Robert Livingston the Elder
Robert Livingston the Elder | |
---|---|
1st Lord of Livingston Manor | |
In office 1715 – 1728 | |
Preceded by | Created |
Succeeded by | Philip Livingston |
Personal details | |
Born | Ancrum, County of Roxburgh, Scotland | 13 December 1654
Died | 1 October 1728 New York, British America | (aged 73)
Spouse | |
Relations | See Livingston family |
Children | 9, including Philip, Robert, and Gilbert |
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
He was born in 1654 in the village of
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.[2]
Career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2022) |
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.
In 1686, he and his brother-in-law,
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."[3] 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.[4]
Livingston Manor
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
His will provided for the establishment of the Livingston Memorial Church and Burial Ground.[5] 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.[6]
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.[1]
Personal life
In 1679, Livingston married
- Johannes Livingston (1680–1720), who married Mary Winthrop (1683–1713), daughter of Gov. Fitz-John Winthrop of the Winthrop family, in 1701.[7][8] After her death, he married Elizabeth Knight (1689–1736), the daughter of Sarah Kemble Knight,[1] in 1713.[9]
- Margaret Livingston (1681–1758), who married Samuel Vetch (1668–1732), the Royal Governor of Nova Scotia.[10][11][12]
- Joanna Philipina Livingston (1683–1689), who died young.[1]
- Mayor of Albany, New York.[1]
- Robert Livingston (1688–1775), the owner of the Clermont Estate who married Margaret Howarden (1693–1758).[1]
- Hubertus "Gilbert" Livingston (1690–1746), who married Cornelia Beekman, granddaughter of Wilhelmus Beekman, Mayor of New York, and niece of Gerardus Beekman.[13]
- William Livingston (1692–1692), who died young.[1]
- Joanna Livingston (1694–1734), who married Cornelius Gerrit Van Horne (1694–1752).[14]
- Catherine Livingston (1698–1699), who died young.[1]
Descendants
Livingston was the uncle of
Through his son, Gilbert Livingston, he was the grandfather of Margaret Livingston (1738–1818), who married
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.[1]
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. New York: The Knickerbocker Press. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ a b c "Bielinski, Stefan. "Robert Livingston", New York State Museum". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2005.
- ^ Kierner, Cynthia A., Traders and Gentlefolk: The Livingstons of New York, 1675-1790, Cornell University Press, 1992
- ^ "First Endowed Professorship". www.yaleslavery.org. Yale University. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- ^ Neil Larson (July 1985). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Livingston Memorial Church and Burial Ground". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 13 March 2009.
- ^ "From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Mary Winthrop Livingston (Mrs. John Livingston) (c. 1683-1713)". www.harvardartmuseums.org. Harvard Art Museums. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- ^ "Livingston, Robert (1688-1775) to Robert Livingston re: death of Mary Winthrop Livingston". www.gilderlehrman.org. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- ISBN 9781610696036. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- ^ Hess, p. 84
- ^ Vetch, Robert Hamilton (1885–1900). . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Plank, p. 44
- ^ Lamb, Martha J. (1896) [1877]. History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise and Progress. Volume 1. A. S. Barnes and Company. p. 301.
- The New-York Historical Society. 1899. p. 415. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ISBN 0-912882-29-8.
- ^ Van Cortlandt, Pierre (1721-1814) at The Political Graveyard
- Sources
- Kees Kuiken, Schuyler, Alida, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Schuyler [13/01/2014]
- Hess, Stephen (1997). America's Political Dynasties. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. OCLC 34663122.
- Plank, Geoffrey (2001). An Unsettled Conquest. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. OCLC 424128960.
- Waller, George (1960). Samuel Vetch, Colonial Enterpriser. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. OCLC 480181.
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