Joseph Delafield

Joseph Delafield (August 22, 1790 – February 12, 1875) was an American soldier, lawyer and diplomat.

Major

Joseph Delafield
Born(1790-08-22)August 22, 1790
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 12, 1875(1875-02-12) (aged 84)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Resting placeGreen-Wood Cemetery
Alma materYale College
Spouse(s)
Julia Livingston
​
​
(m. 1833; his death 1875)​
Children4
Parent(s)Anne Hallett Delafield
John Delafield
RelativesRichard Delafield (brother)
Edward Delafield (brother)
Rufus King Delafield (brother)
Francis Delafield (nephew)
Edward C. Delafield (grandson)

Early life
Photograph of members of the Delafield family, c. 1870.

Delafield was born in New York City on August 22, 1790.[1] He was the second oldest of the surviving sons and four daughters born to Anne (née Hallett) Delafield (1766–1839) and John Delafield (1748–1824),[2] a merchant who emigrated to New York from England in 1788 and was a founder and director of the Mutual Insurance Company,[3] becoming one of the wealthiest men in the country.[1] His father's summer residence, built in 1791 on the East River opposite Blackwell's Island, was known as" Sunswick" (later known as Ravenswood)[1] and was one of the largest and best appointed private houses around New York. Among his many siblings were brothers John Delafield,[lower-alpha 1] Henry Delafield,[lower-alpha 2] William Delafield, Maj. Gen. Richard Delafield, Dr. Edward Delafield,[6] and Rufus King Delafield.[lower-alpha 3] His younger sister, Susan Maria Delafield, was married to Henry Parish.[9] Joseph, his father, and four of his brothers were painted by Morton H. Bly, which is today owned by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.[2][10]

His maternal grandparents were Joseph Hallett and Elizabeth (née Hazard) Hallett and his aunt, Mary Hallett, was the second wife of U.S. Representative Benjamin Tallmadge.[11] His paternal grandparents were John Delafield and Martha (née Dell) Delafield, a daughter of John Dell of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England.[6] His nephew, Dr. Francis Delafield, was married to Katherine Van Rensselaer,[12] and was the father of Connecticut representative Edward Henry Delafield.[13]

After preliminary education from the Rev. Smith on Pine Street in New York, Delafield prepared for college at a school in Stamford, Connecticut along with Herman LeRoy, William Wilkes and William Backhouse Astor Sr.[14]

Career

After graduating from Yale College in 1808, Delafield studied law with the former Attorney General of New York, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New York on October 29, 1811.[14]

In 1810, he was appointed lieutenant in the 5th regiment, New York State Militia. On February 2, 1812, he was promoted to captain and when the War of 1812 broke out, he raised a full company of volunteers. By the end of 1812, he was commissioned as a Captain in Hawkins' Regiment, and promoted to be Major of the 46th Infantry on April 15, 1814, and resigned at the close of the war.[14]

In 1817, he attached to the commission under the Treaty of Ghent for setting off the northern-western boundary of the United States. On January 1, 1821, he was appointed a full U.S. Agent under the 6th and 7th Articles, serving until June 1828. He was responsible for establishing the line between St. Regis on the St. Lawrence River and the Lake of the Woods.[14]

During his travels north, he began to form his collection of minerals that was considered one of the best in private hands in the country for many years.[14] Delafield was a member of many scientific associations, both in the United States and in Europe. From 1827 to 1866, when he declined a re-election, he served as president of the New York Lyceum of Natural History where he was a member for fifty-two years.[14]

Personal life
Julia Livingston Delafield, portrait by Daniel Huntington

On December 12, 1833, Delafield was married to Julia Livingston (1801–1882). His wife was a daughter of Margret (née Lewis) Livingston and Maturin Livingston, twice the Recorder of New York City.[15] Her uncle was Speaker Peter R. Livingston and her paternal grandparents were Robert James Livingston and Susanna (née Smith) Livingston (sister of Chief Justice William Smith and daughter of Judge William Smith).[16][17] Julia's mother was the only daughter and sole heiress of Gov. Morgan Lewis and Gertrude (née Livingston) Lewis. Together, they were the parents of four children:[18]

  • Lewis Livingston Delafield (1834–1883),[19] who married Emily Prime (1840–1909),[20] a granddaughter of banker Nathaniel Prime.[14]
  • Maturin Livingston Delafield (1836–1917),[21] who married Mary Coleman Livingston (1847–1922), a daughter of Eugene Augustus Livingston.[14]
  • Julia Livingston Delafield (1837–1914), who did not marry.[22]
  • Joseph Delafield Jr. (1839–1848), who died young.[14]

In 1829, he purchased around 256 acres (104 ha) of land to build a country seat, known as "Fieldston" (after a family seat in Ireland), on the Hudson River, between the southern part of Yonkers and the Spuyten Duyvil, where he built a lime kiln in 1830, providing him with a large income for several years.[14] In 1965, Delafield's grandson, Edward Coleman Delafield, donated the remaining 13-acre remnant in Riverdale, known as Fieldston Hill, to Columbia University, which renamed it the Delafield Botanical Garden at Columbia University.[23]

Delafield died of acute pneumonia on February 12, 1875 at 475 Fifth Avenue, his home in New York City.[1]

Descendants

Through his son Lewis,[24] he was the grandfather of Lewis Livingston Delafield Jr. (1863–1944),[25] Robert Hare Delafield (1864–1906),[26] and Frederick Prime Delafield (1868–1924).[27]

