DKLAFIELl)
DELAFIELD
Knuluatfii at Vale in IStio. at the College of
l)liysii-ians ami surj^eims in 18(;:{, stmlieil medi-
cine in Paris, lierlin and London, and became an
exjuTt jKithologist. He w:us made surgeon of the
New York eye and ear inlirmary and physician
ami pathologist of the Roosevelt hospital in 1871;
pliysician to Bellevue hospital in 1874; was
adjunct professor in the New York college of
physicians and surgeons. 1875-82, and full pro-
fess(,)r of jKithology and the practice of medicine
there from 1882. He became consulting physician
to Bellevue hospital in 1885 and lirst president
I if the Association of American physicians and
jiathologists in 1886. He read a notable paper
l)efore the congress of the American physicians
and surgeons at Washington in 1897. He was
elected to membership in the Century associ-
ation, the Association of medical physicians and
the New Y'ork academy of medicine. He re-
ceived the honorary degree of LL.D. from Y'ale
in 1890. His published works include: Iland Book
'if Post-Mortem Examinations and Morbid Anat-
omy (1872); Manual of Physical Diagnosis (1878);
Studies in Pathological Anatomy (1882); Diseases of
the Kidneys (1895); and Hand Book of Pathological
Anatomy and Histology (1885), which last, revised
and extended, was adopted by medical colleges
a.< a text and reference book, reaching its 5th
edition in WM.
DELAFIELD, John, merchant, was born in England, March 16, 1748. He took passage for America in 1782 on the Vigilant, an English vessel bearing letters of marque. On the voyage he aided in the capture of a French merchantman and on reaching New Y'ork, April 5, 1783, received as i)rize money £100. He was the first to bring to the United States the text of the provisional treaty of peace, signed in Paris, Nov. 30, 1782, but not then made public in England, and an •fficial copy of which was on its way across the •■••ean on a slower vessel. He was married, Dec. 11, 1784, to Ann. daughter of Joseph and Eliza- Ixith Hallett of Long Island, N.Y., and had nine w,ns and two daugliters. He established himself in New York as a merchant after the evacuation of the British tnxjps in November, 1783, and retired in 1798 one of the richest men in New York. He also engaged as a marine underwriter and led the business in the city, but the disas- trous action of both England and France against American commerce ruined all engaged in insur- ing American l>ottoms and he only paid his debts by the sacrififte of his entire proi)erty. He estab- lished. June 15, 1787, the Mutual insurance com- pany, the first company in New York to take fire risks after the Revolution. He was a director of the branch U.S. bank, a founder of the United in.surance company. Feb. 1, 1796, and its presi- dent. He died in New Y'ork city, July 3. 1824.
DELAFIELD, John, financier, was born in
New York cily, Jan. 22, 1786; son of John and
Ann (Hallett) Delatield. He was graduated at
Columbia college in 1802, and found his first em-
ployment in the merchant marine as clerk and
supercargo. He then engaged in the shipping
business He was on board of one of his own
vessels in 1808 when he was driven into the port
of Corunna, Spain, by stress of weather, and
witnessed the storming of that city by the
French, Jan. 17, 1808. When the French directed
their fire upon the shipping in the harbor he cut
loose, after taking on board a family of Spanish
refugees, and carried them safely to London.
He established himself there as a banker, but
was held as a prisoner, 1812-13, being an Ameri-
can citizen. He continued his business, how-
ever, by being limited in his journeyings to
fifteen miles about his country-seat and the cor-
porate bounds of London. In 1819 his large
fortune was lost in a financial crisis, and in 1820
he returned to New Y'ork where he was secretary
and subsequently president of the Phoenix bank.
He resigned in 1838 to become president of the
New Y'^ork banking company. The Philhar-
monic society first met at his house and he was
its first president. He instituted the Musical
fund society, helped to establish the University
of the city of New Y'ork, and revived the New
York historical society. He was impoverished
a second time by the failure of the New Y'ork
banking company, and thereafter devoted him-
self to agricultural pursuits, purchasing a large
estate near Geneva, N.Y., where he conducted
a model farm. He was president of the New
York state agricultural society for several years,
and presiding officer of the State agricultural col-
lege. He was the first secretary of the corpora-
tion of the University of the city of New Y'ork,
1831-32, and a member of the council, 1830-84.
He was married first, in England, to Mary,
daughter of John Roberts of Whitchurch, Bucks
county, and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter of
Col. Benjamin Tallmadge. He wrote: Journal of a
Convention of Literary and i>'cientifc Gentlemen in
New York (1831); and Inquiry into the Origin of the
Antiquities of America (2 \ols., 1839). He died on
his estate near Geneva, N.Y'., Oct. 22, 1853.
DELAFIELD, Joseph, scientist, was born in New York city, Aug. 22, 1790; son of John and Ann (Hallett) Delafield. He was graduated from Yal3 in 1808, and was admitted to the practice of law in 1811. He served in the war of 1812, first as a captain of drafted militia, and in 1813 he joined the regular army, serving as cap- tain in Hawkins's regiment, and as major of the 46th U.S. infantry from April 15, 1814. Ha re- signed his commission in the army at the close of the war, and served as U.S. agent in the
