Delane History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The 19th century saw a great wave of Irish families leaving Ireland for the distant shores of North America and Australia. These families often left their homeland hungry, penniless, and destitute due to the policies of England. Those Irish immigrants that survived the long sea passage initially settled on the eastern seaboard of the continent. Some, however, moved north to a then infant Canada as United Empire Loyalists after ironically serving with the English in the American War of Independence. Others that remained in America later joined the westward migration in search of land. The greatest influx of Irish immigrants, though, came to North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Thousands left Ireland at this time for North America, and those who arrived were immediately put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. In fact, the foundations of today's powerful nations of the United States and Canada were to a larger degree built by the Irish. Archival documents indicate that members of the Delane family relocated to North American shores quite early:

Delane Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

• John Delane, who arrived in Maryland in 1740 1

Delane Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

• James Delane, aged 20, a labourer, who arrived in South Australia in 1858 aboard the ship "Sir Thomas Gresham" 2

• Denis Delane (d. 1750), Irish actor who "belonged to a good Irish family, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin" 3
• Solomon Delane (1727-1784), Scottish landscape-painter, born at Edinburgh in 1727, a self-taught artist, who worked entirely from nature 3
• John Thaddeus Delane (1817-1879), English journalist and editor of the ‘Times,’ was of a family originally Irish and settled in Queen's County 3
• Keith Delane Wortman (b. 1950), American NFL offensive lineman who played from 1972 to 1981