Robert Livingston the Elder

Robert Livingston the Elder (13 December 1654 – 1728) was a Scottish-born merchant and government official in the Province of New York. He was granted a patent to 160,000 acres (650 km²/ 250 sq mi) of land along the Hudson River, becoming the first lord of Livingston Manor.

Early life

File:Coat of Arms of Philip Livingston.svg

Coat of arms of the Livingston family

He was born in 1654 in the village of Ancrum, near Jedburgh, in the County of Roxburgh, Scotland. Robert was one of the seven children of Rev. John Livingston. He and his father were lineal descendants of William Livingston, 4th Lord Livingston, ancestor of the earls of Linlithgow and Callendar, via a grandson of William who was an early minister of the Church of Scotland.<ref name="Callendar"/>

In 1663, his father, John Livingston, was sent into exile due to his resistance to attempts to turn the Presbyterian national church into an Episcopalian institution. The exiled family settled in Rotterdam, in the Dutch Republic, where English merchants also worked. Robert became fluent in the Dutch language, which helped him greatly in his later career in New York and New Jersey, part of the former Dutch colony of New Netherland.<ref name="Bielinski">Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Template:Moresources Following the death of his father in 1673, Robert Livingston returned to Scotland for a time. He sailed for Boston to find his fortune in North America. Livingston's father was well known in Puritan Boston, and a merchant advanced the young son enough stock and credit to undertake a trading venture to Albany, New York. Livingston arrived in Albany in late 1674. With his business and language skills, in August 1675 he became secretary to Nicholas Van Rensselaer, director of Rensselaerswyck, who died a few years later in 1678.

File:Livingston Manor 1777.png

Map of Livingston Manor in 1777

In 1686, he and his brother-in-law, Pieter Schuyler, persuaded Governor Thomas Dongan to grant Albany a municipal charter like that awarded to New York City a few months earlier. Appointed as clerk of the city and county of Albany, Livingston collected a fee for each legal document registered.<ref name="Bielinski"/> With Pieter Schuyler, he led the opposition in Albany to Leisler's Rebellion. He served as Secretary for Indian Affairs from 1695 until his death. He was elected repeatedly to the New York provincial assembly, serving from 1709 to 1711, and 1716–1725; he was elected speaker in 1718.

According to Cynthia Kierner, "Robert Livingston valued public life primarily as a source of private profits. Livingston's generation looked upon politics as a business."<ref name="kierner">Kierner, Cynthia A., Traders and Gentlefolk: The Livingstons of New York, 1675-1790, Cornell University Press, 1992</ref> In 1696, Livingston backed Captain William Kidd's privateer voyage on the Adventure Galley. Livingston was also involved in the lucrative institution of slavery. In addition to owning slaves in New York, he also became involved in the Atlantic slave trade, investing money into the slave ship Margriet in 1690.<ref name="yaleslavery">Template:Cite web</ref>

Livingston Manor

Template:Main Through the influence of Governor Thomas Dongan, and confirmed by royal charter of George I of Great Britain in 1715, Robert Livingston obtained a patent to 160,000 acres (650 km²/ 250 sq mi) along the Hudson River south of Albany; this would become known as Livingston Manor in Columbia and Dutchess counties.<ref name="Bielinski"/> He offered land on both sides of the Hudson River to Queen Anne's government of England to be used temporarily as work camps for German Palatine refugees, who were to harvest lumber and produce naval stores: timber for masts, turpentine, etc. for the English navy. Nearly 3,000 refugee Germans arrived in Manhattan in 1710, on ten ships from London. They worked for years in the camps to pay off their passage, before being granted land in the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys. Livingston made a substantial profit by selling supplies to the work camps and was paid by the English colonial government.

