Robert Livingston Beeckman

Political career Beeckman's first political office was a Rhode Island state Representative in the General Assembly from Newport, from 1908 to 1912. At the time, Beeckman said "he was entering active politics because he believed it to be his duty. He felt the time had come for the step, which he had weighed carefully before accepting the responsibilities the office would incur." He was a state Senator from 1912 to 1914, until his election

Elected as the governor of Rhode Island in 1914, he held the office for three terms from January 5, 1915, to January 4, 1921. During his administration, Beeckman pushed for reforms in State institutions including hospitals, prisons, and insane asylums, established an inheritance tax, and established a state Parole Board. He visited Rhode Island troops on the battlefield in France and pushed for state appropriations to provide for dependent families of servicemen. Acting on the advice of superintendent of health Charles V. Chapin, Beeckman delayed issuing a closure order until October 6. During the campaign, it was alleged that Beeckman and his campaign manager, J. Henry Reuter, attempted to bribe Herve J. Lagage with $1,500. Beeckman admitted to the payment, but "insist[ed] that it was their understanding that Lagace had agreed to work for Beeckman and that the money paid to him was to be used for legitimate expenses of the campaign."

Personal life

Beeckman was married first to Eleanor Thomas of Zanesville, Ohio, in 1902. She was the daughter of Gen. Samuel Russell Thomas and Ann Augusta (née Porter) Thomas and the sister of Edward Russell Thomas.

After his first wife's death in 1920, he remarried Edna (née Marston) Burke at Bar Harbor, Maine, in September 1923. Edna, who was divorced from Oscar Meech Burke, was the daughter of Edwin Sprague Marston, the former president and chairman of the board of directors of the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company (predecessor firm of Citigroup), and Emma Bennett (née Doty) Marston. He had no children.

In 1911, while staying at the Ritz Hotel in Paris during a tour of France, "a drunken man" lurched in front of Beeckman and his wife's automobile. "The drunken man in the roadway was killed on the spot," Beeckman broke his arm and cut his head, and despite being thrown ten feet from the car, his wife was not injured. In 1912, it was reported that "R. Livingston Beeckman, who has survived more railroad, polo, and yachting accidents than any other member of Newport society," was in a railroad accident in Sulphur Springs which he escaped without serious injury.

He died on January 21, 1935, at his winter home in Santa Barbara, California, of a heart attack. After his death, his widow remarried to Archibald Gourley Thacher in 1937.

Residences In 1903, Beeckman purchased the former home of Wallace C. Andrews at 854 Fifth Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets for $325,000. He hired architects Warren & Wetmore to build him a six-story Beaux-Arts residence which was completed in 1905. They owned the home until 1912 when they decided to live full-time in Rhode Island and, after leasing it to Pittsburgh banker Benjamin Thaw Sr. for a number of years, the home was sold to George Grant Mason for $700,000.

The Beeckman's also owned a winter home in Providence, Rhode Island, which was damaged by a fire in January 1912. Their Newport estate, known as Lands End, was also damaged by a fire in September 1912.

From 1913 to 1921, Beeckman leased 13 Brown Street, the Providence winter home of industrialist and Republican party supporter Alfred M. Coats, which served as the Rhode Island executive mansion while Beeckman was in office as governor.

He later became a winter resident of Santa Barbara, California, where he rented the home of Arthur Meeker, although he was renting the Edward Ryerson house at the time of his death.