Robert Livingston was a fur trader, businessman and New York politician. He was the first lord of the manor of Livingston in New York.
Background
Robert Livingston was born on December 13, 1654 at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, Scotland, the son of John Livingston, a vigorous preacher of the Scottish church, and Janet Fleming, daughter of an Edinburgh merchant. His father belonged to a younger branch of the Livingstons of Callendar, who as earls of Linlithgow were important courtiers at Holyrood. When his son was nine years old, to avoid the displeasure of the episcopal party in Scotland after the Stuart restoration, Reverend John Livingston took his family to Rotterdam, where he became pastor of a Presbyterian congregation. Robert's boyhood was spent among the Scottish refugees whose children easily adopted the speech, manners, and customs of their Dutch neighbors.
Career
In April 1673, one year after his father's death, Livingston sailed for New England, but his ultimate destination was the frontier village of Albany, where he appeared in 1674, the year that the province of New York was returned to the British by the Treaty of Westminster. The following year the young Scot, who was equally fluent in Dutch and English, was appointed town clerk of Albany and secretary of the board of commissioners for Indian affairs. He soon transformed the latter office from a mere clerkship to a position of control and direction; his reports and recommendations on Indian relations were of great importance to the successive governors of the province, with whom he came, consequently, to have considerable influence. Both this influence and the knowledge of the Indian trade gained in his official position helped him to advance his larger plans to acquire wealth and standing in the community.
Within five years of his coming to Albany he had purchased the Indian claims to choice tracts along the Hudson. In 1686, by reason of his friendship with Governor Dongan, he secured a patent erecting his landholdings into the manor and lordship of Livingston. As later confirmed by a charter of George I, the manor consisted of more than 160, 000 acres in the present counties of Dutchess and Columbia. This princely domain was made possible by income from public office carefully invested, by profits from governmental contracts, by interest on large sums advanced to the governor in anticipation of the collection of the provincial taxes, and by many pounds sterling drawn from private trade with the Indians and the French. Though a supporter of the Stuarts, Livingston discreetly acknowledged the result of the Revolution of 1688 in England, but vigorously repudiated Jacob Leisler and his followers in New York. The aftermath of his opposition to the Leislerians was a series of attempts on the part of his political foes to deprive him of his offices and estates.
Twice within ten years he visited England to defend his interests. On his first mission, in 1694-1695, he made the acquaintance of the Earl of Bellomont, to whom he recommended Capt. William Kidd as a suitable commander of a privateer to be fitted out against the pirates preying on British commerce. He returned to the colony as secretary of Indian affairs for life. Prior to the failure of the privateering venture through Kidd's treachery in turning pirate himself, Bellomont and Livingston were close friends, and when the former became governor he showered the Albany official with favors and summoned him to the Council. After Bellomont's death in 1701 Livingston's enemies persuaded the Assembly to sequestrate his estates. Again he sought help in England, remaining until 1705, when he returned to the province armed with a royal commission confirming him in all his offices and property. The provincial governors now turned to him for advice. Lord Cornbury leaned upon him heavily and Governor Robert Hunter used his extensive knowledge of the fur trade and frontier conditions. The latter rewarded him with valuable contracts, notably in connection with the supply of provisions to the Palatine refugees, who were settled on land purchased from Livingston.
From 1709 to 1711 he was sent to the provincial Assembly from the Albany district, and five years later his manor returned him as its representative. Elected speaker in 1718, he displayed a marked tendency to support the Assembly in its frequent quarrels with the governor, a tendency which in his descendants took the form of more serious political nonconformity. Retiring from office in 1725 because of ill health, he died three years later.
Achievements
Robert Livingston founded the prominent Livingston family of New York state and laid the basis of his family’s material fortune. He also became prominent in New York politics, serving as secretary for Indian affairs, member of the governor’s council and member of New York’s provincial assembly.
Personality
Livingston had a curious mixture of the steadfast courage of the Covenanter and the grasping shrewdness of the trader. His success in winning the support of the British government for his private ventures marked him as a courtier and diplomat of no mean ability. In some measure that success was probably due to his genial presence and courtly manner, which easily won him friends who quickly discerned his intelligence and resourcefulness.
Quotes from others about the person
"He has made a considerable fortune, never disbursing six pence but with the expectation of twelve pence, his beginning being a little Book keeper, he has screwed himself into one of the most considerable estates in the province. "- Governor Fletcher
Connections
On July 9, 1679 Livingston married Alida Van Rensselaer, widow of Domine Nicholas Van Rensselaer and sister of Peter Schuyler. This marriage brought him social connection with two of the most important families in the province, aristocratic landholders who expected and received favors from the Proprietor and the Crown. He left the manor of Livingston to his son Philip, who in 1721 had become his deputy as secretary for Indian affairs and succeeded him in that office and on the Council. A younger son, Robert, received 13, 000 acres at "Clermont. "
