Delano Homestead Bed and Breakfast
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Delano Family History | Delano / Roosevelt Lineage to FDR

 

Delano Family History

-courtesy of Chris Richards and the Fairhaven Navigator.

1621

Philippe De La Noye (1602 - 1681), son of Jean de Lannoy and Marie le Mahieu, arrives at Plymouth aboard the Fortune. The Fortune was the second pilgrim ship to sail to America. There he lives with his uncle, Francis Cooke, and his cousin, John Cooke, who had arrived in America a year earlier aboard the Mayflower.

 

1647

(Lt.) Jonathan Delano is born in Duxbury to Philippe and Hester (Dewsbury) De La Noye.

 

1652

Philippe De La Noye is one of 34 colonists who purchase Dartmouth* from Wampanoag sachem Massasoit and his son Wamsutta. Philippe gives his share, about 800 acres, to his son, (Lt.) Jonathan.

*The Township of Dartmouth originally comprised what is now Dartmouth, Westport, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Acushnet, MA, and part of Tiverton, RI. References to Dartmouth in this time line are to the part of Dartmouth that is now the Town of Fairhaven.

 

circa 1662

John Cooke, cousin of Philippe De La Noye and one of the original Dartmouth purchasers, moves with his family to the east side of the Acushnet River in Dartmouth.

 

Before November 1675

(Lt.) Jonathan Delano is living in the Nasketucket area of Dartmouth. On the "brook" [Nasketucket River] he builds a mill.

 

1675-76

(Lt.) Jonathan Delano serves in the King Philip War under Captain Benjamin Church.

 

1677/8

February 28, in Dartmouth, (Lt.) Jonathan Delano marries Mercy Warren (1658 - 1727).

 

1689

June, Lt. Jonathan Delano and Seth Pope are elected Deputies from Dartmouth to Plymouth Court. At other times Delano also holds positions of Surveyor, Constable and Selectman of Dartmouth.

 

1704

May 10, Thomas Delano, the 13th child of Lt. Jonathan and Mercy Delano, is born in Dartmouth.

 

1720

December 28, Lt. Jonathan Delano dies in his 73rd year and is buried in what is now Acushnet Cemetery.

1727

November 4, Thomas Delano marries Jean (or Jane) Peckham in Dartmouth.

 

1733

August 25, (Capt.) Ephraim Delano, the third child of Thomas and Jean (Peckham) Delano, is born in Dartmouth.

 

1760

December 27, Ephraim Delano is one of the 14 original investors in the "Twenty-Acre Purchase."He owns two lots in this waterfront tract which develops into the village of Fairhaven.

 

1779

Warren Delano I, son of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Cushman) Delano (1739 - 1809), is born in the village of Fairhaven, in a home on the west side of Main Street, south of South Street. At age 19 he goes to sea, eventually becoming the captain of several ships.

 

1808

November 18, Warren Delano I (1779 - 1866) marries Deborah Church (1783 - 1827) of Fairhaven. They will eventually have eight children, only one of whom married, Warren II.

 

1809

Warren Delano II (1809 - 1898) is born in the village of Fairhaven.

 

1812

Warren Delano I is captured by the British, who seize his ship Arab.

 

1814

June 13, on the morning of an attack on Fairhaven's harbor by the British raider Nimrod, Warren Delano I gathers up his three sons, Warren II, Frederick and Franklin, and drives them to the safer Long Plain area of Acushnet where they spend the night.

 

1815

Warren Delano I, at the age of 36, "retires" to land after being captured a second time by the British. He becomes active in whaling, banking, insurance and as a merchant in the China Trade.

 

1824

Warren Delano II, at the age of 15, graduates from the Fairhaven Academy and within two years is a trader in the import business.

 

1828

Warren Delano I purchases the house on the south-west corner of Middle and Washington streets.

 

1829

Warren Delano I acquires "North Wharf," located just north of Washington Street.

 

1832

The Washington Street Christian Meeting House, at the northwest corner of Washington and Walnut streets is dedicated. Funds to build the church were raised by Warren Delano I, his nephew Jabez Delano Jr., and Joseph Bates. (Bates later becomes one of the three founders of the Seventh Day Adventists.)

 

circa 1832

Warren Delano I builds what becomes known as the Delano Homestead at 39 Walnut St. The home stays in the Delano family until 1942.

 

1833

Jabez Delano Jr., Warren Delano I and Samuel Borden build a two-story stone candleworks and whale oil refinery at the head of Middle Street, just north of Washington Street. Warren Delano II goes to China, eventually becoming the a partner in Russell and Company, America's largest firm engaged in the China Trade, dealing in tea and opium. He is the senior trader in Canton and, with his brother "Ned," is present during the Opium War.

 

1843

November 1, Warren Delano II marries Catherine Robbins Lyman during a short visit to Massachusetts. The couple settles in Canton, China.

 

1846

Warren Delano II returns to Fairhaven a millionaire after his years in China. In the winter of 1846-'47 he purchases part of the Jonathan Nye farm on Main St. to create Riverside Cemetery. By this time, Warren II has become one of the great merchants of the clipper ship period.

 

1850

July 7, Riverside Cemetery is consecrated. It was created by Warren Delano II. His father, Warren Delano I, serves as president of the Riverside Cemetery Corporation until 1861.

