[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] The de Lancey family, as a whole, was emphatically pro-British in the American struggle for independence, and contributed many brave officers to the armies of the king. In this latter respect the de Lanceys contrast with the Philipses, who, while Tory to the heart's core, were not fighters, and kept themselves at a safe distance from the scenes of carnage. Yet an element of the de Lanceys belonged to the patriot side, and leading members of the family who took up arms for Great Britain became reconciled to the situation after the recognition of independence, and made themselves acceptable citi-zens of the republic. The family has always since been honorably connected with Westchester County. The Manor of Cortlandt, devised by Stephanus Van Cortlandt at his death, in 1700, to his eleven surviving children in equal shares (except that his eldest son, Johannes, received, in addition to his equal portion, what is now Verplanck's Point on the Hudson, a tract of some twenty-five hundred acres), remained undivided for many years. The family was a very united one. The widow of Stephanus, Gertrude Schuyler, outlived her husband twenty-three years, and it was tacitly agreed that during her lifetime nothing should be done toward splitting up the estate. Meanwhile one of the eleven heirs, Oliver, died childless, willing his interest to his brothers and sisters. The manor thenceforth, until its final dismemberment, comprised ten proprietary interests.