Henry Livingston, Jr.




Henry Livingston's Uncles and Aunts


Colonel Henry BeekmanJanet Livingston
Gertrude Van Cortlandt
NY Lt. Governor
Pierre Van Cortlandt
Joanna Livingston
Sheriff James LivingstonJudith Newcomb
Peter S. StuyvesantMargaret Livingston
Colonel Jacob Rutsen
Henry Van Rensselaer
Alida Livingston



Colonel Henry Beekman and Janet Livingston
and Gertrude Van Cortlandt
Colonel Henry Beekman [brother of Cornelia Beekman]
(4 Jan 1687)
(3 Jan 1775, Dutchess Co NY)
+ Janet Livingston 1721
(Bef. 24 Nov 1703-1724)

Children:
Margaret Beekman1

+ Gertrude Van Cortlandt 1726
(1687-23 Mar 1777)


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Colonel Henry Beekman inherited the large Beekman estate from his father, Hendrick Beekman. Colonel Beekman married two different descendants of Robert Livingston and Alida Schuyler. His first wife, Janet Livingston, was the daughter of Robert's nephew, also, of course, named Robert. Janet and Henry had a daughter, Margaret, and then Janet died at the too early age of 21.

Two years later Henry Beekman remarried, this time to Gertrude Van Cortlandt, the niece of the Manor Robert's wife, Alida Schuyler. Henry and Gertrude never had children.

To help with the running of his estate, and his political work as, essentially, ward boss for Dutchess County, Beekman turned to his sister Cornelia's son, Henry Livingston, Sr., our Henry's father. A great many letters from Beekman to Livingston have been preserved and published in the Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook of xx.

When Beekman finally retired from New York government, he gave the nod for the two seats he controlled to Henry Sr. and to his son-in-law, Robert R. Livingston, who built the Clermont estate, but who is best known as the father of Chancellor Livingston.

When Henry Jr. was a young man, letters from his brother Gilbert show that he spent the occasional winter at Beekman's mansion in New York City. Henry's first cousin and Beekman's granddaughter, Janet Livingston, is also known to have spent extensive time there. Janet became the wife of General Montgomery, under whose command Henry Jr. and several of Janet's brothers traveled up the Hudson to invade Canada. General Montgomery died in that expedition.


Beekman Family Papers



NY Lt. Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt and Joanna Livingston

Lt. Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt Joanna Livingston
Lt. Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt Joanna Livingston

NY Lt. Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt
(10 Jan 1721, Manor House NY)
(1 May 1814, Manor House NY)
+ Joanna Livingston 28 May 1748 [sister of Dr. Henry Livingston, Sr.]
(17 Aug 1722-10 Sep 1808, Manor House NY)

Children:
Brig.Gen. Philip Van Cortlandt1
Catharine Van Cortlandt1 [married Abraham Van Wyck]
Cornelia Van Cortlandt1
Gertrude Van Cortlandt1 [died aged 11]
Gilbert Van Cortlandt1 [died aged 29]
Stephen Van Cortlandt1
Catharine Van Cortlandt1 [married Abraham Van Wyck]
Pierre Van Cortlandt1 [U.S. Representative]
Anne De Peyster Van Cortlandt1
[married Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer3]


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Joanna and Pierre Van Cortlandt married the year that Henry Jr. was born. They lived south of Poughkeepsie on the Van Cortlandt Manor, which Pierre had inherited as his part of the huge Van Cortlandt estate. The house where Pierre and Joanna entertained George Washington is now a New York landmark, and is open to the public.

Deeply religious, Pierre and Joanna kept a spare room in their home for traveling missionaries, such as George Whitfield.

Pierre was a member of the Provincial Congress at White Plains that gave New York's ratification to the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776. He later became Lieutenant Governor of the State and, often, Acting Governor during the war when Governor George Clinton mounted military campaigns.


The Andrew Billings Papers
Van Cortlandt Family Papers


Gilbert Livingston Descendants, Kinkead
Gen. Van Cortlandt was an ardent patriot and made unusual sacrifices for his country. From 1768 he represented the Manor in the Colonial Assembly and in the later Council of Safety and of the Second, Third, and Fourth Provincial Congresses. In 1777, he was President of the Convention which framed the first constitution of the state under which he became the first Lieutenant Governor and George Clinton, Governor. He served in that office for seventeen years, declining re-election in 1795.

