Robert Livingston (1708 - 1790)

Born 16 Dec 1708 in Albany, Albany, New York

Ancestors

Husband of Maria (Tong) Livingston — married 20 May 1731 in New York City, NY

Husband of Geertruy (Van Rensselaer) Schuyler — married 27 Sep 1766 in Reformed Dutch Church, New York City

Descendants

Died Nov 1790 at age 81 in Clermont, Columbia, New York, United States

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Biography

Robert, Third Lord of the Manor of Livingston;

• Born 16th December, 1708;
• Member of the House of Assembly, 1737-1759;
• Married (firstly) Mary TONG, b. 3d June, 1711, d. 30th May, 1765, dau. of Walter TONG, and had issue;
• Married (secondly) Gertrude (VAN RENSSELAER) SCHUYLER, b. 1st October, 1714, d. 1790, dau. of Kiliaen VAN RENSSELAER and widow of Adoniah SCHUYLER. ^[1]
• Died 27th November, 1790;
• WILL: Signed 31 May 1784, Probated 8 December, 1790.^[2]

(III) Robert, Third lord of the Manor, eldest son of Philip and Catherine (Van Brugh) Livingston, was born in Albany, New York, December 16, 1708, died November, 1790. He inherited the vast estates entailed to the eldest son, and although he filled no official position himself during the revolutionary war, he proved his loyalty to the cause by placing his iron mines and foundry at the disposal of the New York committee of safety. His seventy years, no doubt, was the cause of his not taking a more active part. He was elected representative from his Manor to the twenty-first New York assembly, 1737, and during the next twenty years he sat uninterruptedly through seven general assemblies, returned at every election by the Manor Freeholders. When the elections were being held for the twenty-eighth assembly he retired in favor of his younger brother, William, then coming into prominence as a leader of the Presbyterian party.

He married (first), May 20, 1731, Maria, daughter of Walter Tong and granddaughter of Rip Van Dam, president of the council. He married (second), Gertrude, daughter of Killaen Van Rensselaer, and his wife, Maria Van Cortlandt, and widow of Adonijah Schuyler, born October 1, 1744. Children, all by first marriage:

• Catherine, born August 4, 1732, died in infancy.
• Philip, born February 9, 1733, died unmarried April 3, 1756.
• Sarah, born April 23, 1735, died September 4, 1745.
• Peter R., born April 27, 1737, died 1793; he was a member of the provincial convention, 1775, member of the provincial congress, 1775-76, president of provincial congress, 1776-77, member of assembly, 1780-81; colonel of militia during the revolutionary war. He was the last of the representatives returned to the New York assembly under the patent of 1715 and with him ends the political history of the old Colonial Manor of Livingston, which became by the new order of events absorbed into the electoral district of Albany. He married Margaret Livingston.
• Maria, born October 29, 1738, died May 6, 1821; married, October 21, 1759, James Duane, afterwards one of the New York delegates in the continental congress.
• Walter, born November 27, 1740, died May 14, 1797; he was a member of the provincial congress 1775, member of the assembly, 1777-78-79, speaker of the assembly, 1778, commission of United States treasury, 1785, deputy commissioner-general of the northern department, 1775. He married, in 1769, Cornelia, daughter of Peter and Gertrude (Schuyler) Schuyler. She was baptized July 26, 1746, died 1822. Walter Livingston built and resided in his mansion "Teviotdale" in Columbia county, New York.
• Robert (better known as Robert Cambridge, because he was a graduate of Cambridge University, and to distinguish him from numerous other Roberts), born December 26, 1742, died August 23, 1794. He married, November 12, 1778, Alice, daughter of John Swift.
• Catherine, born December 22, 1744, died May, 1832; married, 1766, John Paterson.
• Sarah, born February 16, 1745-46, died May 11, 1749.
• Alida, born December 15, 1747, died September, 1791; married Valentine Gardiner.
• Margarita, born February 16, 1748, died June 22, 1749.
• John, of whom further.
• Hendrick or Henry, born January 8, 1752, died unmarried, May 16, 1823.

Sources

1. ↑ Source: Colonial Families in the U. S., ancestry.com
2. ↑ New York Probate Records, 1629-1971 Columbia Wills 1786-1820 vol A-D, 1784/1790 WILL

• Son's 1843 Estate Papers Columbia, New York, Estate Papers 1843, Pt 1 (image441/626) (60+ pages) Gen Henry Livingston, names all his siblings, their children and some grandchildren.
• Family Records, Livingston of Livingston Manor, Columbia County, New York, Communicated by John J. Lassing, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. United States: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1882. Vol. 14, Pg 112, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_York_Genealogical_and_Biographic/GZkyAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 .
• Wikipedia contributors, "Robert Livingston (1708–1790)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Livingston_(1708%E2%80%931790)&oldid=1057440153 (accessed December 8, 2021).
• Huntting, Isaac. History of Little Nine Partners of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess County. (Chas. Walsh, Armenia, NY, 1897) Page 14