Tag: Geoff Benton
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The Life and Times of the Reverend John Livingstone Who Helped to Start the English Civil War
Robert Livingston, the First Lord of Livingston Manor, arrived in America virtually penniless, the son of a banished minister. His father, John Livingstone, had recently died and Robert could have returned home to Scotland but chose to make his own way in the New World. John Livingstone was born on June 21, 1603.…
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“Don’t Give Up The Ship”: Midshipman Courtlandt Livingston and the USS Chesapeake
On July 5, 1813, the Virginia Argus of Richmond, Virginia published a list of those killed and wounded in the battle between USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon. Among those killed was Midshipman Courtlandt Livingston. Many believed that the Chesapeake was an unlucky ship or event cursed. The Naval Act of 1794 authorized the construction…
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A Livingston Spouse: William Alexander, Lord Stirling
William Alexander has to be one of the most fascinating Livingston relatives of the 18th century. His Livingston connection is through his wife Sarah, who was the daughter of Philip Livingston, the Second Lord of Livingston Manor. They married in 1747 and had three children. The marriage also made him the brother-in-law of William Livingston,…
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The Babyfaced 18th Century
What do all these men have in common, except of course being related in one way or another? That’s right. There is not one mustache, beard, goatee, van dyke, soul patch or even a serious pair of sideburns among the lot of them. Throughout most of the 18th century facial hair was almost unheard of. …
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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…
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“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…
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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…
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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.…
Clermont State Historic Site 