Livingstons' mark is indelible

By Bruce Naramore
For the Poughkeepsie Journal

Although their wealth and prominence were based in what is today Columbia County, on the immense private tract known as the Manor of Livingston, their influence extended between New York and Albany, beginning in the late 17th century. The family owned large tracts of land in Dutchess County and west of the Hudson on the Great Hardenburgh Patent in the Catskills. The nearly 40 riverfront homes built by the Livingstons between Hudson and Poughkeepsie between 1730 and 1900 form the backbone of the 20-mile long Hudson River National Landmark District.

The Livingstons formed a powerful kinship with many of the prominent families in the mid-Hudson Valley, including the Beekmans, Schuylers, Astors, Roosevelts, Lewises and Delafields. During the early years of the Republic, the Livingstons held numerous public offices — high and low — on the national, state and local levels.

Family of Scottish descent

The founder of the Livingston family in America was the first of many Robert Livingstons that appear in histories. This first Robert Livingston (1654-1728), the youngest son of a Scottish minister, arrived in Albany shortly after England had seized the colony of New Netherlands from the Dutch for a second time. Within a short time, the Scot had ingratiated himself with English officials and had married an heiress who was the daughter of a Schuyler and widow of a Van Rensselaer.

In 1686, he used his ties to the English crown and Dutch aristocracy to engineer the grant of the 160,000-acre estate that became the Manor of Livingston. While Robert and Alida Livingston spent much of the year in New York and Albany, small farms were established by tenant farmers who held lifetime leases.

The arrival of 2,000 Palatine German refugees on the manor in 1710 was a boon to the Livingstons and the valley. The Germans were settled on property sold to the crown by Livingston for the establishment a naval stores industry. This plan was a failure, but hundreds of Palatines took up farming on the manor and in Dutchess County.

After the first Robert Livingston’s death in 1728, most of the manor was inherited by his eldest son, Philip. A 13,000-acre tract south of the Roeliff Jansen Kill, which became known as Clermont, went to another son, Robert Jr. The youngest son, Gilbert, received land near Saratoga. Gilbert resided in Kingston, however, and his heirs moved to Poughkeepsie to establish the “Dutchess County Branch’’ of Livingstons.

Among the descendants of Gilbert Livingston were the Rev. John Henry Livingston (1746-1825), a leader of the Dutch Reformed Church in America, and Henry Alexander Livingston (1776-1849), a state senator from Poughkeepsie. Former President George Bush and his sons, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are contemporary descendants of the Dutchess County Livingstons.

Great homes tied to Clermont

Most of the great riverfront homes were built by members of the Clermont Branch of the Livingstons. The house that forms the centerpiece of the present Clermont State Historic Site was built by Robert Livingston Jr. The builder’s grandson, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813) was the most prominent member of this family. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. In partnership with Robert Fulton in 1807, he built America’s first practical steamboat, known today as the Clermont.

Chancellor Livingston’s sister, Janet, the widow of Revolutionary War hero Gen. Richard Montgomery, built Montgomery Place in Annandale in Dutchess County. Montgomery Place, now a museum run by Historic Hudson Valley, later was the retirement home of their brother, Edward. He was mayor of New York City, a U.S. senator from Louisiana and secretary of state under President Andrew Jackson.

Rokeby, near Barrytown, was built by Chancellor’s sister, Alida, and her husband, Gen. John Armstrong. Armstrong followed Chancellor Livingston as Thomas Jefferson’s ambassador to France and served as James Madison’s secretary of war during the War of 1812. Another sister, Gertrude, built Staatsburg House (now Mills Mansion State Historic Site) with her husband, Morgan Lewis, New York’s third governor. Another museum property, Wilderstein in Rhinebeck, was built by descendants of another of Chancellor Livingston’s sisters, Margaret Livingston Tillotson.

Descendants of Philip Livingston (1686-1749), second Lord of the Manor, are often referred to as the Manor Branch. Prominent members included another Philip Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; William Livingston, Revolutionary War governor of New Jersey; and Henry Brockholst Livingston, a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Current members of the Manor Branch include ex-New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and Robert L. Livingston, the Louisiana congressman who was expected to succeed Speaker of the House Newt Gringrich until he resigned late in 1998.

Bruce Naramore is site manager at Clermont State Historic Site in Columbia County.