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John Delafield
An early New York merchant and diplomat, he is best remembered for bringing one of the first copies of the provisional Treaty of Paris to New York in 1783. His career tied him to the city’s rise as a financial center in the years after the American Revolution.
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About the author
Born in London on March 16, 1748, he later became an English-American businessman who settled in New York City near the end of the Revolutionary War. He arrived in 1783, when the city was still under British control, carrying a copy of the provisional peace treaty between the United States and Great Britain.
In New York, he built a highly successful mercantile career and became prominent in the city’s financial life. He was an original director of the Mutual Insurance Company of New York, founded by Alexander Hamilton, and later served as president of the United Insurance Company.
He died in New York City on July 3, 1824. Remembered as one of the wealthy and influential figures of early Wall Street, he also left a large family whose members remained active in public and commercial life.