Category: Uncategorized
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The Twisting Tale of the Hamilton-Livingston Family
Maturin Livingston Maturin Livingston (1769-1847) was the great-grandson of Robert (the nephew) Livingston who had come to New York to assist his uncle Robert Livingston, First Lord of Livingston Manor in his business dealings. Maturin was born in New York City and attended the College of New Jersey, later Princeton, in 1786. Soon…
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The Career of Henry Brockholst Livingston: Soldier, Lawyer, Judge
Henry Brockholst Livingston or Brockholst Livingston as he preferred to be called was born on November 25, 1757, the son of William Livingston, future governor of New Jersey, and his wife Susanna French Livingston. He was educated, eventually graduating from the College of New Jersey in 1774. One of his classmates was James…
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Losing the Duel
We have written here in the past about the successful duel that Brockholst Livingston fought over the size of his nose (Read all about it here) but not all the Livingstons had as much luck when they fought duels. First we have the case if William Alexander…
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Pointy End Toward The Bad Guy: Chancellor Livingston\'s Sword
The Chancellor\’s colichemarde from the collection of the New-York Historical Society Chancellor Robert R. Livingston was nothing if not a fashionable man. As such he frequently carried a sword. He was not a soldier, but the style of the time called for men of a certain position to carry a blade. One of the…
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I\'m Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today: Henry Beekman Livingston and the Battle of Rhode Island
Following the Battle of Monmouth Henry Beekman Livingston took a furlough and traveled to Rhode Island on personnel business. What that business was he never said but he must have known he would be heading into a potential battle zone, because Rhode Island is simply not that big.…
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Never Fear! The Holidays Aren’t Over Yet! Twelfth Night in the Colonies
Twelfth Night. A wildly funny Shakespeare play. The inspiration for the marathon song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Perhaps an early version of Fortnite (okay, not that one but I wanted to appeal to a younger audience). Chances are you’ve heard the term but it’s possible you didn’t know A recent production of \”Twelfth…
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Tableau Vivant: From Parlor Game to The ‘Gram
In a typical year at Clermont, December would’ve seen us doing our traditional Tableau Vivant event. But, as we’ve heard so many times, 2020 is no typical year. So instead, let’s take a little look at where Tableau Vivant comes from. As may be apparent, the term “Tableau Vivant” is French. The words literally…
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Some of the Lesser Known Livingstons of the American Revolution
On this blog we often talk about Robert R. Livingston, Henry Beekman Livingston and Margaret Beekman Livingston and their importance during the American Revolution. However there were more than a few other Livingstons who played important roles in the war. From soldiers to statesmen and even loyalists you could swing a cat during…
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Shooting Ghosts
No need to call the Ghostbusters, it’s not that kind of shooting! But would you be able to tell if you shot a ghost on film? It’s a question that has raged since the invention of the camera. Our ghostly story begins in 1860s Boston in the photography studio of William Mumler.…
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The Origin of The Headless Horseman
For The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving based several characters on real people. Ichabod Crane was based on Kinderhook, NY school teacher Jesse Merwin, with the name possibly Washington Irving, 1809 coming from a soldier Irving met during the War of 1812. Katrina Van Tassel was most likely based on Serena Livingston…
Clermont State Historic Site 