Biography of William Delafield
William Delafield, a veteran of the American Revolution, lived in this area as patriarch of a family whose history typifies westward movement of the people of the United States.
William was the son of Nicholas Delafield, a cooper in the English Navy in the 1740s and an artisan living in Mecklenburg County, VA., as early as the 1760s. William Delafield as a lad of 16 served in the militia company of a neighbor, Capt. Reuben Vaughan, during the year 1779 when the former American colonies joined together against the tyranny of George III of Great Britain.
In 1785 William Delafield, then 22, moved to Georgia. There he brought up a family and in 1827 was awarded land on the basis of his Revolutionary War service. In 1832 he and a son Nicholas lived in Alabama, where in 1836 both received land grants in Barbour County. The son settled in Harrison County in 1846.
By the early 1850’s William Delafield also lived in Harrison County, where he was known to his neighbors as an elderly man who sat in a rocking chair relating stories of old times. He had lost a leg, probably in frontier fighting in Georgia against the Indians. His descendants include persons who have attained distinction in military and civilian life in Texas and other states.
According to Harrison County descendants, William Delafield lived with or near his son Nicholas. They are both believed to have been buried in a private plot near their home about five miles “slightly northwest of Hallsville” on the Mont Hall farm.
The graves in the plot have been lost and can no longer be identified.