JUSTIN MORGAN 83 



Westchester branch, descended from Peter DeLancey, by a daughter 

 of Governor Golden, was the youngest. James DeLancey, the 

 owner of Wildair, was the head of the oldest or New York branch. 

 John Peter DeLancey, my wife's father, was his youngest brother. 

 I have often heard my late father-in-law relate the history of Wildair. 

 You probably know that the horse was repurchased in consequence 

 of his stock's proving so good, and was taken back to England ; 

 probably the only instance of such an occurrence in our history. 

 The price paid was five hundred pounds, but whether it was currency 

 or sterling, I cannot say. The difference was just half, you will see. 

 " 'James DeLancey was the nephew of the first Gen. DeLancey 

 and the cousin of the second. The Oliver branch is now extinct, the 

 last man in it having been killed at Waterloo, in the person of Sir 

 William H. DeLancey, Wellington's quartermaster-general. 



Ui The New York or James branch has now but one man left in 

 Europe, James, the present head of this family, lately lieutenant- 

 colonel of the First Dragoon Guards; is a bachelor, a nephew of 

 my wife. A young gentleman stands next, and the bishop third. 

 His nephew, the bishop, and the latter's two sons are all the males 

 left of this branch, which was never numerous. All the rest of the 

 DeLanceys belong to the Westchester branch, which has been numer- 

 ous. The late Gen. Izard's mother was of this branch, as were 

 divers other women. The Col. Oliver DeLancey, who was killed in 

 Spain some ten years since, as Sir DeLacy Evans' adjutant-general, 

 was a son of an illegitimate son of James, the Wildair man. But 

 there have been a dozen Colonels DeLancey, three or four of whom 

 were named Oliver. I do not apologize for all this genealogy, as the 

 man who imported so fine an animal as Wildair ought not to be 

 robbed of the honor. 



" ' James DeLancey, that man, served when young, rising to be 

 a captain, and he was an aid to Abercrombie when the latter was 

 commander-in-chief in this country. At the death of his father, in 

 1760, he sold out and married a Miss Allen of Allentown, Pennsyl- 

 vania. He was a man of very large estate, 9ne of the largest in the 

 Colonies, and married a woman of some fortune. He was indolent, 

 but liberal, and disposed to do liberal things. Both he and his father 

 had been educated at Oxford, and having many high connections in 

 England, he got the sporting habit of that country. It was owing 

 to tastes thus acquired that he brought over Wildair. 



" ' The breed is still known among us by the name of Wild Deer. 

 That, however, is among genuine New Yorkers'. 



