Robert Livingston (July 24, 1688 – June 27, 1775) was a British colonial era landowner, businessman, and
Provincial
Provincial may refer to:
Government & Administration
* Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country
* Provincial city (disambiguation)
* Provincial minister (disambiguation)
* Provincial Secretary, a position in Canad ...
assemblyman, and the Second Lord of
Livingston Manor
Livingston Manor was a tract of land in the Province of New York granted to Robert Livingston the Elder during the reign of George I of Great Britain. Located between the Hudson River and the Massachusetts border, the Livingston Manor was locate ...
. Known as Robert of
Clermont, he was the son of
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, becomin ...
and father of
Robert Livingston, "the Judge" (1718–1775). He was a member of New York colonial assembly from 1726 until 1727.
Early life and family
Robert Livingston was born on the afternoon of July 24, 1688, at his father's
Albany, New York townhouse, at "Elm Tree Corner", the intersection of State and Pearl Streets and one of early Albany's principal crossroads.
[Bielinski, Stefan. "Elm Tree Corner", New York State Museum]
/ref> He was the fifth child, and third son, of Alida (née Schuyler) Van Rensselaer Livingston and 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, becomin ...
, who was downriver in New York engaged in business with Governor Dongan at the time of Robert's birth. Among his eight siblings were elder brother Philip Livingston
Philip Livingston (January 15, 1716 – June 12, 1778) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and slave trader from New York City. He represented New York at the October 1774 First Continental Congress, where he favored imposi ...
and younger brother Gilbert Livingston.
His maternal grandfather was Philip Pieterse Schuyler
Colonel Philip Pieterse Schuyler or Philip Pieterse (1628 – 9 May 1683) was a Dutch-born landowner in New Netherlands and progenitor of the senior line of the American Schuyler family.
Early life
Philip Pieterse Schuyler was born in Amsterda ...
(1628–1683) and his paternal grandfather was Reverend John Livingston, a Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
minister who died in exile in 1673. His mother, Alida, had previously been married to Nicholas van Rensselaer, but after his death, she married Robert Livingston in 1679. Alida taught her children to read and write both English and Dutch. At the invitation of his brother William, Robert the Elder sent his eleven-year-old son, Robert, to Scotland to be educated at the Latin school in Leith. Later he studied at the High School in Edinburgh. He went to London for the completion of his education and studied law there at the Temple.[ Upon reaching the age of twenty-five, he returned to America and opened a law office in Albany. He abandoned the profession in 1713 to move to New York and begin a mercantile career. However, he returned to Livingston Manor to help with the management thereof.][Naramore, Bruce. "That 'Witty Boy': Robert Livingston, the Builder of Clermont", Clermont State Historic Site]
/ref>
Clermont
Following the death of his father, the first Lord of Livingston Manor
Livingston Manor was a tract of land in the Province of New York granted to Robert Livingston the Elder during the reign of George I of Great Britain. Located between the Hudson River and the Massachusetts border, the Livingston Manor was locate ...
, in 1728, most of the manor was inherited by the eldest surviving son Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...
, but 13,000 acres (53 km²) south of the Roeliff Jansen Kill
The Roeliff Jansen Kill is a major tributary to the Hudson River. Roeliff Jansen Kill was the traditional boundary between the Native American Mahican and Wappinger tribes.
Its source is in the town of Austerlitz, New York, and its mouth is at ...
was willed to Robert. Known as the "Lower Manor", Robert named his estate "Ancram", after the parish where his grandfather, Rev. John Livingston had served. It was also the same name his brother Philip had given to the ironworks at Livingston Manor.
Around 1730, Robert built a large stone and brick Georgian house, and sometime after 1740 renamed the estate "Clare Mount" ("clear mountain"), a reference to the view of the Catskills that rise across the river from the front door of the house. At that time Robert was heavily involved in land speculation in the Catskill Mountains land, and would eventually own nearly 500,000 acres.["The Clermont Estate", Town of Clermont]
/ref>
After the house was burned by the British in 1777, the family adopted the name Clermont for the estate.["A Brief History of Clermont", Friends of Clermont]
The house was rebuilt by his daughter-in-law, Margaret Beekman Livingston, wife of Judge Livingston, and is today a state park and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.[
]
Personal life
In 1717, Livingston married Margaret Howarden (1693–1758), at the Reformed Dutch Church in New York. His mother, Alida, did not attend. Margaret was the daughter of a wealthy English merchant in New York and granddaughter of Captain Bethlow, a Huguenot after whom Bedloe's Island is named. Bedloe's Island, in New York harbor is now known as Liberty Island and the site of the Statue of Liberty. Their only child was:
* Robert R. Livingston (1718–1775), who married Margaret Beekman, daughter of Henry Beekman and Janet Livingston.
Margaret died in December 1758 and was interred in a burial vault constructed 200 yards north of the Livingston family home at Clermont. Livingston died on June 27, 1775, at the age of 87 and was buried with his wife in the family vault. Upon his death, the "Lower Manor" became the property of his only child, Robert R. Livingston, or Judge Livingston as he was known in Provincial New York.[
]
Depiction
His grandson, Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston (May 28, 1764May 23, 1836) was an American jurist, statesman and slaveholder. Database at He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. Li ...
(1764–1836) described Robert of Clermont at eighty-four as: "... a gentleman... tall and somewhat bent, but not emaciated by age which had marked, but not disfigured, a face once remarkable for its regular beauty of features, and still beaming with the benevolence and intelligence that had always illuminated it. He marked the epoch at which he retired from the world by preserving its costume: the flowing wool powered wig, the bright brown coat, with large cuffs and square shirts, the cut velvet waistcoast, with ample flaps and the breeches scarcely covering the knee, the silk stocking, rolled over them with embroidered clocks, and shining square-toed shoes, fastened near the ankle and small embossed gold buckles. These were retained in his service, not to affect a singularity, but because he thought it ridiculous at his time of life to follow the quick succession of fashion."[ He always rose at five and read until breakfast. The year before his death, he took up the study of German and spoke it fluently.
"The patriarch of Clermont was in many ways the spoiled younger son of the ]self-made man
A self-made man is a person whose success is of their own making.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, has been described as the greatest exemplar of the self-made man. Inspired by Franklin's autobiography, Fr ...
. A failure in the law, in business, and in the eyes of his own parents, he nonetheless entered his final years with the satisfaction that he had not only maintained the estate passed on to him by his father, but had increased it 40-fold through his speculation in Catskill Mountain lands."[
]
References
See also
*Livingston family
The Livingston family of New York (state), New York is a prominent family that migrated from Scotland to the Dutch Republic, and then to the Province of New York in the 17th century. Descended from the 4th Lord Livingston, its members included s ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Robert (1688-1775)
1688 births
1775 deaths
American politicians of Dutch descent
American people of Scottish descent
Robert (1688-1775)
Members of the New York Provincial Assembly
Speakers of the New York General Assembly
Members of the New York General Assembly
18th-century American lawyers
Merchants from colonial New York
18th-century American merchants
Schuyler family