Robert Livingston

Robert Robert Livingston, also called The Judge (August 1718 – December 9, 1775), was a prominent colonial American politician, and a leading Whig in New York in the years leading up to the American Revolution.

Early life Robert R. Livingston was born in August 1718 at Clermont Manor in what was then the Province of New York, a part of British America. He was the only child of Robert Livingston (1688–1775), known as "Robert of Clermont" and Margaret Howarden (1693–1758).

His paternal grandparents were Robert Livingston the Elder (1654–1728) and Alida (née Schuyler) Van Rensselaer Livingston (1656–1727), daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler (1628–1683) and widow of Nicholas Van Rensselaer. His uncle was Philip Livingston (1686–1749), the second Lord of Livingston Manor. His great-grandfather was Reverend John Livingston, a Church of Scotland minister who died in exile in 1673.

Career 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. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, which briefly governed New York City.

Family

Robert's daughter, Alida Livingston Armstrong and Daughter, by Rembrandt Peale, ca. 1810 In 1742, he married Margaret Beekman (1724–1800), daughter of Col. Henry Beekman and Janet Livingston (his second cousin), a descendant of Wilhelmus Beekman and heir to immense tracts of land in Dutchess and Ulster counties. Janet Livingston (b.1743-1824), who married Gen. Richard Montgomery (1738–1775) in 1773. Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), the Chancellor of New York who married Mary Stevens, daughter of John Stevens, in 1770. Margaret Livingston (1749–1823), who married Thomas Tillotson (1750–1832), an army surgeon who became New York Secretary of State. He married Ann Hume Shippen, daughter of Prof. Dr. William Shippen and Alice Lee of Philadelphia, in 1781. John R. Livingston (1755–1851), a merchant who took over his father's gunpowder mill during the Revolutionary War. He married, first, to Margaret Sheafe in 1779. After her death, he married Eliza McEvers, the daughter of Charles McEvers and Mary Bache, in 1789. Eliza was the sister of his brother Edwards's first wife Mary.

Livingston died on December 9, 1775, at his estate in Clermont, New York, several months after his own father's death on June 27, 1775.

Descendants Through his son Major John R., he was the grandfather of Robert Montgomery Livingston (1790–1838), who married Sarah Barclay Bache in 1811.

His grandson-in-law was George Croghan, a nephew of William Clark, the explorer, 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.