Through his son Maturin,[21] he was the grandfather of Maturin Livingston Delafield Jr. (1869–1929),[28] Joseph Livingston Delafield (1871–1922),[29] John Ross Delafield (1874–1964)[30] (husband of Violetta White Delafield), Julia Livingston (née Delafield) Longfellow (1875–1963),[31] Edward Coleman Delafield (1877–1976),[23] Mary Livingston (née Delafield) Finch (1878–1961),[32] Harriet Coleman (née Delafield) Carter (1880–1953),[33] and Eugene Livingston Delafield (1882–1930).[14]

References
Notes
  1. John Delafield (1786–1853) first married Mary Roberts (parents of Mary Ann Delafield DuBois). After her death, he married Harriet Wadsworth Tallmadge (1797–1856), daughter of Delafield's uncle U.S. Representative Benjamin Tallmadge (from his first marriage to Mary Floyd).[4]
  2. Henry Delafield (1792–1875) was married to Mary Parish Monson (1838–1870), a daughter of Judge L. Monson of Delaware County.[5]
  3. Rufus King Delafield (1802–1874)[7] was married to Eliza Bard (1813–1902), daughter of William Bard and sister of John Bard.[8]
Sources
  1. "Obituary; Joseph Delafield" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 February 1875. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  2. "Five Delafield Brothers and the Father". npg.si.edu. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  3. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time, Vol. XI. New York: J. T. White & Company. 1909. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  4. Talmadge, Arthur White (1909). The Talmadge, Tallmadge and Talmage genealogy; being the descendants of Thomas Talmadge of Lynn, Massachusetts, with an appendix including other families. New York: The Grafton press. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  5. Bolton, Robert (1881). The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester: From Its First Settlement to the Present Time. C. F. Roper. pp. 624–627. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  6. Browning, Charles Henry (1969). Americans of Royal Descent: Collection of Genealogies Showing the Lineal Descent from Kings of Some American Families. Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 103–105. ISBN 9780806300542. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  7. "Sudden Death of a Merchant" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 February 1874. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  8. Helffenstein, Abraham Ernest (1911). Pierre Fauconnier and His Descendants: With Some Account of the Allied Valleaux. Press of S. H. Burbank & Company. p. 95. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  9. "Henry Parish's Estate | A Will Contest that Made A Stir Forty Years Ago". The New York Sun. 23 May 1897. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  10. Middendorf, Henry S. (1993). The Portrait Collection of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. p. 10. ISBN 9781877692055. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  11. The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1905. p. 45. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  12. "FRANCIS DELAFIELD, PATHOLOGIST, DEAD; New York Surgeon Succumbs to Apoplexy, at 73, at His Sister's Home in Noroton, Conn. EMERITUS OF COLUMBIA Author of Many Standard Medical Works, and Consulting Physician When McKinley Was Shot". The New York Times. 18 July 1915. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  13. "EDWARD H. DELAFIELD". The New York Times. 2 December 1955. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  14. Bergen, Tunis Garret (1915). Genealogies of the State of New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 796–803, 833. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  15. Livingston, Edwin Brockholst (1910). The Livingstons of Livingston Manor. New York: Knickerbocker Press. p. 562.
  16. Wardell, Pat (October 2010). "Early Bergen County Families" (PDF). njgsbc.org. The Genealogical Society of Bergen County. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  17. Lamb, Martha Joanna; Harrison, Mrs Burton (1896). History of the City of New York: History of the city of New York : externals of modern New York. A. S. Barnes. p. 547. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  18. Delafield, John Ross (1945). Delafield: The Family History. Priv. print. pp. 981, 988, 1014. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  19. "Tribute to Lewis L. Delafield" (PDF). The New York Times. 31 March 1883. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  20. "Died. Delafield" (PDF). The New York Times. 3 March 1909. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  21. "MATURIN L. DELAFIELD DIES. Retired New York Merchant and Union Club Member was 81" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 November 1917. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  22. "Miss Julia Livingston Delafield" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 November 1914. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  23. Bamberger, Werner (23 April 1976). "Edward C. Delafield, 98, Dead; Donated Estate to Columbia U." (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  24. "LEWIS LIVINGSTON DELAFIELD". The New York Times. 29 March 1883. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  25. "LEWIS DELAFIELD, LAWYER 60 YEARS Member of Noted Family, 81, a Leader in Civic Reform, Dies in Park Ave. Home" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 September 1944. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  26. "DIED. Delafield" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 November 1906. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  27. "FREDERICK P. DELAFIELD. Prominent Lawyer Dies Suddenly at His City Home at 56 Years" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 December 1924. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  28. "MATURIN L. DELAFIELD DIES IN LAUSANNE; Member of Old New York Family Had Long Lived Abroad--WellKnown Among Botanists" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 December 1929. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  29. "JOSEPH L. DELAFIELD DEAD. Lawyer and Member of an Old New York Family Dies at 51" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 November 1922. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  30. "Deaths. Delafield" (PDF). The New York Times. 10 April 1964. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  31. "Mrs. Longfellow, Clubwoman, Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 September 1963. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  32. "Mrs. Edward Finch, Led Charity Groups" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 January 1961. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  33. "MISS DELAFIELD ENGAGED.; Youngest Daughter of Family Will Become Mrs. Jarvis P, Carter" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 September 1905. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
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