His will provided for the establishment of the Livingston Memorial Church and Burial Ground.<ref name="nrhpinv_ny">Template:Cite web</ref> The original church of 1721 was replaced by another built in the late 19th century. Burials at the cemetery ceased in 1890. The 19th-century church and ground was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.<ref name="nris">Template:NRISref</ref>

Before entailing the bulk of the estate to his eldest son, Philip, Robert Livingston bequeathed about 13,000 acres to his third son and namesake, Robert. The younger man developed the property as an estate known as "Clermont". It is now recognized as a state historic site.<ref name="Callendar">Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

Template:Further In 1679, Livingston married Alida Schuyler (1656–1727), the widow of Nicholas Van Rensselaer. She was the daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler, vice-director of Fort Orange, giving Livingston an important connection in the community. Robert Livingston amassed one of the largest fortunes in 17th-century New York. They had nine children together:

• Johannes Livingston (1680–1720), who married Mary Winthrop (1683–1713), daughter of Gov. Fitz-John Winthrop of the Winthrop family, in 1701.<ref name="harvardartmuseums">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="GLMrsJLDeath">Template:Cite web</ref> After her death, he married Elizabeth Knight (1689–1736), the daughter of Sarah Kemble Knight,<ref name="Callendar"/> in 1713.<ref name="Lamphier2017">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Margaret Livingston (1681–1758), who married Samuel Vetch (1668–1732), the Royal Governor of Nova Scotia.<ref>Hess, p. 84</ref><ref name="DCB">Template:Cite DNB</ref><ref name="Plank44">Plank, p. 44</ref>
• Joanna Philipina Livingston (1683–1689), who died young.<ref name="Callendar"/>
• Philip Livingston (1686–1749), the second Lord of the Manor who married Catherine Van Brugh (b. 1689), daughter of Pieter Van Brugh, the Mayor of Albany, New York.<ref name="Callendar"/>
• Robert Livingston (1688–1775), the owner of the Clermont Estate who married Margaret Howarden (1693–1758).<ref name="Callendar"/>
• Hubertus "Gilbert" Livingston (1690–1746), who married Cornelia Beekman, granddaughter of Wilhelmus Beekman, Mayor of New York, and niece of Gerardus Beekman.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• William Livingston (1692–1692), who died young.<ref name="Callendar"/>
• Joanna Livingston (1694–1734), who married Cornelius Gerrit Van Horne (1694–1752).<ref name="NYHS1899">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Catherine Livingston (1698–1699), who died young.<ref name="Callendar"/>

Descendants

Livingston was the uncle of Robert Livingston the Younger, grandfather of Philip Livingston and William Livingston. Philip Livingston's granddaughter, Catherine Livingston married Abraham De Peyster. He was a loyalist Officer who served with the King's American Regiment and was at Battle of King's Mountain.Template:Fact

Through his son, Gilbert Livingston, he was the grandfather of Margaret Livingston (1738–1818), who married Peter Stuyvesant, a great-grandson of the Peter Stuyvesant who commanded the New Netherland colony on Manhattan island, and Joanna Livingston (1722–1808), who married Pierre Van Cortlandt (1721–1814), the first Lieutenant Governor of the New York.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Van Cortlandt, Pierre (1721-1814) at The Political Graveyard</ref>

Many Americans are descended from the Livingston family, including George W. Bush, the entire Fish and Kean families, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of New York Anna Morton, actors Montgomery Clift and Michael Douglas, actress Jane Wyatt, poet Robert Lowell, cinematographer Floyd Crosby and his son David Crosby, author Wolcott Gibbs, and almost the entire Astor family.<ref name="Callendar"/>

References

Notes

Sources

• Kees Kuiken, Schuyler, Alida, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Schuyler [13/01/2014]
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Further reading

• Beekman, Mrs. William B., "The Beekman Family. An Address Read Before the New York Branch of The Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America", p. 6, Baltimore, 1925
• Hamm, Margherita Arlina. Famous Families of New York, p.28, G. P. Putnam & Sons, New York, 1902
• Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler. History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century, Vol 2, pp. 247, 269, Macmillan Company, New York, 1909
• Brandt, Clare, An American Aristocracy: The Livingstons, Doubleday, New York 1986, isbn: 0-385-15875-0

External links

• Biography of Robert Livingston
• Robert Livingston, First Lord of Livingston Manor
• History of Clermont