The American merchant Stephen DeLancey (1663-1741) founded an elite New York family and was an important colonial politician and entrepreneur.

During the first half of the 18th century, when family connections meant everything in the commercial and political life of the American colonies and in New York particularly, Stephen DeLancey moved in the highest echelons of both spheres. He was born in Caen, France, offspring of a notable Huguenot family that was forced out of France in 1685 with other Huguenots by the Edict of Nantes. Shortly after his arrival in New York, DeLancey married into the well-to-do Van Cortlandt family, thus taking a place in the colony's aristocratic structure. By 1702 DeLancey was described as one of the "most distinguished" and active members of the New York legislative assembly. He remained so for more than a quarter century.

His given name in French, Étienne, long since dropped by...