Thomas Delavall (Delaval or De Lavall), Mayor 1666-1667, 1670-1671, and 1678-1679: Delavall (1620 – 1682) was a merchant and government official. He also spent part of his time in Albany on the council of the provincial governor. In 1670, Governor Francis Lovelace granted him permission to build a house in Albany, and he was appointed as an Albany magistrate.

In 1673, his property was confiscated by the Dutch when they re-took the province. However, in September 1676, he was in Albany for an extraordinary session of the court. In Albany court records, Capt. Delavall owned a mortgage on an enslaved woman, Anna, in December 1676. The records state:

Monsr. Willem Beekman, administrator of the estate of the late widow Corlaer, deceased, standing inside, requests that the honorable court be pleased to appoint two impartial men to appraise the negress Anna (without her child), as by a mortgage dated December 1, 1676, she is bound to Capt. Delavall. Whereupon the honorable court request and authorize Mr. Wm. Teller and Mr. Marte Criger to appraise the said negress and to report to their honors.[1]

Court records also state that Delavall had a servant named Franck. It is unclear if this was an enslaved man.[2]

[1] Minutes of the court of Albany, Rensselaerswyck, and Schenectady, 1668- 1685…, Vol. II, p.232 and p.164 for Sept.; her will, Antonia Jufrow Slackboom is in Ancestry.com, New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999, Will and Probate 15 Jan 1676

[2] Minutes of the court of Albany, Rensselaerswyck, and Schenectady, 1668- 1673…, Vol. I, p.276

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