Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/225

 DE LANCEY

DE LANCEY

DE LANCEY, Oliver, soldier, was born in New York cit}', Sept. 16, 1708; yovmgest son of Etienne and Anne (Van Cortlandt) de Lancey. He was brought up in his father's counting-room and became a noted New York merchant. He served in the state assembly, 1756-60, and alder- man of the out-ward, 1754-57. He was active in the prosecution of the war against the French and Indians, and I'aised men in Connecticut for service in New York state. In 1758 he was ap- pointed to the command of the New York con- tingent with the rank of colonel-in-chief, and joined the expedition against Crown Point under Abercrombie. He svipported Lord Howe in his attack on Fort Ticonderoga, July 8, 1758, and received the thanks of the New York assemblj^ "for his great services and singular care of the troops of the colony while under his command." He was a member of the provincial council, 1760-76; receiver-general, 1763-76; and colonel- in-chief of the southern military district of the province, 1773-76. In June he joined General Howe on his landing with the British troops on Staten Island, and in September of that year raised and equipped at his own expense three regiments of loyalists each 500 strong, and the force became known as " De Lancey "s bat- talions." He was commissioned senior briga- dier general in the loyalist service, and during the war was in command of the defences of Long Island. He was attainted and his property confiscated at the close of the war, and he re- tired to England. He died at Beverley, York- shire, England, Nov. 27, 1785.

DE LANCEY, Oliver, soldier, was born in New York city in 1752; son of Gen. Oliver de Lancey. He was educated in England, and received a commission in the British army as captain in the 17th light dragoons in May, 1773, rising to each successive rank until he succeeded the first Duke of New Castle as colonel in 1795. He was sent to America as bearer of despatches to the commander-in-chief in 1774; joined the British forces on their arrival in Boston in 1775, and witnessed the battle of Bunker Hill in June of that year. He accompanied General Howe to New York, and after making the landing at Gravesend bay he captured the American j^atrol at the pass in the hills, and this advantage en- abled Howe to turn the American left and win the battle of Long Island. He served in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1777-78, and was promoted to the rank of major in 1778. He was deisuty quartermaster-general of the expedition to South Carolina and took part in the siege of Charleston. In 1781 he was made adjutant-general in America with the rank of lieutenant-colonel to succeed Major Andre. When peace was declared he was placed at the head of a commission charged with

settling the accounts of the army. He was pro- moted colonel, 1794, major-general, 1794, lieuten- ant-general, 1801, and general, 1812. He was a member of parliament from Maidstone. He died in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sept. 3. 1823.

DE LANCEY, Stephen, soldier, was born in New York city about 1740; .son of Gen. Oliver de Lancey, loyalist. His education was acquired in England and he practised law in New York city until the breaking out of the war of the Revolu- tion. He joined liis father's battalions as lieu- tenant-colonel of the second, and was soon promoted to the colonelcy. His property having been confiscated, and he attainted, he went to the Bahamas where he was made chief justice, and subsequently, governor of Tobago. While en route for Europe he was taken ill, and was transferred to a vessel bound for the United States. He died on the arrival of the vessel at Portsmouth, N.H., in December, 1798.

DE LANCEY, William Heathcote, first bishop of Western Nev.- York, and thirty-fourth in suc- cession in the American episcopate, was born in Mamaroneck, N.Y.. Oct. 8, 1797; son of Capt. John Peter and Elizabeth (Floyd) de Lancey; grandson of James de Lancey, lieutenant-gov- ernor and. chief jus- tice of the province of New -York, and Anne (Heathcote ) , his wife; and great- grandson of Etienne and Anne (Van Cort- landt) de Lancey. He was graduated at Yale in 1817; studied for the Protestant Episcopal ministry privately under Bish- op Hobart, and was ordained a deacon, Dec. 28, 1819. He was a deacon in temporary charge of Grace church, N.Y., for about ten months; served in Trinity church also as deacon three months in 1821, and in the same year was rector of St. Thomas's church, Mamaroneck, N.Y., which with the aid of his father and father-in-law, he had founded while j'et a student at Yale. He was ordained a priest, March 6, 1822; was at the suggestion of Bishop Hobart made personal assistant to Bishop AVhite, rector of Christ church, St. Peter' s, and St. James's, Philadelphia, Pa.; and in March, 1823, he was made an assistant minister of the three united churches. He was secretary of the convention of the diocese of Pennsylvania, 1823-30, and .secretarj' of the house of bishops, 1823-29. He declined a call from St. Thomas's church. New York city, in 1837, and in 1828 was

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