Randolph A. DeLancey
November 29, 1818 – June 25, 1894
Exeter News-Letter, Friday, June 29, 1894
The community was equally surprised and grieved by the announcement Monday morning that Rev. Dr. Randolph A. DeLancey had died of pneumonia at Houlton, Me.
On June 5 he was summoned to Parsonsfield, Me., to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law, Mr. Edwin E. Lord, and from there went to East Wakefield, to visit a brother. His health had improved during the trip, and on Sunday, the 17th, he preached in the town last named, soon afterward escorting his sister, Mrs. Lord, to her home in Houlton. There he was stricken down, and his condition became critical. His son Curtis started for Houlton Sunday night.
Randolph A. DeLancey was born in Jackson in 1819, and early prepared for the Presbyterian ministry. Illness prevented him from entering upon missionary work in Africa, as be wished and had planned to do, and instead he went to Bethesda, Md., near Washington, and the result of his labors there was the building of a church.
From Bethesda he went to Norristown, Pa., in a few years going to New Orleans, La., as secretary of the American Bible Society.
Upon the breaking out of the rebellion, he assumed a staunch Unionist stand, and was twice warned therefor by the vigilance committee to leave the state.
Before the opening of hostilities his family had been sent North, and finally he himself, assisted by a friendly member of the committee, departed by night, with such effects as he could take in a hand bag and to the loss of nearly all his property.
He was pastor of the Beach street Presbyterian church in Boston for a few years, and then retired to his farm in Hampton. He had married Miss Abbie T. Hobbs, of this town, in 1844. Perhaps that which gave him most satisfaction in his life work was the raising of funds to build the free Presbyterian church in Washington, which he did with no compensation whatever. He labored for others, not himself.
In Hampton, Dr. DeLancey had been a useful and public spirited citizen. He ever had the interests of the public schools at heart, and had done much in their behalf. He was especially proud of the beach, and was the staunch supporter of every movement which aimed at its prosperity and the uncompromising enemy of all that could work it injury. He had frequently conducted religious services there. He was a man of marked abilities and of strong convictions, with the courage to express them regardless of his personal popularity. His death is a loss to the community.
He had long been a correspondent of the News-Letter and other journals.
He had outlived his wife. Two sons survive him, Randolph J. and Curtis, both residents of Hampton.