Category: Uncategorized
-
Scots on Livingston Land
On April 16, 1746, an army of 5,400 Scottish Highlanders, who had rebelled against the British Hanoverian king to support Charles Stuart’s claim to the throne of England, stood across Culloden Moor from an army of 9,000 British regular soldiers commanded by the Duke of Cumberland. The two sides exchanged cannon fire. At 1:00…
-
The Chancellor’s War
Robert Livingston’s involvement in the building of the country started early and continued throughout the conflict with Great Britain. He concerned himself with military affairs, political affairs and diplomatic affairs, on a state, national and international level. Through it all he fought for Independence, but only on his terms. Livingston’s first recorded foray into the…
-
“NI MI E MA’S URRAIN DHOMH”
Robert Livingston, the first Livingston in America, had been born in Scotland, raised in the Netherlands and, after a short stay back in Scotland, emigrated. The Livingston family had been in Scotland for centuries at that point, but the story of Robert’s ancestors is neither simple nor straightforward. The Highland Livingstons certainly have the longer…
-
Palatines in the News
In 1693 Palatine Paulus Küster and his wife Gertrude arrived in America from the Rhineland in what is now Germany. Like the thousands of Palatines who would follow them to New York and Pennsylvania they were fleeing the wars that had ravaged their land for years. A little over 150 years later one of their…
-
Where In The World Is Livingston?
Where in the world is Livingston? A simple question with a not so simple answer. Travelers will find the name Livingston on the map on five continents and at least 19 states. The oldest Livingston is in Scotland, the ancestral home of the Livingston family. Livingston is now the largest town in West Lothian…
-
The Reconstruction of Clermont
When Margaret Beekman Livingston and her young children returned to Clermont in the spring of 1778 they found that the British army had done a very thorough job in destroying the mansion. Only the north and south brick walls of the mansion were still standing. The rest of the home was gone, burned to ashes.…
-
The Mystery of Crazy Bob: Robert Le Roy Livingston
The War of 1812 is to historians what the common cold is to doctors: an embarrassment. It should be pretty simple, but its causes, nature, and ending are maddeningly elusive. Thankfully, the War of 1812 shares another feature of colds: it doesn\’t seem to have done too much harm. So we ignore it. -Karim…
-
Unintended Consequences: Henry Knox\'s Artillery Train and The Invasion of Canada
It is easy to imagine bits of history happening in a vacuum. In fact, this is how history is often taught, one event after another, one date at a time. However, history is almost never that neat and tidy. Often events overlap, happen at the same time, or even interfere with each other. …
-
A Guest Post by Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and John Adams: The Declaration of Independence.
In Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the…
-
Henry Livingston Sr. – Poughkeepsie Enslaver
Today we give you a blog originally posted on the Poughkeepsie Public Library District Page, written by their Historian (and former Clermont tour guide extraordinaire) Shannon Butler. In the blog Shannon writes about the Poughkeepsie branch of the Livingston family. The name of Livingston is well known in the Hudson Valley. One can travel…
Clermont State Historic Site 