American landowner and politician (1718β1775)
Robert Robert Livingston ,
[1] also called The Judge (August 1718 β December 9, 1775),
[2] was a prominent colonial American
politician , and a leading
Whig in
New York in the years leading up to the
American Revolution .
[3]
Early life
Robert R. Livingston was born in August 1718 at
Clermont Manor in what was then the
Province of New York , a part of
British America .
[4] He was the only child of
Robert Livingston (1688β1775), known as "Robert of
Clermont " and Margaret Howarden (1693β1758).
[5] His mother was the daughter of a wealthy English merchant in New York and granddaughter of Captain Isaac Bedlow, a
Huguenot after whom
Bedloe's Island is named.
[6]
His paternal grandparents were
Robert Livingston the Elder (1654β1728) and
Alida (nΓ©e Schuyler)
Van Rensselaer Livingston (1656β1727), daughter of
Philip Pieterse Schuyler (1628β1683) and widow of
Nicholas Van Rensselaer .
[7] His uncle was
Philip Livingston (1686β1749), the second Lord of
Livingston Manor . His great-grandfather was Reverend John Livingston, a
Church of Scotland minister who died in exile in 1673.
[8]
Career
Livingston, known as 'Judge Livingston' to distinguish him from his
eponymous father and other prominent
Livingstons , was a member of the
New York Provincial Assembly from 1759 to 1768. He served as judge of the admiralty court from 1760 to 1763. He was a delegate to the
Stamp Act Congress of 1765,
[8] and, in 1775, a member of the
Committee of One Hundred ,
[9] which briefly governed
New York City .
[10]
From 1763 until 1775, he served as a
Justice of the New York Supreme Court of Judicature .
[11]
Family
Portrait of his wife, Margaret Beekman Livingston, by
Gilbert Stuart ,
c. 1795
Robert's daughter, Alida Livingston Armstrong and Daughter , by
Rembrandt Peale , ca. 1810
In 1742, he married Margaret
Beekman (1724β1800), daughter of Col.
Henry Beekman and Janet Livingston (his second cousin), a descendant of
Wilhelmus Beekman and heir to immense tracts of land in
Dutchess and
Ulster counties.
[12] Their children included:
[5]
Janet Livingston (b.1743-1824), who married Gen.
Richard Montgomery (1738β1775) in 1773.
[10]
Robert R. Livingston (1746β1813), the
Chancellor of New York who married Mary Stevens, daughter of
John Stevens , in 1770.
[13]
Margaret Livingston (1749β1823), who married
Thomas Tillotson (1750β1832), an army surgeon who became
New York Secretary of State .
[14]
Henry Beekman Livingston (1750β1831), who commanded the
4th New York Regiment at the
Battles of Saratoga and
Monmouth and during the winter at
Valley Forge .
[14] He married
Ann Hume Shippen , daughter of Prof.
Dr. William Shippen and Alice Lee of Philadelphia, in 1781.
[5]
Catharine Livingston (1752β1849), who married
Freeborn Garrettson (1752β1827) in 1791 and helped to bring
Methodism to the
Hudson River Valley .
[14]
[15]
John R. Livingston (1755β1851), a merchant who took over his father's gunpowder mill during the Revolutionary War.
[16]
[17]
[18] He married, first, to Margaret Sheafe in 1779. After her death, he married Eliza McEvers, the daughter of Charles McEvers and Mary Bache, in 1789. Eliza was the sister of his brother Edwards's first wife Mary.
[5]
Gertrude Livingston (1757β1833), who married Gov.
Morgan Lewis (1754β1844), son of
Francis Lewis (1713β1802), a signer of the
United States Declaration of Independence .
Joanna Livingston (1759β1827), who married
Peter R. Livingston (1766β1847), acting
Lieutenant Governor of New York .
Alida Livingston (1761β1822), who married
John Armstrong Jr. (1758β1843), a
U.S. Senator ,
U.S. Secretary of War , and
U.S. Minister to France who was the son of Gen.
