ellington, who honoured him with
his particular confidence and regard."[2]

[Footnote 2: _Explanatory Notes on the Battle of Waterloo_, by Captain
Arthur Gore, 1817, p. 83.]

His ancestors, for several generations, had been men of great
distinction, and he undoubtedly inherited their great qualities in a
very high degree.

The De Lancey family is one of Huguenot origin, the founder of the
family,[3] Etienne De Lancey, having fled from France at the time of
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

[Footnote 3: In French annals the family can be traced back to the
time of the Hundred Years' War. The first of the name, of whom there
is any authentic record, was Guy de Lancy, Vicomte de Laval et de
Nouvion, who in 1432 held of the Prince Bishop of Laon and Nouvion,
villages and territories a few miles south of that city. See _History
of New York during the Revolutionary War_, by Thomas Jones, edited by
Edward Floyd De Lancey, vol i., p. 651, and _Dictionnaire de la
Noblesse de France_, vol. viii., title "Lancy."]

The following extracts treating of the family history are taken from
Appleton's _Cyclopaedia of American Biography_.

The author of the articles, Edward Floyd De Lancey,[4] was born in
1821, and died at Ossining, N.Y., on the 7th April 1905. At one time
he held the position of President of the New York Genealogical
Society, and has done a great deal of work in the field of historical
research.

[Footnote 4: For biographical sketch, _see_ Appleton's _Cyclopaedia_,
vol. ii., p. 130.]

"Etienne De Lancey (great-grandfather of Sir William De Lancey), was
born in Caen, France, 24th October 1663; and died in the city of New
York, 18th November 1741. Having been compelled, as a Protestant, to
leave France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (18th October
1685), he escaped into Holland. Deciding to become a British subject
and to emigrate to America, he crossed to England and took the oath of
allegiance to James II. He landed in New York, 7th June 1686. His
mother had given him, on his departure from Caen, a portion of the
family jewels. He sold them for L300, became a merchant, and amassed a
fortune of L100,000. He married Anne, second daughter of Stephanus van
Cortlandt, 23rd January 1700. He took a prominent part in public
affairs, representing the fourth ward of New York as alderman in
1691-93, and was a member of Assembly for twenty-four years. While
sitting in the latter body he gave his salar