It Happened Here -- "Dallas" On the Hudson?
A number of years ago (1978-1991) one of the most popular prime-time T.V. series was the "soap opera" Dallas. Dallas was about a large extended family of cattle and oil barons from Texas and their disasters, schemes, squabbles and infidelities. Like any large family, over time, the Livingston family of Columbia and Dutchess Counties had their share of disasters, schemes, squabbles and infidelities, as they struggled to maintain their aristocratic life style in a country that was becoming increasingly democratic. At one particular period and among one branch of their family, however, their problems and peccadillo's seemed to reach soap-operatic proportions.
In Colonial America, and most of Western Europe during that period, inheritance laws required that the bulk of a family's fortune be passed down to the oldest male child, thus "preserving" the family fortune. Robert "the Elder"* Livingston, having become one of the first Patroons of the Hudson River Valley to some extent defied this law by giving a substantial (but not equal) portion of his estate to a younger son, Robert "of Clermont". Family legend holds that this younger son had once saved his father's life in an Indian attack, so his father was especially close to this son.
From then on, one or another of the Livingston Manor Livingstons seemed to be squabbling with their Clermont Manor kin, and vice versa. By the fourth generation there were a large number of Livingstons (at least five from Livingston Manor, plus spouses, parents and grandparents; ten from Clermont, and their relatives, and a scattering of Livingstons, descended from "Robt. the Nephew" based more or less around Poughkeepsie.)
A major rift between the two Manors occurred when (Chancellor) Robert of Clermont Manor informed his relative, Robert (the 3d proprietor of Livingston Manor,) of his plans to build a mill on the Roeliff Jansen Kill, the creek dividing the two Manors. Robert of Livingston Manor stonily reminded him that Clermont's boundary was specified in the inheritance as lying on the southern shore of the creek, and not extending out into the creek, and certainly not allowing for the construction of a mill dam onto the northern side of the creek. Though the Chancellor went ahead and built his mill, anyway, the dispute poisoned relationships between the two branches of the family for at least two generations.
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston is a fascinating character, suffused with Livingston pride--self seeking and public spirited; cunning and trusting; a faithful husband and ladies man; a democrat and a protector of ancient privilege; and a capitalist who sought public monopolies. He was one of the central players in this "Dallas on the Hudson," but as the most famous of Livingston we will consider him in a future post, devoted to him.
The Revolutionary war brought on a host of problems with high inflation, currency devaluations, high taxes and tenant problems. The problem of disgruntled tenants who withheld rent (a perennial problem) was made worse by the blandishments of Tory recruiters. Seventeen seventy seven saw disaster with a British raid up the Hudson which destroyed both the Chancellor's home--Belvedere, and the family home, Clermont. Only Clermont was rebuilt.
Sister, Janet Livingston Montgomery's world (see post of 4/21/14) came crashing down when her young husband General Richard Montgomery was killed at Quebec. Janet assumed the role of "The General's Widow," despite the attentions of several suitors, until the day she died.
Brother Edward worked hard at being a reserved (some said dour) intellectual and droll wit whose
elegant and manly understated fashion sense earned him the nickname of "Beau Ned." In 1788 he married Mary McEvers whose attempts to complement her "Beau's" level of sartorial sophistication were tarnished by memories of a incident at an evening reception that year, hosted by Martha Washington. The unfortunate Mlle. McEvers wore a towering ostrich feather headdress that caught fire in a chandelier!
And then there was Henry! Henry Beekman Livingston joined the Continental Army to participate in the Quebec expedition. He loved battle and gloried in the role of warrior. He distinguished himself at the battles of Monmouth, Saratoga, Quaker Hill, and Newport and during the grueling encampment at Valley Forge, but he had a problem with discipline. His own brother-in-law, Richard Montgomery was quoted saying, "He is brave--but so imprudent in his conduct that I have been made very uneasy by his disputes and often wished him at home--for my own part I by no means think him fit for a field officer...."** It was only a matter of time before Henry was
court-martialed for disrespectful language to a superior officer and barely escaped a conviction of "conduct unbecoming a gentleman and an officer." In 1779 he quit, in a huff, after being passed over for promotions by others he considered "my inferiors."