 

1851

Warren Delano II purchases 60 acres on the Hudson River two miles north of Newburgh, NY. There, Algonac, the Delano estate is established.

 

1854

September 21, Sara Delano, the seventh child of Warren II and Catherine (Lyman) Delano, is born at Algonac, the Delano estate on the Hudson River at Newburgh, NY.

 

1857

October, Warren Delano II loses much of his fortune in the Panic of 1857.

 

1859

The Delano Tomb at Riverside Cemetery is built by Edward Delano. It is designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, who later designed three of the Newport mansions, including The Breakers. Most of the descendants of Warren Delano I, except for Sara Delano Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, are interred here. (The Roosevelts are interred at Hyde Park.)

 

1860

Warren Delano II, faced with great financial losses, returns to China, this time to Hong Kong, to rebuild his fortune. During the Civil War, he ships opium to the Medical Bureau of the U.S. War Department.

 

1880

Early May, at the home of the Theodore Roosevelts, Sara Delano meets James Roosevelt, a widower with a son who is Sara's age. October 7, Sara Delano and James Roosevelt are married at Algonac, Newburgh, NY.

 

1882

January 30, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is born to Sara and James Roosevelt at Hyde Park, NY. February 12, Four year old Warren Delano IV, Sara Roosevelt's nephew, dies of pneumonia and scarlet fever. Sara, who had planned to name her child Warren Delano Roosevelt after her father, decides, in deference to the grieving family, to name her son after her favorite uncle, Franklin Hughes Delano. Summer, following Delano family tradition, Sara and James Roosevelt make the annual pilgrimage to the Delano Homestead, bringing infant F.D.R. on his first visit to Fairhaven.

 

1893

Warren Delano II offers to save the Civil War cannons at Fort Phoenix from a potential out-of-state buyer if the Fairhaven Improvement Association raises funds to replace the rotted gun mounts. They raise $663.

 

1894

September, Laura (Astor) Delano, widow of F.D.R.'s great-uncle and namesake, Franklin Hughes Delano, donates two mable statues and two oil paintings to the Millicent Library.

 

1896

The Delano Candleworks building is demolished and the granite is used to repair Delano Wharf.

 

1898

Warren Delano II dies. He is buried in the family tomb at Riverside Cemetery. His sons, Warren Delano III and Frederic A. Delano, continue to keep up the Delano Homestead.

 

1903

Thanksgiving Day, at the Delano Homestead in Fairhaven, following the service at the Unitarian Church, the traditional visit to the family tomb at Riverside Cemetery and the Thanksgiving dinner, F.D.R. makes "quite a startling announcement" to his mother Sara that he has become engaged to (Anna) Eleanor Roosevelt.

 

1905

March 17, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and (Anna) Eleanor Roosevelt are married at Algonac. Thanksgiving, "Warren Delano and family, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt, Mr. & Mrs. Forbes and Mr. and Mrs. Fred A. Delano of Chicago spent Thanksgiving at the Delano homestead on Walnut Street." -item in the Fairhaven Star (12/2/05)

 

1920

September, a Vice Presidential candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt comes to Fairhaven for the burial of his uncle Warren Delano III at Riverside Cemetery.

 

1932

November 8, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the thirty-second President of the United States.

 

1936

October 21, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt pay their last visit to Fairhaven, following a campaign speech in New Bedford. The president's mother Sara had secretly traveled to the Delano Homestead the night before and has lunch with her son and daughter-in-law.

 

1941

Sara Delano Roosevelt, mother of F.D.R. dies. She is buried at Hyde Park, NY.

 

1942

The Delano Homestead on Walnut Street is sold at auction for $4,025. In the next three years, large wings, which had been added to the original house in the 1880s, are removed and remodeled as separate houses on the same block. The 1835 house remains on its original foundation, looking today much as it did when it was built by Warren Delano I.

 

1953

Frederic Adrian Delano, brother of Sara Delano Roosevelt and F.D.R.'s "Uncle Fred," dies, the last of Capt. Warren Delano I 's descendants to carry the Delano surname. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery.

The Ulysses S. Grant Connection: Lt. Jonathan Delano's first son, also Jonathan Delano, married Amy Hatch on June 20, 1704. Their daughter, Susannah Delano married Noah Grant, Jr.

Susannah (Delano) Grant and Noah Grant, fr. were the great-grandparents of Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States.

 

 

Delano / Roosevelt Lineage



Holland

1644 Claes van Rosenvel arrived at New Amsterdam 1621 Phillipe De La Noye arrived at Plymouth
1658 Nicholas Roosevelt born
Fur Trader
1647 Jonathan Delano born
Indian Fighter
1692 Jacobus Roosevelt born
Land Owner
1704 Thomas Delano born
Lived in Dartmouth
1726 Isaac Roosevelt born
Revolutionary Patriot
1733 Ephraim Delano born
Sea Captain
1760 James Roosevelt born
Merchant and Land Owner
1779 Warren Delano born
Sea Captain
1790 Isaac Roosevelt born
Student and Farmer
1809 Warren Delano born
China Sea Trade
1828 James Roosevelt born
Business Man
1854 Sara Delano born
President's Mother
1880 Marriage of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt
January 30, 1882 birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Hyde Park, New York

 

 



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