Edward Henry Delafield (December 23, 1880 – December 2, 1955) was a Connecticut politician and prominent landowner.

Early life

Delafield was born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

on December 23, 1880. He was the son of Dr.

Francis Delafield Francis Delafield (August 3, 1841 – July 17, 1915)

(1841–1915) and Katherine Van Rensselaer (d. 1901), a granddaughter of

Stephen Van Rensselaer III Stephen Van Rensselaer III (; November 1, 1764January 26, 1839) was an American landowner, businessman, militia officer, and politician. A graduate of Harvard College, at age 21, Van Rensselaer took control of Rensselaerswyck, his family's mano ...

, the patroon of

Rensselaerwyck The Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Manor Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply Rensselaerswyck ( nl, Rensselaerswijck ), was the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a Dutch patroonship and later an English manor—owned by the va ...

. Edward Henry Delafield's sister Julia Floyd Crosby (b. 1874) was the grandmother of musician

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...

. Delafield graduated from St. Paul's School in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

and later,

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, in 1902, where his father also graduated from in 1860.

Career

In 1921, at the age of 41, Edward Henry Delafield inherited a large farm In

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any n ...

. He retired as a broker, from the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

, in 1930, and entered the real estate and insurance business. In 1944, he was elected as a Representative to the

Connecticut State Legislature The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Th ...

and was reelected in 1946. He developed the Darien Theater block, the first Seagate subdivision and the early North Stamford properties. He founded Delafield Island and the Delafield Island Association. He was president of the Weeburn Country Club, and Darien Deputy Sheriff. His summer home was called Sunswick.

Personal life

In October 1904, he married Winifred Folsom (1882–1927), a descendant of

Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Net ...

, who was the fifth daughter of George Winthrop Folsom (1846–1915) of

Lenox, Massachusetts Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The town is based in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 census. Lenox is the site of Shakespeare & Company and T ...

, and the granddaughter of

George Folsom George Folsom (May 23, 1802 – March 27, 1869) was an American lawyer, historian, librarian, diplomat and politician from New York. Early life Folsom was born on May 23, 1802, in Kennebunk, York County, District of Maine. He was the son of T ...

. They lived in

and the marriage produced four daughters: * Winifred Folsom Delafield (1906-1983), who first married Donald McL. Frothingham in 1926. They divorced in 1934, and later that same year, she married Francis Ernest Gay. * Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Delafield (1908-1983), who first married Robert H. Spurgeon in 1929. She later married Frank A. Zunino Jr. (d. 1975) * Frances Katherine Delafield (1913-1995), who first married Edgar L. Stone in 1933. She later married W. W. Johns * Georgette Winthrop Delafield (b. 1914), who first married Lawrence Logan Bevans in 1935. After their divorce in October 1938, she married Floyd W. Jefferson, Jr. in 1939. He was previously married to Eleanor J. Alsop. Richard Barrett Delafield died on December 2, 1955 in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

References

{{reflist, 30em 1880 births 1955 deaths Cornell family Van Rensselaer family Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Delafield family