THE LIVINGSTONS OF THE LIVINGSTON MANOR
The Livingston dynasty is among the most important in American history. Members of the family settled in colonial New York in the seventeenth century and soon ranked among the patricians (their coat of arms is one of several represented in the capitol at Albany). Branches of the Livingston family were involved in major events throughout the past 300 years: members of the Continental Congress; signers of the Declaration of Independence; supporters of the Revolution; contributors to educational institutions including King’s College (Columbia) and Yale; and financial backers of Robert Fulton’s invention of the steamboat. Livingstons served as diplomats, justices, congressmen, and city, state and federal officials; others were leading merchants on land and at sea. A Livingston Legacy Revived (New York Times, November 23, 1998) cites as Livingston descendants Eleanor Roosevelt, George Bush, Hamilton Fish, Robert L. Livingston, and Thomas H. Kean.
Robert Livingston (1654-1728), First Lord of Livingston Manor, settled in Albany in 1674, and was the progenitor of this prominent American family. His father, John Livingston, received an A.M. degree at Glasgow in 1621 and was a minister in Scotland, but refused to take the oath of allegiance to the English crown in 1663; he was banished and removed to Rotterdam where he was a minister; he died in 1672. Robert was born in Scotland and emigrated to America, a land where he could freely worship without persecution. He married Alida Schuyler in 1679, the widow of his patron Nicholas Van Rensselaer; a marriage that linked three of the most prominent families in the colony of New York. In 1685 he purchased thousands of acres along the Hudson River, “Livingston Manor.” The Robert Livingstons had nine children.
Philip Livingston (1686-1749), Second Lord of Livingston Manor, married Catherine Van Brugh in 1707, and one of their sons, Robert (1708 -1790), became Third Lord of the Manor. Another son, Philip (1716-1778), served in the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence, and was a philanthropist.
Robert Livingston, Third Lord of the Manor, cited above, married Maria Thong in 1731. One of their sons, John Livingston, born in 1750, married Mary Ann LeRoy in 1775 and after being widowed, married a cousin, Catherine Livingston Ridley (1751-1813) of New Jersey. Since he was not to inherit the Manor, he built Oak Hill in 1793 on a picturesque spot overlooking the Hudson River; on land that was part of the original 160,000-acre estate. Oak Hill was built and decorated in the latest New York Federal taste. The furniture was from the most fashionable New York cabinetmakers including Duncan Phyfe, and the silver, handsomely engraved with the family crest and coat of arms, was purchased from the finest New York craftsmen or imported from London.
Herman Livingston (1793-1872) was born at Oak Hill. He was raised there and raised his family at Oak Hill, which passed from Herman to future generations of Livingstons who retained many of the original furnishings.
Provenance courtesy of Northeast Auctions