Henry returned home and quickly "cut a wide swath through the female population of Dutchess County, resulting in a staggering number of bastard Livingston babies of a variety of hues, religious persuasions and social classes. Henry financed his profligacies by selling off land, an action which was deeply resented by his brothers and sisters...."**
Margaret Beekman Livingston, the matriarch of the Clermont Livingstons may have been relieved when Henry began to seriously court a Philadelphia socialite, Nancy Shippen, even though Nancy was first cousin to Peggy Shippen, wife of Major General Benedict Arnold who had recently turned traitor and fled to the British. Nancy was attractive, vivacious, and fun-loving and also spoiled, high-strung, and an inveterate flirt. She also had a morbid streak and she had been in love for the past year with a French Diplomat, Louis Otto. Otto, however, wasn't ready to marry and though he had good prospects, he didn't have a fortune. And Henry was ready to marry and he...well, he was a Livingston! Henry and Nancy married, moved into the old Beekman place in Rhinebeck and had a daughter, Peggy. The marriage soon fell apart with Henry raging against his new wife, having bouts of licentious drunkenness, and when she retreated to her parents in Philadelphia, of Henry publicly accusing her of infidelity. Nancy's parents fearful of alienating the Livingstons (and their money) sent her back. The squabble went on for years with poor little daughter Peggy bouncing from relative to relative (and at least once being kidnapped by her father). Six years after the beginning of the disastrous marriage, Louis Otto reappeared, (believe it or not!) marrying Henry's second cousin, Eliza Livingston. Eliza died in childbirth within a year but Louis remained on the scene to provide Nancy with a sympathetic ear in her ongoing struggles. Henry offered Nancy a divorce, so she could marry Louis, if she would give him sole custody of Peggy. Nancy refused, and Louis married someone else, moving forever out of her life. Gradually Henry descended into paranoid isolation, alienated from the rest of the Livingston clan. Nancy fled to Philadelphia and Peggy divided her days wintering in Philadelphia and summering at Clermont with her grandmother, Margaret Beekman Livingston.
Finally, there was sister Catherine Livingston. (There were a couple other sisters, but married off, their lives were comparatively normal.) Catherine became caught up in a radical new religious movement that was sweeping the country at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries--Methodism! Early Methodism was not the Methodism that people tend to think of today-- a mainline denomination with orderly services, a comforting moderate theology and tuneful old-timey hymns. Instead, it was emotional, ecstatic, and placed a high value on individuals having a personal conversion experience with the Almighty. It was a forerunner of a host of revivalist and pentecostal religions that were born and flourished in the nineteenth century; and conservative denominations and communities considered it dangerously radical. Margret Beekman Livingston, and the family were scandalized but tolerated Catherine's behavior until she became romantically involved with the Methodist circuit-riding minister Freeborn Garretson who they considered nothing more than a vagabond gold-digger. But Catherine, who was thirty-five and plain, was deeply in love and a four year contest of wills ensued between mother and daughter. (Though deeply in love, it appears elopement was out of the question. Catherine was not prepared to ride off into to the sunset and away from the Family, and its money on the back of a circuit-rider's horse.) Eventually she wore her mother down and 1793 the couple was married, with the Family's (grudging) blessing.
As surely as the Ewings of Dallas, the Livingstons of Clermont would make a fine grist for some pulp fiction writer's mill and there is raw material there for at least a season or two of a miniseries. But, of course we should never forget these were real people and their dramas, though a source of entertainment for us from the distance of a couple of centuries away, like battles in history, were often a source of real pain and suffering.
(Someone has suggested this post, coming on the heels of Mothers' Day should be dedicated to Margaret Beekman Livingston, the long suffering, often embattled matriarch of her Clermont-Livingston brood, in honor of all mothers who similarly labor.)
*The Livingstons had such a penchant for naming children Robert or Robert R. (that's Robert Robert, believe it or not!) that genealogists and the Livingstons themselves resorted to nicknames to keep them straight. The Patriarch of the family thus became Robert the Elder; his son to whom he gave the lower grant of lands became Robert of Clermont; and his brother's son who he invited from Scotland to help him with his business affairs became Robert, the Nephew. The Elder's grandson who inherited Livingston Manor was a Robert, as was the proprietor of Clermont, at that time. This Robert of Clermont's son, who sat on two high judicial tribunals became Robert the Judge. The Judge's oldest son. the 3d proprietor of Clermont, who became an important official in the state and early Federalist government, called himself "Chancellor Robert R" for his position as Chancellor of the State of New York. There was also a Robert Cambridge, Robert L., Robert Swift and Robert James in the third, forth and fifth generations of Livingstons.
**Quoted from Brandt, Clare. An American Aristocracy: The Livingstons. pp. 119, 139. Most of the information for this post was derived from this very readable and fascinating book.
In Colonial America, and most of Western Europe during that period, inheritance laws required that the bulk of a family's fortune be passed down to the oldest male child, thus "preserving" the family fortune. Robert "the Elder"* Livingston, having become one of the first Patroons of the Hudson River Valley to some extent defied this law by giving a substantial (but not equal) portion of his estate to a younger son, Robert "of Clermont". Family legend holds that this younger son had once saved his father's life in an Indian attack, so his father was especially close to this son.
