Footnote on Robert Livingston from
the History of Columbia County, New York
by Captain Franklin Ellis
Everts & Ensign
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1878
Page 18
**Robert Livingston, the progenitor of that large and powerful family which became so noted in Columbia and other river counties, and which for a full century wielded more influence than any other, and held more public offices than any three other families in the State of New York, was the son of a Scotch clergyman, and born at Ancram, Scotland, Dec. 13, 1654. Upon the death of his father, in 1672, he crossed over to Holland, from whence he came to America in 1674 with Rev. Nicolaus Van Rensselaer. He was made town clerk of Albany in 1675, and in the same year, by some means, secured the appointment of secretary for Indian affairs from Gov. Andros.
In 1683 he bettered his social position by marrying Alida, widow of Rev. N. Van Rensselaer and sister of Peter Schuyler. On the 12th of July, 1686, he received the appointment of collector of excise and quit-rents from Gov. Dongan, who thought that this, with his other offices, "might afford him a competent maintenance." It was in this year that he received from the governor the patent of the manor of Livingston, a small portion of which he had previously purchased for a few trifles from some Indians (the knowledge that those valuable lands remained unpatented having been gained by him in his official relations). "And thus," says Brodhead, "the shrewd Scotch clerk of Albany became one of the largest landholders in New York." In 1688 he became obnoxious to the Leisler party, and was forced to leave the province; but upon Leisler's downfall he was restored to favor and to his offices, which then (besides those above mentioned) embraced those of clerk of the peace and clerk of the court of common pleas at Albany.
In 1695 he visited England to promote certain claims against the crown; and while there he, in company with the afterwards notorious freebooter, Capt. William Kidd, preferred charges against Gov. Fletcher, who in revenge suspended him from all his offices except that of town clerk. The king, however, reinstated him at the solicitation of Lord Bellamont; and when the latter became governor in the following year he called Livingston to his council. While in England (Oct. 10, 1695) "articles of Agreement between the Right Honorable Richard, Earle of Bellamont, of the one part, and Robert Livingston, Esquire, and Captain William Kidd, of the other part," were entered into for the enterprise of equipping a vessel on shares for their mutual advantage; the said vessel to be used as a privateer, and also "to fight with and subdue Pyrates,"---Livingston furnishing the scheme, Bellamont the necessary funds, and Kidd the requisite nautical skill and fighting qualities. Of the result O'Callaghan says, "Kidd shortly after deceived his associates, and brought down trouble on all those who had been unfortunately, though innocently, connected with him." Instead of subduing pirates, he himself joined the bloody fraternity.
In 1701 the former adherents of Leisler, in pursuance of their old grudge, demanded from him an account of a large sum of money which had passed through his hands, and upon his failure to comply the Assembly passed an act sequestrating his property. Upon this he prepared to return to England to lay his case before the sovereign; but before settling out he had the forethought to obtain from the Indians authority to act as their representative at the court, an act which the Assembly declared to be "contrary to the duty and allegiance he owes to his majesty, and to the peace of this government." On the 20th of April, 1702, he was suspended from the council. In 1705 he succeeded in obtaining a royal warrant restoring his offices, notwithstanding which the council refused to vote him any salary, declared his Indian Office to be useless, and demanded its abolition. He, however, quietly continued to exercise its functions, and in the end secured full payment for his services. He succeeded in being elected representative for Albany, and continued to represent that city from 1709 to 1714. He had become wealthy from the revenues of his several offices, and the profits realized form his various contracts with the government in furnishing supplies to the troops, the colonized Palatines, etc., and he now set about securing for his manor a representation in the Assembly. This he accomplished, and himself took his seat as its representative in 1716. He remained a member until 1726, when he finally retired from public life, and died about 1728.
He was a man of rather meagre education, and of no marked talent, except for the acquisition of wealth, in which he exhibited remarkable ability, tact, and enterprise. Of the methods adopted by him in pursuance of this object, the opinions of his contemporaries, the Earl of Clarendon, Gov. Hunter, and others, are shown elsewhere in this volume. The opinions of Gov. Nanfan upon the same subject were plainly express in his published reasons for suspending Robert Levingston from the council in April, 1702, namely: "Secondly, That the late Earl of Bellamont, being made sensible that the said Robert Levingston was guilty of great frauds in Management of the Excise of Albany, etc., did, about January, 1701, declare that he would remove him from being of the Council at the meeting of the Assembly, but his lordship's much-lamented death prevented it. Thirdly, That an Act of Assembly of this province appointed Commissioners of publick Acc'ts to adjust with all persons concerned in the receipt and payments of the publick revenue; but the said Robt. Levingston, in contempt of the said Act, never gave any obedience thereto, alth' duely and timely summon'd to that end and purpose, nor would ever render any acc'tts to them of the publick money had received. Fourthly, That thereupon the gen'll Assembly, being well apprised that said Robt. Levingston had committed great frauds in relation to his Majes'ts revenue, made an Act of gen'll Assembly confiscating his real and personal Estate, unless he should give A full Account in writeing unto the Commissioners of Acc'tts of all his receipts and disbursements, and the Grounds and Occations of the same, before the 25th day of March Last, which he hath refused or neglected to doe. . . .Sixthly, That I was informed by his Maj'ts Collector that he, the said Robt. Levingston, had received several summs of money of his majestie's Excise and Quit-rents of this Province without any Authority, and of which he had given no Acc'tt to the said Collector."* And for these and other reasons he was suspended.
The tenacity with which he and his descendants clung to public office was surprising. In 1721, after having held office in the province continuously for forty-six years, and during nearly all that period having held several positions at once, he, wishing to retire to the quiet of his manor, petitioned the king to be allowed to turn over his several offices in Albany to his son Philip as his successor. And, strange to say, his prayer was granted. The civil list of Columbia county shows, for a period of a half-century, no name but that of Livingston as member of Assembly; the office being held without break from 1716 to 1775, inclusive, by members of the family, viz., Robert (Sr.), Gilbert, Robert (third lord), Robert R., and Peter R. And everywhere through the lists of local, State, and national officers, during those and subsequent years, the name of Livingston occurs with a frequency which is almost wearisome, notwithstanding the exalted character and position of some of those incumbents.
Of one characteristic of this family too much can hardly be said in praise, namely, their intense and inflexible patriotism. With scarcely an exception they stood steadfastly by the cause of their country through all her trials; and it is said that the immediate cause of the death of Robert Livingston, the grandfather of the chancellor, in 1775, was the receipt of the news of the battle of Bunker Hill, which was first reported as an overwhelming disaster to the patriots. (See biographical sketch of the Livingston family in chapter on distinguished men of Columbia county.)
*Doc. Hist. N.Y.
