Claude Delamater (or LeMaistre), the progenitor of the American Delamater family, was born in about 1611 in Richebourg, Artois, France. He was a Huguenot and fled religious persecution in France by moving to England and then the Netherlands. He married Louise Quenell in 1638 in Canterbury, Kent, England and the couple had two daughters who both died young. Claude married Jeanne DeLannoy in 1648 in Middleburg, Zeeland, Netherlands.

Apparently a two-time widower, Claude married Hester DuBois in Amsterdam on April 24, 1652. Hester was born in 1625 in Canterbury, England and christened there on October 9, 1625.

The couple moved to New Netherland in 1652 and settled in Flatbush (Midwout), Long Island where they lived for about ten years and had four children. Claude worked as a carpenter.

In 1662, the family moved to Harlem where they had two more children. In Harlem, Claude lived across the street from David Demarest, also a Huguenot; both men were involved in a dispute with the Governor because they refused payments to the Dutch church. Between 1666 and 1673, Claude served four terms as a magistrate and he was chosen as a deacon in 1675.

Claude died in Harlem in 1683. Hester married Jan Tibout, a schoolmaster, in 1687and she died in 1709.