During the Revolution his Manor House, inherited from his father, was the object of Tory attacks and he and his family were obliged to seek safety in Dutchess County, the stronghold of his kinsmen, the Beekmans. In November 1783, he entered New York City with Gen. Washington after its evaculation by the British and he was an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. The inscription on his tombstone reads: "He was a Patriot of the First Order; zealous to the last for liberties of his Country" (Harold D. Eberlein, Manors and historic homes of the Hudson Valley, 1924, pp. 121-25).




Sheriff James Livingston and Judith Newcomb
Sheriff James Livingston [brother of Dr. Henry Livingston, Sr.]
(29 Mar 1728, Kingston NY)
(2 Jun 1790, Poughkeepsie? NY)
+ Judith Newcomb 11 Nov 1751
(31 May 1733, Lebanon CT)
(31 Aug 1808)

Children:
Gilbert James Livingston1 [married to Susannah Lewis]
Cornelia Livingston1
Judith Newcomb Livingston1 [married to John Moore]


Oct 27 '72
"Exchang'd with James Livingston for a 2 years old Heifer by 2 yearling Black Bull"
Henry Livingston Day Book


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James was the first member of the Livingston family to move to Poughkeepsie, where he became sheriff of Dutchess County.

It was Judith, the daughter of James and Judith, and Henry's first cousin, who married into the Moore family.

Gilbert James, the son of James and Judith, and Henry's first cousin, was the 5th great grandfather of President George W. Bush, and 4th great grandfather of President George H.W. Bush.




Peter S. Stuyvesant and Margaret Livingston
Peter S. Stuyvesant3
(1727-31 Aug 1805)
+ Margaret Livingston 17 Oct 1764 [sister of Dr. Henry Livingston, Sr.]
(20 Jun 1738-1818)

Children:
Judith Stuyvesant1 [married Benjamin Winthrop]
Gerald Stuyvesant1
Cornelia Stuyvesant1 [married Colonel Richard (Dirck) Ten Broeck]
Nicholas William Stuyvesant1
Margaret Stuyvesant1
Ann Catharine Stuyvesant1
Elizabeth Stuyvesant1 [married to Major Nicholas Fish;
mother Gov. Hamilton Fish]

Peter Gerard Stuyvesant1 [married Helen Rutherfurd]
Gilbert Livingston Stuyvesant1
Catharine Ann Stuyvesant1


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Stuyvesant Park
Peter Stuyvesant was the great grandson of the original Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands. He inherited about 120 acres in the heart of Manhattan, some of which he turned to house lots. The Stuyvesant mansion was situated with a view of the Hudson River.

Peter and Margaret built the house at 21 Stuyvesant Street as a wedding gift for daughter Elizabeth and Major Nicholas Fish. Their grandson, Governor Hamilton Fish, was born there.




Alida Livingston and Colonel Jacob Rutsen
and Henry Van Rensselaer
Alida Livingston [sister of Dr. Henry Livingston, Sr.]
(13 May 1716, Kingston NY)
(16 Sep 1798, Claverack, Columbia NY)
+ Colonel Jacob Rutsen1 24 Nov 1737
(29 Apr 1716, Kingston, Ulster NY)
(1756, Kingston, Ulster NY)

Children:
Catrina Rutsen1
Hendricus Beekman Rutsen1
Col. John Rutsen1 [married Phebe Carman]
Cornelia Rutsen1 [married General Robert Van Rensselaer3 (brother of Major General Philip Schuyler's wife}]

+ Henry Van Rensselaer 1762
(8 May 1712-9 July 1793)


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Jacob Rutsen was an officer in the Miltia Regiment of Ulster and Dutchess Counties. He was also Alida's first cousin, since he was the grandson of Henry Beekman and Joanna Lopers. Which means that Henry's aunt was marrying Henry's uncle. The joys of interbreeding.

For her next husband, Alida turned to Henry Van Rensselaer, marrying into the same family as had her grandmother, Alida Schuyler, whose first husband had been Nicholas Van Rensselaer. Rev. Van Rensselaer had been sent to the new country to manage the estate for his deceased brother Jeremias's children. Henry Van Rensselaer was the grandson of Jeremias, his father Hendrick having been a younger son who inherited Claverack,a 60,000 acre estate later called the Lower Manor, and 1500 acres at Greenbush. But Henry was a third son of Hendrick, so he didn't seem to have inherited enough to make a lasting impression on history, though he did, obviously, on Alida.





        
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