Delafield, John

Born: 1786-01-22 New York, New York

Died: 1853-10-22

John Delafield was named after his father, who was also a merchant and banker in New York City. The younger John graduated from Columbia University in 1802 and immediately engaged in the shipping business. In 1808, he moved to London, where he became a banker. During the War of 1812, he was held prisoner in London, and subsequently lost his fortune. In 1820, he returned to New York, where he served as cashier and president of Phoenix (or Phenix) Bank from 1820 to 1838. He was a supporter of the New York Philharmonic, New York University, the New York Historical Society, and the New York State Agricultural Society. Delafield suffered another serious financial setback as a result of the Panic of 1837, and in 1842, he retired to his country estate in Geneva, New York.

James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds., Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (New York: D. Appleton, 1888), 2:127; Gravestone, Washington Street Cemetery, Geneva, NY.