Robert Livingston

Who was Robert Livingston?

Robert R. Livingston was a prominent politician, and a leading Whig in New York in the years leading up to the American Revolution. He was the son of Robert Livingston of Clermont and married Margaret Beekman, daughter of Wilhelmus Beekman and heir to immense tracts of land in Dutchess and Ulster counties. Margaret was the daughter of Henry Beekman and Janet Livingston, a second cousin to Robert R. Livingston.

Livingston, known as 'Judge Livingston' to distinguish him from his eponymous father and other prominent Livingstons, was a member of the New York Provincial Assembly from 1759 to 1768. He served as judge of the admiralty court from 1760 to 1763 and as justice of the colonial supreme court in 1763. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, and, in 1775, a member of the Committee of One Hundred, which briefly governed New York City.

He died at his estate in Clermont, New York.