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I wonder what you can tell me about the de Lancey family of N.Y. whose daughter married James Fenimore Cooper.
I know that my ancestor's brother, Lewis Angevine, who died 1778/9, leased an estate at Scarsdale, N.Y., from the de Lanceys since about 1740-50 (or by 1778) and his great-grandson or the fourth generation let the property return to the DeLanceys around 1810-20. If James Fenimore Cooper married in the house in 1811, then it probably had reverted to the de Lanceys by then, I should think.
Ther is an old picture postcard from 1901-1907 from Scarsdale, N.Y. The printed description on the front of this postcard says: "Frontier House. Opened 1824. Where Cooper wrote 'The Spy.'"
According to the James Fenimore Cooper Society, "The Spy" was written in a house he called "Angevine" on Mamaroneck Road in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York. They say the only building lived in by Cooper, and subsequently a restaurant, was "Heathcote Hill" in Mamaroneck, Westchester County, New York -- the residence of the DeLancey family, where Cooper married Susan Augusta DeLancey in 1811, and where he lived from time to time in 1811, 1813, and 1817. This building was in 1900 moved from its original site to the corner of Boston Post Road and Fenimore Road in Mamaroneck, where it became a gas station and tavern." The postcard obviously advertises the restaurant/tavern.
It is my understanding that at least six generations of Angevines
lived on the estate at Scarsdale, which was leased by four generations from the deLanceys from about 1750, and the house was originally called
Heathcoate Manor. Tradition says this Angevine estate is where James Fenimore Cooper later lived. He married a deLancey daughter and took up residence in the house. Apparently the DeLanceys honored the longtime tenants by calling it Angevine House or Angevine Manor. I wonder if the Angevines built the house during their long tenancy on the estate.
Clyde Angevine, on page 21 of "Angevine Genealogy" (1977), wrote:
"In those early times this land was not for sale, but was leased out to
persons, such as the Angevines. It is my guess that they resided on this property from around 1750 to around 1820."
This was Lewis Angevine, son of Pierre Angevine Sr. (Huguenot immigrant from France) and his second wife Deborah Guion. My ancestor Pierre Angevine Jr. ("Peter") was a brother of Lewis. Lewis married Esther Sicard/Secor, of another French Huguenot family. Lewis and Esther were buried on the farm at Heathcoate Manor. (Is the cemetery destroyed?)
Clyde Angevine also summarized "History of Westchester County, NY" (1886) by J. Thomas Scharf, vol. 1, p. 681, and "History of Westchester County, N.Y." (1881) by Robert Bolton, vol. 2, p. 231: Prominent among the families of the eastern side of the town of Scarsdale in former years were the Secors, the Angevines, the Griffins and the Palmers. The first named family has always figured prominently in the town's history.
"The Angevines, originally tenants under Colonel Heathcoate and De Lancey, held the large farm bearing their name for four generations. This was located on the northeast side of Mamaroneck Road in the town of Scarsdale, about 1/4 mile beyond the Fish mansion. The famous novelist James Fenimore Cooper resided on this property for a few years, but never made it his permanent residence. After Mr. Cooper's death in 1851, it became the residence of Alexander M. Bruen, M.D., who was there as late as 1886."
I'm not sure what it means, that "Frontier House" was "opened" in
1824, and Cooper last lived there in 1817. Did Dr. Bruen live there or open a tavern or hotel there?
On the deLanceys, who were ancestors of Mrs. James Fenimore?
I see Oliver, Sr. was the Commanding Brig Gen of all Loyalist forces in America. "After the Revolution, most of the family went to England, with some going to Nova Scotia." I wonder if the DeLanceys of Scarsdale might have been closely related to Oliver and that they leased this property to the Angevines so that it would not be confiscated during or after the American Revolution?
It is not known when Lewis Angevine acquired the property, only that he died there (1778-79). I wonder if the cemetery on the original property has been destroyed or what else is on "Heathcoate Hill" or the original site of the house. And is the house still standing at the new location where it was moved in 1900?
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