When William, duke of Normandy, "the Conqueror," passed into England, A.D. 1066, he was accompanied by Godfirdus de Mannavilla. This Godfrey was liberally rewarded for his services with land. His grandson later became the first earl of Essex.

Giles fled from the city of Rouen, Normandy, France, to Holland where he married Elsje Hendricks. He recieved a grant of land at Flatbush, Long Island, and came to America in 1647 on the ship Faith, in the company of Peter Stuyvesant who later became the governor of the colony and was a great friend of the family. Stuyvesant gave Mandeville a grant of land on the Hudson river, extending from Ganzevoort street upwards and including the present Abington Square which was then the family burying ground. The locality was Greenwich village.

From the 'Biographical and geneological history of the city of Newark and Esse County, New Jersey.