DeLand ancestors in America

Frederick Leete, author of The DeLand Family in America, suggested that the ancestor of the DeLands in America may have been Philip or Philip Charles, probably Des Launde or de Lande, and later called 'Philip the miller,' who came to Massachusetts probably between 1628 and 1636¹. In the early records of Massachusetts there were three men: Benjamin DeLand, referred to as "Benjamin of Beverly," or "of Salem," John DeLand, called "John of Beverly," and Philip DeLand "of Newbury," also "of Beverly." Leete tells us that these three men were likely the sons of Philip Des Launde. Benjamin was born probably at Beverly, Massachusetts, 1656 - 1660, John was born circa 1660, and Philip was born circa 1664. The information below on the three men and their putative father is extracted from Leete's book.

Philip Des Launde is believed to have been of French Huguenot ancestry. He or his ancestors fled France due to religious persecution. The oldest cemetery at Byfield [Newbury, Massachusetts], with interments earlier than those beginning with 1710 in another local burial-place, contains unnamed graves marked with carved fleur-de-lis decorations. The clear indication is French graves, and as Philip's first wife Margery died in Newbury, 1694, the conviction seems inescapable that she was placed in one of these resting-places. Just exactly how Philip Des Launde arrived in America is not known, but different traditions suggest different points of departure.

Benjamin married Katherine Hodges (Hodge), daughter of George and Mary Huston Hodges of Salem , on December 7, 1681. Katherine was born August 20, 1664. Benjamin died before November 23, 1691, when inventory of his estate was filed and his wife died in 1713 (Boston Transcript, Vol. 62, p. 42).

The Beverly Vital Records and the Boston Transcript, Vol. 17, p. 17 spell Benjamin's name "Deland." The Driver family genealogy spelled it "Daland" or "Deland." In the Boston Transcript, Genealogical Clippings, Vol. 62, 114, the spelling is "DeLand."

The following statement is made in "Boston and Eastern Massachusetts Genealogical Record" p. 1069, "'Benjamin Daland' first appears in Beverly, Massachusetts. The name in various records generally is 'Daland,' and frequently is 'Deland' and 'Dealand.'" One of the Boston Transcript statements is that Benjamin and Katherine were married in Boston. Despite the Boston statement that Benjamin's first recorded appearance was in Beverly, there is in Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, Vol. 7, p. 21, the following: "Benjamin Deland, aged about twenty years, deposed that on October 7, 1676, he with the other soldiers who were in the garrison at Westfield and those who were in the garrison at Hadley and the other towns, were dismissed. They came toward home and, the quaint language of the clerk says, 'Met at Squabage the gratest part, and severall came a foott and all the souilders came but a fott pace. Sworn in court.'" This affair evidently relates to King Philip's War 1675-6.

Benjamin was a fisherman. The Driver Family account says of Katherine that "She as Widow Deland taught school in the house of James Houlton in Peabody in 1710 and afterward in the first schoolhouse in Salem Village (Danvers.) Her salary was five pounds." According to Hodes Family by Hodges and Driver Family by Cook, on November 7, 1683, Katherine was named in a bequest from Thomas Rootes to receive on the death of his wife a dwelling house and a quarter of an acre of land in Salem, which May 6, 1700, she deeded to John Masury. The deed to Katherine spells the name "Dalen." The house above referred to was near the Salem commons.

John called "John of Beverly," married Elizabeth [maiden name unknown] in 1684. In the traditions about the three brothers from whom descended the chief branches of the DeLand family, probably including all of those in America, John is named as the second one, almost invariably in this order, Benjamin, John, Philip. Like his brother Benjamin, John is said to have been a fisherman. In Genealogical Dictionary of First Settlers of New England, pp. 33, 38, 275, we find that "John Deland of Beverly had John, Philip, William," giving dates. Holmes Directory of Ancestral Heads of New England Families list John as a resident of Beverly before 1680.

Philip "of Newbury," also "of Beverly", in History of North Brookfield, by Temple, and repeated in A Genealogical Register of North Brookfield Families by Charles Adams, Jr.: "Deland, DeLand, originally Delane, Philip, probably a French man as per 'History of Newbury' came to Newbury from Portsmouth, N. H. in 1694, with his wife Margery and two children." "His wife, Margery, died in Newbury 1694. He married, second, 1695, Jane Atkinson." In certain accounts it is stated that Philip came from Portsmouth, England, doubtless a natural error of hasty records for which no evidence appears. In Newbury Vital Records: "Dealane, Philip and Jane Atkinson intention [to marry published] October 26, 1695." "Marget Delane, wife of Philip, August 26, 1694" is in the account of deaths in the Newbury record, and it is also stated in early writings that she was buried in Newbury. Jane Atkinson is said to have been of Scotch descent.

