Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)

Robert R(obert) Livingston (November 27, 1746 (Old style November 16) – February 26, 1813) was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat from New York, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was known as "The Chancellor", after the high New York state legal office he held for 25 years.

Early life

Livingston was the eldest son of Judge Robert Livingston (1718-1775) and Margaret Beekman Livingston, uniting two wealthy Hudson River valley families. He had nine brothers and sisters, all of whom wed and made their homes on the Hudson River near the family seat at Clermont Manor. Livingston graduated from King's College, the predecessor to today's Columbia University, in 1764.

Livingston married Mary Stevens, daughter of Continental Congressman John Stevens, on September 9, 1770, and built a home for himself and his wife south of Clermont, called Belvedere, which was burned to the ground along with Clermont in 1777 by the British Army under General John Burgoyne. In 1794 he built a new home called New Clermont, which was subsequently renamed Arryl House – a phonetic spelling of his initials, "RRL" – which was deemed "the most commodious home in America" and contained a library of four thousand volumes. Livingston was known for continually quarreling with his relatives.

Robert Livingston

Robert Livingston may refer to:

Robert Livingston the Elder

Robert Livingston the Elder (December 13, 1654 – October 1, 1728) was a New York colonial official, fur trader, and businessman; he was granted a patent to 160,000 acres (650 km²/ 250 sq mi) along the Hudson River, and became the first lord of Livingston Manor.

He married Alida Schuyler (widow of Nicholas Van Rensselaer) in 1679. They had nine children together, including Philip, Robert and Gilbert. He was also uncle of Robert Livingston the Younger, grandfather of Philip Livingston and William Livingston.

Early life

He was born in 1654 in the village of Ancrum, near Jedburgh, in the County of Roxburgh, Scotland, one of seven children of the Reverend John Livingston. He and his father were lineal descendants of the fourth Lord Livingston, ancestor of the earls of Linlithgow and Callendar, and a minister of the Church of Scotland. John Livingston was sent into exile in 1663 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.

Robert Livingston (1718–1775)

Robert R. Livingston (1718 – December 9, 1775) was a prominent politician, and a leading Whig in New York in the years leading up to the American Revolution. He was the son of Robert Livingston (1688-1775) of Clermont and married Margaret Beekman, daughter of Henry Beekman and Janet Livingston (a second cousin to Robert R. Livingston), a descendant of Wilhelmus Beekman and heir to immense tracts of land in Dutchess and Ulster counties.

Livingston, known as 'Judge Livingston' to distinguish him from his eponymous father and other prominent Livingstons, was a member of the New York Provincial Assembly from 1759 to 1768. He served as judge of the admiralty court from 1760 to 1763 and as justice of the colonial supreme court in 1763. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, and, in 1775, a member of the Committee of One Hundred, which briefly governed New York City.

He died at his estate in Clermont, New York.

Family

His sons included Robert Livingston, Edward Livingston, and John R. Livingston. His daughters included Gertrude Livingston, Janet Livingston, Catharine Livingston, Alida Livingston, Joanna Livingston, and Margaret Livingston. Three of his sons-in-law were Richard Montgomery, Morgan Lewis, and John Armstrong, Jr.. His grandson-in-law was George Croghan (soldier) a nephew of William Clark, Lewis Livingston, Charles Edward Livingston and George Rogers Clark. His granddaughters include Margaret Lewis, Elizabeth Stevens Livingston, Margaret Maria Livingston, Julia Livingston, and Coralie Livingston.