John Armstrong, Sr.
Edward Livingston (1764β1836), a
U.S. Senator and
U.S. Secretary of State who married Mary McEvers, the daughter of Charles McEvers and Mary Bache, in 1788. After her death, he married Madame Louise Moreau de Lassy in 1805. She was the sister of
Auguste Davezac .
[19]
Livingston died on December 9, 1775, at his estate in
Clermont, New York , several months after his own father's death on June 27, 1775.
[12]
Descendants
Through his son Major John R., he was the grandfather of
Robert Montgomery Livingston (1790β1838), who married Sarah Barclay Bache in 1811.
[19] Livingston and his father were known for their quarrels with
Cornelius Vanderbilt and
Thomas Gibbons over his operation of steamboats and the breakup of the Chancellor Livingston and Gov.
Aaron Ogden monopoly resulting from the landmark
Supreme Court decision in
Gibbons v. Ogden .
[20]
His grandson-in-law was
George Croghan , a nephew of
William Clark , the explorer, Lewis Livingston, Charles Edward Livingston and
George Rogers Clark . His granddaughters include Margaret Lewis, Elizabeth Stevens Livingston, Margaret Maria Livingston, Julia Livingston, and Coralie Livingston.
[5]
Through Chancellor Livingston, he was the 2x great-grandfather of Mary Livingston Ludlow (1843β1919), herself the mother of his 3x great-granddaughter,
Anna Hall Roosevelt (1863β1892), herself the mother of
First Lady of the United States
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884β1962).
[21]
See also
References
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"Archives Directory for the History of Collecting" . research.frick.org .
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^ Bonomi, Patricia U. (2014).
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^
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b
c
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e Livingston, Edwin Brockholst (1910).
The Livingstons of Livingston Manor: Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callendar which Settled in the English Province of New York During the Reign of Charles the Second; and Also Including an Account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the Same Province and His Principal Descendants . Knickerbocker Press. Retrieved 10 August 2017 .
^
"Spell it with a "W" It should not be Bedloo's Island but "Bedlow's" " (PDF) .
The New York Times . August 14, 1886. Retrieved 2011-04-08 .
^
"The Seventeenth Century Β· Clio's Sisters: Women Who Made History In and Around Bard" . omekalib.bard.edu .
Stevenson Library Digital Collections . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^
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^ Harrison, Mrs. Burton; Lamb, Mrs. Martha J. (1896).
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ITS ORIGIN RISE, AND PROGRESS . p.
900 . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
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NYU Press . p. 38.
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9780814780398 . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^
"Robert R. Livingston, Judge of the NY Supreme Court of Judicature, 1763-1775" . www.nycourts.gov . Historical Society of the New York Courts. Retrieved 10 August 2017 .
^
a
b
"The Clermont Estate | Town of Clermont" . www.clermontny.org . Town of Clermont. Retrieved 11 September 2016 .
^
"Livingston, Robert (1746-1813) to John R. Livingston" . www.gilderlehrman.org .
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^
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^ Andrews, Dee E. (2010).
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Princeton University Press . p. 302.
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^ Clermont State Historic Site (16 May 2016).
"Clermont State Historic Site: Was John R. Livingston a Murderer?" . Clermont State Historic Site . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^
"John R. Livingston (1755-1851)" . www.nyhistory.org .
New-York Historical Society . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^ Hess, Stephen (2017).
America's Political Dynasties . Routledge. p. 552.
ISBN
9781351532150 . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^
a
b Reynolds, Cuyler (1914).
Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation . Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p.
1339 . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^ Garner, Dwight (28 April 2009).
"Vanderbilt as Robber Baron in T. J. Stiles's 'The First Tycoon' " .
The New York Times . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^ Appleseed, Peter (2014).
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Life and Times . Lulu.com. p. 108.
ISBN
9781312213746 . Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
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