The above statements contain all that the family seem to have known definitely about the earlier life of Philip until the Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, Vol. 6, pp. 400-401 revealed in a list of "those who have taken the oath of fidelity in Beverlee, 1677," the name "Philip Deland, miller." This reference however, seems clearly to apply to an earlier Philip, apparently father of Benjamin, John and Philip, namely, Philip or Philip Charles. But it is not impossible, certainly, that both Philips, father and son, were millers at Byfield Parish, Town of Newbury, site of the first woolen mill in America. The Courts' record at all events, as we have seen, supplied another exact date concerning a Philip Deland seventeen years earlier than 1694, which was once supposed to begin the DeLand history in this country. Philip's name, in this instance spelled "de-lane" appears on a list of freeholders who formed a second church in Byfield Parish, Newbury, 1701. Old church records of Newbury, quoted by John Currier in his History of Newbury, Massachusetts, state that at a meeting of freeholders and proprietors of Newbury held December 9, 1701, Philip (here spelled "de-lane," and by Elwood in his book on Newbury "de-lang.") and seven others were exempted from part of their taxes, probably because they were the organizers of the second Newbury Church at the Byfield Parish, location of the mill, and five or six miles from the First Church of Newbury. There is a record that Philip was taxed in Newbury in 1703 and 1704 and the Genealogical Register of North Brookfield Families, published by the town, indicates that the family moved there about 1709.

The children of Philip and Margery were:

1. Philip or Emile
2. Chester or William

The Children of Philip and Jane Atkinson were:

3. Daniel, b. Newbury, June 4, 1696
4. Margaret (Marget), b. Newbury, Feb. 20, 1697
5. Charles, b. Newbury, Oct. 9, 1698
6. Paul, b. Newbury, Oct. 16, 1699 [ancestor of Susan Amelia DeLand]
7. Eve (Eva), b. Newbury, July 10, 1701
8. Joseph, b. Newbury, June 22, 1702
9. James, b. Newbury, Aug. 16, 1703
10. Mary, b. Newbury, Nov. 27, 1704
11. Tabitha, b. Newbury, Nov. 25, 1706
12. Jane, b. Newbury, July 4, 1708

Paul DeLand, was born at Newbury, October 16, 1699 and died at Brookfield, Massachusetts on February 7, 1796, age 96 years, plus. He married Phoebe Green, daughter of Captain John and Anna Green, on November 30, 1725. The History of the County of Worcester, Massachusetts, states that John Green was a famous hunter of Indian times.

Phoebe was born March 16, 1706 and died March 25, 1787, in her 82nd year. She is said to have taught the first school in Brookfield. One account states that Paul and family moved from Salem to Brookfield about 1720. Another record provides the year as 1724. Others give an earlier year, as stated in the case of Paul's father, or even 1709, and Temple places the removal as late as 1740. The later dates are evidently wrong.

Paul was a carpenter and builder and was a scout in the French and Indian Wars. He participated in Father Ralle's War with the Indians, 1722-26. "He or his father built a home in the south part of Brookfield, where Paul, three Philips and Martha Brown, daughter of Philip [of the 3rd generation] lived successively." This house, dated 1728, still stands [as of 1943]. Brookfield Records, 1718-86, state that Paul, among others, was a signer of "a petition that a meetinghouse may be built in the most convenient place."

An old story is that Paul was to have been named Charles after his father (who would then have been Philip Charles) but that the minister made a mistake and christened him Paul, which the family accepted. This tradition is of some evidence that there was a Charles somewhere, probably the grandfather.

Paul's excellent character and standing are attested in contemporary publications.

The children of Paul and Phoebe were:

1. Philip, b. Brookfield, Mass., Aug. 18, 1725-6
2. Mary Elizabeth, b. Brookfield, July 16, 1730
3. Jedediah, b. Brookfield, Dec. 24, 1731, killed in French War, 1756-9
4. Obadiah, b. Brookfield, Apr. 28, 1733 [ancestor of Susan Amelia DeLand]
5. Daniel, b. N. Brookfield, May 10, 1736
6. Ruth, b. Brookfield, June 22, 1742

Obadiah DeLand was born at Brookfield, Massachusetts on April 28, 1733 and died at Sandisfield, Massachusetts in 1828. His first wife was Martha Jones of Brookfield, and their marriage was published on January 20, 1754. His second wife was Mary Jones of Sandisfield, a sister of Martha. These sisters were daughters of Nathaniel Jones, who was born near Boston and killed at the storming of the Heights of Abraham, Near Quebec, Canada, September 13, 1759 N.E. Hist. and Gen. Reg. XLII, p. 169 [XLII, p. 169 crossed out, hand written in margin: Vol. 49? p. 343]. A third wife of Obadiah, unnamed and undated is mentioned by some writers.

