from outside of his own jurisdiction. But his care was not limited to his own immediate charge. While Hobart College, and De Veaux Col- lege, and the Theological Training School, and other flourishing Church schools, manifest his power of organization and maintenance, aud his success in rallying aid by means of the confidence which his personal and official character inspired, he never ne- glected the General Institutions of the Church. Not only in General Convention was he one of the strong men of the Upper House; but in the Board of Mis- sions, in the Church Book Society, in the General Theological Seminary, lie has been among the fore- inost, sometimes the one of all others to lead the way at critical moments, and to sound the call to which others were glad to rally. His clear-sightedness, in- deed, sometimes made him a little in advance of his time ; and no truer proof of wisdom could be given by a tenacious man than the promptness with which he dropped a subject when satisfied that it was not yet ripe for action. One case of this kind was in regard to the General Theological Seminary, which he fore- saw must sooner or later change its form from a gen- eral to a local institution ; and about twenty years ago he proposed it in the Board. The proposal failed, and was not renewed. The time for that change is mnuch nearer now than it was then, and the shape which it will take, will probably be different in some important respects from Bishop de Lancey's ideas at that time.1 But his foresight as to the coming change will continue on record. Another and still more im- portant subject was also introduced first by him into General Convention-the adoption of the Provincial System. Bishop White, indeed, had sketched out the plan long before, and he had taken it from the uni- versal system of the Church in all ages and countries ; but Bishop de Lancey was the first to propose it, formally, to the Legislature of the Church. The time had not come; and the Bishop wisely let it sleep thereafter; but here, as before, the proof of his fore- sight as to the approaching and certain needs of the Church is written in the records of her institutions. Bishops of more brilliance in some departments, of more moving eloquence, of more sympathetic temper- aments, of more personal popularity, of more rapid visible success, we may behold; but a Bishop more

1 The change did not come till about fifteen or sixteen years after Bishop de L.'s death, when the Seminary was totally reorganized as it now is.

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sagacious, more steady, more true, in laying the foundations of the Church, like a wise master-builder, we never expect to see."

John Peter De Lancey by will (dated 28th of Janu- ary, 1823) devised his property in this town to Thomas James De Lancey, the only child of his deceased son Thomas James, and to his son William Heathcote De Lancey the Bishop of Western New York (except a portion of the western end of De Lancey's Neck which he had conveyed in his life time to his deceased son Thomas James, who had devised the same to his only child Thomas James the younger). All the property of Thomas James the younger lay upon the western part of de Lancey's Neck. The eastern part of that Neck, the Heathcote Hill tract, and sedge lots, with the other lands of John Peter de Lancey in Mamaroneck passed to the late Bishop de Lancey, who devised the same to his four surviving children, Edward Floyd, John Peter, William Heathcote, Jr., and Margaret, wife of Thomas F. Rochester, M.D. The Heathcote Hill estate was devised to them equally, and subse- quently by purchase of the shares of his brothers and sister became the sole property of Edward Floyd de Lancey, the present proprietor. Thomas James de Lancey, the younger, sold his part of de Lancey's Neck in his lifetime, and it is now held by many owners. The eastern part, has now been sold by the children of Bishop de Lancey except the extreme south-eastern part, the country scat of Ed- ward F. de Lancey.

Peter de Lancey, second son of Etienne de Lancey the Huguenot, prominent in the affairs of the Province, Member of Assembly from Westchester for many years, and High Sheriff was born 26 August, 1705, and died 17 October, 1770; he married Eliza- beth daughter of Gov. Cadwallader Colden Jan. 7th 1737-8 and had issue twelve children. 1. Stephen a lawyer, Recorder of Albany, and Clerk of Tryon County ; 2. John succeeded his father as Member for Westchester and was also High Sheriff of the County, married Miss Wickham and had an only child a daughter who was the wife of the Hon. Christopher Yates, Chief Justice and Governor of the State of New York. 3. Peter a lawyer of Charleston, S. C. 4. Anne wife of John Coxc of Philadelphia. 5. Alice, wife of Ralph Izard of S. C. Delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina, 1780 to 1783, U. S. Commissioner to Tuscany in 1777, and U. S. Senator from S. C. 1789 to 1795. 6. Elizabeth died single ; 7. James High Sheriff of Westchester at and for several years preceding the outbreak of the American Revolution, Coloncl of the Westchester Light Horse, the alert and famous Partisan Chief of the Neutral Ground in the war of the Revolution, Member of the Council of Nova Scotia, died May 2d, 1804 at his residence Willow Park, near Annapolis, Nova Scotia, aged 58 years ; 8. Oliver, of Westfarms, Lieutenant in the British Navy, resigned because he would not fight against his native land in the Revolu-

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 214

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354