He went to England on a visit in the spring of 1775, and, the war commencing, did not return. His son, Lieut. Col. James De Lancey, of the First Dragoon Guards, is the only male member of his family now

1 The original, in Mr. Watt's handwriting, was found among the papers of his daughter, Mrs. Leake, and is now in the possession of her niece, Mrs. Henry Laight of New York, Mr. Watts' grand daughter.

' HON. JAMES DE LANCEY. 1057

living. Stephen, the second son, whose intellect was affected by disease in his infancy, was killed accidentally in 1795. Of the daughters, Mary married William Walton of New York; Anne became the wife of the Hon. Thos. Jones of Fort Neck, Recorder of New York, and one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the Province; and Susannah died unmarried. Joln Peter, the youngest child of the Lieut. Governor, was also educated in England, at Harrow, and at the military school at Greenwich ; he entered the army, served till 1789, when he threw up his Commission of Captain, returned shortly after to America, and resided till his death in 1828, at his grandfather Heathcote's old seat, at Mamaroneck, Westchester county, of which he was the proprietor. 7

No American had greater influence in the colonies than the subject of this sketch. Circumstances, it is true, aided in raising him to this elevation, such as education, connections, wealth, and his high conservative principles ; but he owed as much to personal qualities, perhaps, as to all the other canses united. Gay, witty, easy of access, and frank, he was personally the most popular ruler the Province ever possessed, even when drawing tightest the reigns of government.