Henry Livingston, Jr.
(13 Oct 1748, Poughkeepsie NY)
(29 Feb 1828, Poughkeepsie NY)
+ Sarah Welles 18 May 1774
[dau of Rev. Noah Welles and Abigail Woolsey]
(7 Nov 1752, Stamford CT)
(1 Sep 1783, Stamford CT)

Children:
Catharine Livingston [married to Arthur Breese]
Henry Welles Livingston (25 Nov 1776-6 Jan 1778)
Cornelia Livingston (2 Jul 1780-28 Apr 1794)
Henry Welles Livingston [died unmarried at 34]

To the memory of Sarah Livingston

Sep 10 '83 "I paid Peter Quintard of Stanford in full for making coffin (2 8)" Henry Livingston Day Book

Sarah Welles was described in a book on the Breese family as "one of the most beautiful women in Connecticut." Clearly Henry thought so, too. Several letters from their courtship still exist. A week after she gave birth to Catharine, Henry was called away for the Montgomery expedition to invade Canada. His first known poem is written to his baby daughter, and has been preserved in the Sidney Breese Collection in the Illinois State Archives.

Sarah is also mentioned in a letter of Henry's 3rd cousin, John Jay, to a Poughkeepsie friend and politician, Egbert Benson, as a "raris avis." Jay wanted to have his youngest son taken away from Jay's father and boarded with the Livingstons, to reduce stress on his father.

Sarah, the daughter of Rev. Dr. Noah Welles, a Congregational minister in Stamford CT, died at the home of her widowed mother, in Stamford.

Back To Top

Henry Livingston, Jr.
(13 Oct 1748, Poughkeepsie NY)
(29 Feb 1828, Poughkeepsie NY)
+ Jane McLean Patterson 1 Sep 1793 [dau of Matthew Patterson]
(22 Jan 1769, Paterson NY)
(26 Aug 1838, Poughkeepsie NY)

Children:
Dr. Charles Paterson Livingston [married to Eliza Clement Brewer]
Sidney Montgomery Livingston [married to Joannah Maria Holthuysen]
Edwin George Livingston [died unmarried at 65]
Jane Patterson Livingston [married Rev. William B. Thomas]
Helen Platt Livingston [married Wakeman Bradley]
Elizabeth Davenport Livingston [married Judge Smith Thompson
and Judge Richard R. Lansing]
Susan Catherine Livingston [married Abram Gifford Gurney]
Catharine Breese Livingston [died at 5]

Marriage Notice

Dialogue Between Madame J.L. and Children

Jane was the daughter of Dutchess County politician Matthew Patterson, and the sister of Margaret Patterson, the wife of Stephen Mitchell. The Mitchells were next door neighbors to Henry and his family.

When Stephen's sister Hannah and her husband, Dr. Joseph Brewer, both died, Stephen and Margaret took in and raised their daughter, Eliza Clement Brewer. Eliza, born in 1798, visited frequently in Henry's home and remembered when, as a child, she heard Henry recite A Visit From St. Nicholas" to his family. Eliza grew up to marry Henry and Jane's son Charles.

Records of the Presbyterian Church
This certifies that, according to the Records of the Presbyterian Church in Southeast, Putname County & State of New York, Mr Harry Livingston was married to Miss Jane M. Patterson, on the first day of September 1793 by the Rev. John M, Pastor of said church. Southeast October 29, 1838

Extract of Letter, Feb 26, 1917
Gertrude Thomas to Cornelia Goodrich
Grandfather Livingston married for his second wife Jane Patterson, who, I am, sure, was a charming little creature. The first Sunday after their marriage they were, very properly, going to church. The family coach was at the door, with its stout span of bays, and the family coachman in his well brushed livery on the driver's seat.

Down stairs tripped the bonnie bride all ready for a start, dressed according to the fashion of the day, in a scarlet cloak with white velvet hat and feathers.

Her husband, very plainly and gravely dressed, met her in the hall and looked at her with admiring but disapproving eyes, and said: don't you think dearie you are too gaily dressed for church?

No! she replied -- you always liked my style of dress before our marriage, when it was just as gay -- why object to it now? I am going to church with you and dressed in just this way!

After this decided reply what did Major Henry Livingston do but retire to his room, don his embroidered waistcoat, his shoes with paste buckles and his fine blue cloak with gold buttons.

When the bride and groom stepped into the carriage the old colored coachman looked very proud and happy and started his bays on a quick trot to come the two miles between Locust Grove and the village of Poughkeepsie.

Back To Top