Various statements up to the number of 24 have been made as to the children of this "grand old patriarch." A letter of his grandnephew, William Rufus, written in 1876 says "Some forty years ago I recall reading in a New York paper an account of his death, stating that his age was, I think, nearly 100 years, that he was the father of 21 children by three wives he had married." An earnest search for this newspaper article has so far failed to produce a copy [as of 1943].

Obadiah appears in Brookfield records, 1718-86, on the muster rolls of Capt. Cooley's Co., September 20 - November 24, 1756, French and Indian War. About the time of the Revolution, Obadiah moved from Brookfield to Sandisfield, Massachusetts, where he lived for the remainder of his life, his grave being in a quite large but none too accessible hilltop cemetery near Sandisfield. Obadiah was a soldier of the Revolution, serving in Capt. Samuel Wolcott's Co. of Col. Hopkin's Regt. in 1776, rolls sworn to in Berkshire Co. record Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, p. 642.

Obadiah was a farmer and wagon-maker, of marked ability one may take it, considering the size of his family. While the date of his birth and decease are usually given as above, certain Sandisfield statistics say that he was born 1729 and died August 24, 1824. There is also an entry that Mary Jones D. died Sandisfield, July 15, 1828, age 79 and that her father's name was Nathaniel Jones, Hist. Berkshire Co., Mass., II, p. 504.

Children of Obadiah DeLand

The names of the 1st 10 of these children and of John in the next list, together with most of the dates are found in a Bible left by William, the 4th son, now in possession of his great-grandson, the Philadelphia artist, Clyde O. DeLand.

Children of Obadiah and Martha Jones
1. Liester, b. Brookfield, Mass., Oct. 23, 1754
2. Sarah, b. Brookfield, Jan. 10, 1756
3. Martha, b. Brookfield, July 28, 1758
4. Philip, b. Brookfield, Nov. 10, 1760.
5. Mary, b. Brookfield, Jan. 18, 1762-3.
6. Weston, b. Brookfield, 1764.
7. Tamar, b. Brookfield
8. Phoebe (Phebe), b. Brookfield, Feb. 6, 1767.
9. Lucy, b. Brookfield, Feb. 13, 1769.
10. William, b. Sandisfield, Mass., Jan. 16, 1771 [ancestor of Susan Amelia DeLand]
11. Morgan.

Children of Obadiah and Mary Jones
12. John, b. Sandisfield, Mass., Jan 4, 1775
13. Obadiah, b. Sandisfield, Nov. 25, 1776
14. Elijah, b. Sandisfield, Dec. 2, 1778
15. Levi, b. Sandisfield, Nov. 19, 1780
16. Mary, b. Sandisfield, Feb. 7, 1783.
17. Susannah, b. Sandisfield, Dec. 20, 1784
18. Samuel, b. Sandisfield, Feb. 28, 1787
19. Joel, b. Sandisfield, July 20, 1789
20. Betsy, b. Sandisfield, May 13, 1791
21. Hawley, b. Sandisfield, Jan. 8, 1794

William DeLand was born at Sandisfield, Massachusetts on January 16, 1771 and died at Busti (Jamestown), New York on July 24, 1843. He married Mary Bullard of Holliston, Massachusetts on November 7, 1793 in Brookfield, Massachusetts. Mary was born May 7, 1773 and died at Jamestown, New York on September 23, 1839.

William moved early in life to New Marlborough, Massachusetts, where he remained until 27 years of age. Pomeroy Janes, History of Oneida Co., NY, pp. 637-8 states that William was one of the first settlers of Vernon Township, 1798, where with his own hands he helped to construct the first house in Vernon. In 1806-8 he was Capt. of Militia under Brig. Gen. George Doolittle.

He moved in 1811 to Chautauqua Co., NY. The County history states, p. 327, that he became a settler by purchase, probably of Section 49, later the possession of his son, Alvin. He erected the first house in Busti, now part of Jamestown, NY, and was assessor, 1813-14.

William was very active in Church affairs. He was a founder of the First Congregational Church of Jamestown, having been previously an official of the organization which united to make First Church. Many of the early meetings were held in his home. He was clerk and for 26 years up to his decease he was a deacon. Centennial Hist. of Chautauqua Co., p. 282 states that he "always took the greatest interest in whatever tended to improve methods in farming or the successful management of our public schools." His Bible has been mentioned elsewhere as having furnished facts about the family of Obadiah and Martha.

