Sarah Van Brugh Livingston Jay (August 2, 1756 – May 28, 1802) was an American

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

and wife of

founding father The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system ...

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

, in which capacity she was the wife of the

President of the Continental Congress The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the con ...

, of the

Chief Justice of the United States The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary. Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution g ...

, and First Lady of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Early life

Sarah was born in 1756. She was the eldest daughter of wealthy landowner

William Livingston William Livingston (November 30, 1723July 25, 1790) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War. As a New Jersey representative in the Continental Congr ...

(1723–1790) and Susannah French (1723–1789). Her father was an attorney who was a signer of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

and later served as the first post-colonial

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

from 1776 until his death in 1790. Her paternal grandparents were Philip Livingston, the 2nd 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 ...

, and Catherine Van Brugh, the only child of Albany mayor Pieter Van Brugh (1666–1740). Her paternal uncles included Robert Livingston (1708–1790), 3rd Lord of Livingston Manor, Peter Van Brugh Livingston (1710–1792), New York State Treasurer, and Philip Livingston (1716–1778), who served as a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

. Through her mother, she was descended from Phillip French, the 27th

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...

Frederick Philipse Frederick Philipse (born Frederick Flypsen;Appleton, W.S. ''The Heraldic Journal, Recording the Amorial Bearings and Genealogies of American Families'', Wiggen & Lunt, Boston, 1867 1626 in Bolsward, Netherlands – December 23, 1702), first Lord ...

, the 1st Lord of the

Philipsburg Manor Philipsburg Manor (sometimes referred to as Philipse Manor) was a manor located north of New York City in Westchester County in the Province of New York. Dutch-born Frederick Philipse I and two partners made the initial purchase of land that ...

, and Anthony Brockholst, an acting Governor of Colonial New York.

Society and diplomatic role

Following her wedding to Jay in 1774, she spent the early years of their marriage at her father's house in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Her husband would visit her there when he was not serving as a state official in New York. In 1779, he was appointed commissioner to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and Sarah joined him, moving abroad. In Spain, Sarah Livingston Jay's would receive one diplomatic visitor in her bedroom when she was too ill from morning sickness to rise. In France, she would plan and host the Americans' celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, albeit in absentia because she had only just given birth (in Benjamin Franklin's house) when the event took place. History leaves too few traces of women, but if one's role in society smoothed the way for the diplomatic process (as Benjamin Franklin believed it did) then Sarah Livingston Jay can be credited with aiding in the ratification of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Sarah Livingston Jay regularly attended salons and the Monday night dinners hosted by the

Marquise A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or wid ...

and

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

. Participating in Parisian society was part of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

's strategy for tightening the bonds of French-American relations. Sarah Livingston Jay played her part in society so well that she was once mistaken for

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

by the audience of a theatre in Paris, "on the entrance of the American beauty, he audiencearose to do her homage." Her social circle included

Adrienne de La Fayette Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, Marquise de La Fayette (2 November 1759 – 25 December 1807), was a French marchioness. She was the daughter of Jean de Noailles and Henriette Anne Louise d'Aguesseau. On 11 April 1774, she married Gilb ...

Angelica Schuyler Church Angelica Church (née Schuyler ; February 20, 1756 – March 6, 1814) was an American socialite. She was the eldest daughter of Continental Army General Philip Schuyler, and a sister of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and sister-in-law of Alexand ...

Abigail Adams Abigail Adams ( ''née'' Smith; – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. She was a founder o ...

Abigail Adams Smith Abigail Adams Smith (July 14, 1765 – August 15, 1813), nicknamed "Nabby", was a daughter of Abigail and John Adams, founding father and second President of the United States, and the older sister of John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the U ...

, and Anne Willing Bingham, and the connections forged by these linkages were crucial to future diplomatic successes (Angelica Church, for example, would assist John Jay socially when he traveled to London to negotiate what would become the

Jay Treaty The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted ...

Return to New York

Upon returning to New York (when Mr. Jay was appointed U.S. Foreign Secretary), Livingston Jay's experiences in Europe and French language skills were applied to hosting officials from the diplomatic corps and other guests in the U.S. capital city of New York. Livingston Jay would go on to serve in her hospitality role as the wife of the first

and First Lady of New York. In New York, " Mrs. lizabethHamilton, Mrs. arahJay and Mrs. ucy/nowiki> Knox were the leaders of official society."Humphreys, Mary Gay (1897)
Catherine Schuyler
C. Scribner's Sons. p. 221. "In the society which marked the early days of the Republic, in New York, then the seat of the Continental Congress, Mrs. John Jay...was the acknowledged leader," and Sarah Livingston Jay's "Dinner and Supper list" for 1787-8 contained the names of notable men and women who were the midwives of a new nation, including: General and Mrs. Washington, Colonel and Mrs. Bayard,

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

and Elizabeth Hamilton, Dr. and Mrs. Rodgers,

Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, statesman, and early abolitionist and women's rights advocate. During the Revolutionary War, Boudinot was an intelligence officer and prisoner-of-wa ...

, Daniel Huger, and the DeLancey family. An image of her handwritten list is, considered "the most famous American "society"-type document of the eighteenth century". In an era when dinner tables were the nodes of social networks, when a house was not the private realm it is perceived to be now, the social capital inherent to a dinner list was tendered as political capital. Like many of the Founding Mothers, credit for any and all of Sarah Livingston Jay's contributions as spouse to a prominent politician have been subsumed by her husband's reputation (i.e. a consequence of

coverture Coverture was a legal doctrine in English common law under which a married woman's legal existence was considered to be merged with that of her husband. Upon marriage, she had no independent legal existence of her own, in keeping with society's ...

). As coverture is no longer the law of the land, however, subsuming Livingston Jay's biography under her husband's is to perpetuate history's error: "we think women were sitting around tending to the tatting or pouring tea, and it's our view of first ladies too and it's all wrong. These were very, very politically passionate women. Their letters are full of politics and they were utterly devoted to the patriot cause." This misunderstanding may well have been less true in Sarah Livingston Jay's lifetime than it is today: "While denied direct participation in the political system, elite women's roles as republican wives and mothers was understood by Americans at this time as a political necessity."

Personal life

On April 28, 1774, Sarah married

(1745–1829), a member of a prominent merchant family in New York City. He was one of seven surviving children born to Peter Jay and Mary Van Cortlandt, the daughter of mayor Jacobus Van Cortlandt. Together, John and Sarah Jay had six children: * Peter Augustus Jay, who was born in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.William Jay, who was born in New York City in 1789 * Sarah Jay, who was born in New York City in 1792. In 1801, John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay moved to a farm near Bedford, New York, where Sarah died in 1802.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Sarah Livingston 1756 births 1802 deaths First ladies and gentlemen of New York (state) Jay family 18th-century American women