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 Ills master 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 such 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 Scarsdale. 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.