The children of William and Mary were:
1. Son, b. Sandisfield, Mass., Sept. 2, 1794, d. infant unnamed
2. Almira, b. New Marlboro, Mass., Oct. 28, 1795. m. James Shaw.
3. Althea, b. New Marlboro, Mass., May 12, 1798, d. Dec. 9, 1803.
4. Alvin Chauncey, b. New Marlboro, June 9, 1801, d. Ellicott, NY 1871 m. 1 ___ 2. Ellicott, NY Mrs. Betsy Morgan.
5. Edwin Benjamin, b. Vernon, NY, Oct. 6, 1803, d. before 1855. m. Amelia Hutchings.
6. Eli Eliazer, b. Vernon, NY, May 25, 1806, d. Apr. 20, 1886, m. Jamestown, NY, Dec. 18, 1835, Dorothy N. Goodale, b. Worcester, Mass., March 28, 1804, d. Rochester, NY, Jan. 10, 1887. Both buried at Rose Hill, Spartansburg, PA. No children.
7. Julia, b. Vernon, NY, Apr. 6, 1808, d. Aug. 31, 1881. m. Oct. 25, 1831, Cornelius Ralph Elston.
8. William Franklin, b. Vernon, NY, Sept. 21, 1810, d. Vernon, Feb. 21, 1871. m. 1, Jan. 21, 1833, Eunice A. Rathburn, daughter of Russell and Mary R., b. Aug. 14, 1815 d. Wolf Lake, Noble Co., Indiana, May 25, 1849. m. 2 1849 ___ Carpenter, who d. Wolf Lake before 1860.
9. Lydia Mary, b. Jamestown, NY, Aug. 22, 1813, d. Malta, Illinois, Jan. 7, 1900. m. Panama, NY, May 1, 1851, Emory E. Abbott.

Washington Lawrence DeLand

10. Washington Lawrence DeLand b. Busti (Jamestown), NY, June 20, 1816 d. February, 1889 buried at Corry, PA m. 1., Jamestown, Oct. 25, 1838, Sarah Ann Moore, daughter of Isaac and Susan Mahan Moore, b. 1817, d. and buried at Panama, NY, Apr. 7, 1854. m. 2, Mary Shepardson who d. 1893, by whom no children were born [ancestor of Susan Amelia DeLand]

Washington Lawrence DeLand was a lifelong and devout member of the Congregational Church. He was in the building business in Panama, NY

The children of Washington L. and Sarah were:
1. Carrie M., b. Panama, NY, March 12, 1840, d. Yorkville, Illinois, Dec. 20, 1925.
2. Theodore, b. Panama, NY April 23, 1843. Theodore, under age to enter the army begged his father to sign his papers, which he did. He enlisted, probably at Jamestown, NY, and soon after becoming a soldier of the Civil War he died of diphtheria.
3. Susan Amelia, b. Panama, Sept. 30, 1847, d. Hartford. Mich., 1926
4. Julia Isabel, b. Panama, NY, February 21, 1851. m. Corry, PA, September 1, 1870, Frank H. Button, b. near Jamestown, January 12, 1847. Moved to Michigan and d. December 12, 1918. He was a drummer-boy in Civil War at 14. Served 4 years and was severely wounded. He was Postmaster at Corry for 20 years. Julia Isabel DeLand d. Corry, PA, December 4, 1932. Both buried in Corry. 1 son, 1 daughter

Susan Amelia DeLand

Susan Amelia DeLand, born at Panama, NY on September 30, 1847, married 1875-6, Russell Merritt Wing. He died at Hartford. Michigan, January 4, 1919. Susan Amelia DeLand Wing died in the same town 1926. Both buried at Hartford. They had 2 sons and 2 daughters. [An obituary for Russell gives the date of marriage in 1874. Russell died at home Wilmette, IL by one obituary or at the Mary Thompson Hospital in another, but was buried in Hartford.]

Children of Russell Merritt Wing and Susan DeLand Wing were:
1. Frederick Merritt Wing, b. Morris, Ill., April 13, 1877. m. October 22, 1910, Ruth Morehead. 1 son, 1 daughter
2. Albert DeLand Wing, b. Morris, Ill., September 28, 1878
3. Stella Wing, b. Morris, Ill., January 6, 1881. m. June 21, 1899, Clarence H. Mowry. One daughter
4. Bess DeLand Wing, b. Morris, Ill., September 27, 1882. m. October 10, 1903, Eugene R. Willard, d. Hartford, Michigan, August 25, 1914.

Children of Frederick Merritt Wing and Ruth Morehead Wing.
1. Frederick Merritt Wing, Jr., b. May 20, 1916
2. Ruth Virginia Wing, b. May 12, 1920

Child of Clarence H. Mowry and Stella Wing Mowry
1. Virginia Mowry, b. April 10, 1900

MORE ABOUT S. AMELIA DELAND WING

1. The DeLand Family in America, Frederick DeLand Leete, published 1943, DeLand, Florida.

page last updated April 5, 2009

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Jeffrey La Favre - jlafavre@gmail.com