Stephen De Lancey

Stephen De Lancey (December 1738 – May 1809) was a lawyer and political figure in New York state and Nova Scotia. He represented Annapolis Township in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1784 to 1789.

Early life

He was born in West Farms, New York, the eldest son of Peter De Lancey (1705–1770) and Elizabeth (née Colden) DeLancey. His sister, Susan De Lancey (1754–1837), was married to Thomas Henry Barclay (1753–1830), a lawyer who became one of the United Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia and served in the colony's government.

His paternal grandparents were Etienne de Lancey and Anne Van Cortlandt (1676–1724), herself the third child of Gertrude Schuyler (born 1654) and Stephanus Van Cortlandt (1643–1700), the Chief Justice of the Province of New York. Both his uncle, James De Lancey (1703–1760), and maternal grandfather, Cadwallader Colden (1688–1776), served as Colonial Governors of New York.

Career He studied law and later moved to Albany.

Nova Scotia In 1776, because of his Loyalist sympathies, he was stripped of his posts and deported to Hartford, Connecticut. In 1783, he moved to Nova Scotia with his family. He was first elected to the provincial assembly in a by-election held in 1783, taking the seat on November 16, 1784, and was elected again in 1785. There is a website claiming that in 1786, he was named to the province's Council, however he does not appear in a list of their members. A more reliable source Together, they were the parents of three children:

Elizabeth De Lancey Mary De Lancey Cadwallader De Lancey

Through his grandmother, Anne Van Cortlandt, he was a descendant of the owners of Van Cortlandt Manor, once the largest landholding in northern Westchester. Around 1770, he decided to build for himself a manor house in Westchester (in what is now North Salem) that would measure up to that of the Van Cortlandts.

De Lancey died in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, at the age of 70. North Salem Town Hall, once De Lancey's Westchester house, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.