David G. Floyd’s Descendants
David G. Floyd and his Grand-Daughter
The On July 31, 1845, 43-year old David Gelston Floyd married 38 year-old Lydia Smith (1810-1898), a descendant of William “Tangier” Smith (1654-1704), from whose descendants the Floyd family received their original land in Mastic. The couple had four daughters, Julia Delafield Floyd (1846-1929), Lydia Smith Floyd (1848-1932), Mary A. Floyd (1850-1873) and Grace Floyd (1854-1949). Mary and Grace never married, but both Julia and Lydia married and had children.
Following Floyds death in 1893 and his wife’s death in 1898 the property passed to daughter Julia and her husband Albert Delafield (1848-1920). At the time of Julia’s death in 1929 her daughter, Grace Floyd Delafield Robinson inherited the home. Grace was an avid gardener and created lavish formal gardens behind the estate and which were know across the Island. Her Aunt, also named Grace, continued to live in the old house next door, where part of the extensive collection of Floyd family porcelain was on display.
Grace Floyd Delafield Robinson
Grace Floyd Delafield Robinson's husband, Francis DeLancey Robinson (1872-1938), may have been responsible for alterations to the house, including the addition of more modern bathroom facilities during her ownership. He was a noted New York City architect who worked for the firm of C. P. H. Gilbert and was involved in many ecclesiastical projects, including the restoration of old St. Paul’s Cathedral in New York City. The Robinsons had no children, and in 1954, Mrs. Grace Floyd Delafield Robinson dispersed much of the furniture in the Hall, giving some pieces and a ceramics collection to the Suffolk County Historical Museum.
At the time of Grace’s death her niece, Frederica Carlotta Prentiss Haneman (1883-1973), took over Brecknock Hall with her husband, John Theodore Haneman Sr. (1881-1960). He was also a noted architect, and also heavily involved in ecclesiastical work. Haneman attended Columbia University and studied in Paris at the Ecoles des Beaux Arts and later joined with architect William J. Rogers to create a firm in New York City that focused upon residential and church architecture. He was responsible for many important private and public buildings, including the Atlantic, Silver Point, and Garden City Clubs and in New York City he was known for his work on the now lost 64th Street Armory. Haneman served on the New York City Mayor’s Committee on Architecture under Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882-1947). He was the author of the respected book “A Manual of Architectural Composition (1923),” which is still in use today. Locally, he did work both at Brecknock Hall and at Trinity Episcopal Church in Greenport, where he designed the stained glass windows, baptismal font, and altar. Haneman was also an artist and painter when time allowed.
Under the Haneman’s much work was done at Brecknock Hall. A working farm was re-established with horses and Aberdeen Angus cattle, which were introduced in 1955. Cattle had been brought to the farm in the 1890’s by Frederica’s father, Frederick Prentiss, though at that time they were pure bred Jersey cattle. In 1960 John Theodore Haneman Sr. died, and Frederica Haneman was left to take care of the Hall. By that time Brecknock Hall was only in use six months out of the year and Frederica’s sons, William Floyd Haneman (1920-1994) and John Theodore Haneman Jr. (1923-1971), were living and working elsewhere. A few years later she remarried, this time to a local minister, Rev. Thomas J. Haldeman. Not long after the Hall was sold out of the family and its final contents dispersed.