Warren Delano Jr.

Warren Delano Jr. (July 13, 1809 – January 17, 1898) was an American merchant known for his involvement in the opium trade during the 19th century. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, as the eldest son of Captain Warren Delano Sr. (1779–1866) and Deborah Perry (née Church) Delano. Following his mother's death in 1827, his father remarried Elizabeth Adams, the widow of a U.S. Navy Captain. Warren Delano Jr. had siblings including Frederick Delano, Edward Delano, and Franklin Hughes Delano, who was married to Laura Astor, daughter of William Backhouse Astor Sr.

He descended from Philip Delano, a Pilgrim who arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621. His paternal grandparents were Ephraim Delano and Elisabeth Cushman Delano, while his maternal grandparents were Joseph Church and Deborah Perry Church. Delano completed his education at Fairhaven Academy at age 15 and engaged in the import trade by age 17.

Delano became involved in the clandestine opium trade, accumulating significant wealth by smuggling opium into Canton (present-day Guangzhou), China. During the 1800s, many European nations faced trade deficits with China, which led to the large-scale illegal importation of opium by traders such as William Jardine of Jardine Matheson. This trade resulted in widespread addiction within China and contributed to the onset of the First Opium War (1840–1843).

At age 24, prior to the outbreak of the First Opium War, Delano went to China to work for Russell & Company, a prominent American firm engaged in the China trade. The company established a floating warehouse offshore where ships could offload opium contraband before proceeding to Canton. By early 1843, Delano had risen to become the head partner of the leading American firm engaged in Chinese trade, witnessing major events such as the dissolution of the Canton trading system and the signing of unequal treaties.

In the 1850s, Warren Delano Jr., alongside his brother Franklin and Asa Packer, purchased land and established the town of Delano, Pennsylvania. He experienced financial setbacks during the Panic of 1857 but returned to China in 1860 to Hong Kong, where he managed to rebuild his fortune. During the American Civil War, he supplied opium to the U.S. War Department's Medical Bureau.

He married Catherine Robbins Lyman on November 1, 1843, in Massachusetts. They had eleven children, including Sara Ann Delano, who married James Roosevelt I and was the mother of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. His other children included Deborah Perry Delano, Anne Lyman Delano, Warren Delano IV, Frederic Adrian Delano, Katherine Robbins Delano, and others. Several of his descendants held notable positions, including diplomat Warren Delano Robbins and U.S. Representative Katharine Price Collier.

In 1851, Delano purchased property along the Hudson River called Algonac, which was designed in an Italianate style by architects Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux. His grandson Franklin Roosevelt was married there in 1905.

Warren Delano Jr. died of bronchial pneumonia in 1898 at Algonac and was buried beside his wife in the Delano Family Tomb at Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The tomb, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, was built in 1859.

Numerous geographical locations, including Delano, Pennsylvania, and Delano Township in Pennsylvania, are named in his honor.