The Spirit of the Delafield Family

…Succeed only as each is energetic, wise and upright. The life of a strong family is the record of such people because of whom it is long and runs through the centuries. Few would long be remembered but for their families.

A good ancestry is no more than a strong foundation to build upon. It will hold the greatest achievements any of us can rear. Yet all depends upon the life and work of each individual. A foundation alone, no matter how fine, will not avail or endure. We must each build and so build that those who come after us will find that foundation not weakened but greater than before.

Those who achieved still live through the records of their day which have come down to us; of the others little or nothing is known. This book seems to say to each of us, “Go out and accomplish things yourself and persevere.”

–from The Delafield Family Edition, as compiled by Richard Delafield 1901