Philippe's grandfather, Guilbert de Lannoy of Tourcoing, was born Roman Catholic but apparently became an early Protestant.

He left the mainland with his family for England probably in the late 1570s and then, in 1591, moved to Leiden, a safe harbor for religious dissidents.

Although his name is not on the passenger list, Philippe is believed by Mayflower scholar Jeremy Bangs to have joined his maternal uncle Francis Cooke (husband of his mother's sister, Hester Mahieu) and young cousin John Cooke on the Speedwell voyage from Delfshaven to Southampton to meet the Mayflower.

It is unknown if the twenty (including Robert Cushman and Phillipe de Lannoy) who could not sail on the Mayflower returned to Leiden or remained in England.

The Mayflower proceeded solo with a combined company of 103, leaving Southampton on September 6, 1620, arriving Cape Cod Harbor on November 11, 1620.

The Fortune eventually substituted for the Speedwell, sailing for Plymouth Colony in early July 1621, arriving on November 9, 1621, with Philippe among its passengers.

[7][8] Philippe de Lannoy joined and resided with his uncle Francis Cooke and cousin John, who had arrived on the Mayflower the year before.

In 1652, he joined with 35 other colonists to purchase trading goods in what was then called Dartmouth Township from Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag, who drew the boundaries.

Philippe de Lannoy's sixth son Jonathan (about 1648–1720) married Mercy Warren, granddaughter of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren; among their direct descendants are the author Laura Ingalls Wilder, President Ulysses S. Grant, President Calvin Coolidge, anthropologist Robert Redfield, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, journalist Hunter S. Thompson, entertainer Martina McBride and the poet Conrad Potter Aiken.

[12] Over time, family members migrated to other states, including Pennsylvania, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, Vermont and as far away as Chile, where today descendants of Captain Paul Delano are numerous and prominent.

John Perkins Cushing – also a Russell & Company partner – had preceded Delano and initiated a close relationship with a Chinese official called Howqua.

The two men had established an offshore base – an anchored floating warehouse – where Russell & Company ships would offload their opium contraband before continuing up the Pearl River Delta to Canton with their legal cargo.