History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
On becoming a British subject, Ktienne (or Stephen) 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 moditied in most English heraldic works, and have since been so borne in America, notably on the oHicial seal of his son James de Lancey, as Lt. Governor and Captain General of New York. They are thus blazoned Ar.ms ; Azure, a tilting lance proper, point upward with a pennon argent bearing a cross gules fringed and floating to the right, dcbruised of a fess, or. CuKST ; a sinister arm in armor embowed, the hand gnispinga 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 denizenizcd a British subject 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, abovenamed, second son of Charles de Lancy, fifth Vicomte de Laval et de Nouvion, was the ancestor of the Huguenot branch, the only existing one, of this family. His son the Seigneur Jacques de Lancy of Caen, married Marguerite Bertrand, daughter of Pierre Bertrand 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 daughter, the wife of John Barbarie. ' 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 concealment at Caen, he escaped to Holland, 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.