From then on, one or another of the Livingston Manor Livingstons seemed to be squabbling with their Clermont Manor kin, and vice versa. By the fourth generation there were a large number of Livingstons (at least five from Livingston Manor, plus spouses, parents and grandparents; ten from Clermont, and their relatives, and a scattering of Livingstons, descended from "Robt. the Nephew" based more or less around Poughkeepsie.)
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| Border Between Livingston Manor and Clermont on Rte 9G |
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston is a fascinating character, suffused with Livingston pride--self seeking and public spirited; cunning and trusting; a faithful husband and ladies man; a democrat and a protector of ancient privilege; and a capitalist who sought public monopolies. He was one of the central players in this "Dallas on the Hudson," but as the most famous of Livingston we will consider him in a future post, devoted to him.
The Revolutionary war brought on a host of problems with high inflation, currency devaluations, high taxes and tenant problems. The problem of disgruntled tenants who withheld rent (a perennial problem) was made worse by the blandishments of Tory recruiters. Seventeen seventy seven saw disaster with a British raid up the Hudson which destroyed both the Chancellor's home--Belvedere, and the family home, Clermont. Only Clermont was rebuilt.
Sister, Janet Livingston Montgomery's world (see post of 4/21/14) came crashing down when her young husband General Richard Montgomery was killed at Quebec. Janet assumed the role of "The General's Widow," despite the attentions of several suitors, until the day she died.
Brother Edward worked hard at being a reserved (some said dour) intellectual and droll wit whose
elegant and manly understated fashion sense earned him the nickname of "Beau Ned." In 1788 he married Mary McEvers whose attempts to complement her "Beau's" level of sartorial sophistication were tarnished by memories of a incident at an evening reception that year, hosted by Martha Washington. The unfortunate Mlle. McEvers wore a towering ostrich feather headdress that caught fire in a chandelier!
And then there was Henry! Henry Beekman Livingston joined the Continental Army to participate in the Quebec expedition. He loved battle and gloried in the role of warrior. He distinguished himself at the battles of Monmouth, Saratoga, Quaker Hill, and Newport and during the grueling encampment at Valley Forge, but he had a problem with discipline. His own brother-in-law, Richard Montgomery was quoted saying, "He is brave--but so imprudent in his conduct that I have been made very uneasy by his disputes and often wished him at home--for my own part I by no means think him fit for a field officer...."** It was only a matter of time before Henry was
court-martialed for disrespectful language to a superior officer and barely escaped a conviction of "conduct unbecoming a gentleman and an officer." In 1779 he quit, in a huff, after being passed over for promotions by others he considered "my inferiors."
Henry returned home and quickly "cut a wide swath through the female population of Dutchess County, resulting in a staggering number of bastard Livingston babies of a variety of hues, religious persuasions and social classes. Henry financed his profligacies by selling off land, an action which was deeply resented by his brothers and sisters...."**
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| Co.Rte 308 near Slate Dock Rd., Rhinecliff |
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| On Rte 9, near Mill Rd and Grasmere, Bhinebeck |
Finally, there was sister Catherine Livingston. (There were a couple other sisters, but married off, their lives were comparatively normal.) Catherine became caught up in a radical new religious movement that was sweeping the country at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries--Methodism! Early Methodism was not the Methodism that people tend to think of today-- a mainline denomination with orderly services, a comforting moderate theology and tuneful old-timey hymns. Instead, it was emotional, ecstatic, and placed a high value on individuals having a personal conversion experience with the Almighty. It was a forerunner of a host of revivalist and pentecostal religions that were born and flourished in the nineteenth century; and conservative denominations and communities considered it dangerously radical. Margret Beekman Livingston, and the family were scandalized but tolerated Catherine's behavior until she became romantically involved with the Methodist circuit-riding minister Freeborn Garretson who they considered nothing more than a vagabond gold-digger. But Catherine, who was thirty-five and plain, was deeply in love and a four year contest of wills ensued between mother and daughter. (Though deeply in love, it appears elopement was out of the question. Catherine was not prepared to ride off into to the sunset and away from the Family, and its money on the back of a circuit-rider's horse.) Eventually she wore her mother down and 1793 the couple was married, with the Family's (grudging) blessing.As surely as the Ewings of Dallas, the Livingstons of Clermont would make a fine grist for some pulp fiction writer's mill and there is raw material there for at least a season or two of a miniseries. But, of course we should never forget these were real people and their dramas, though a source of entertainment for us from the distance of a couple of centuries away, like battles in history, were often a source of real pain and suffering.
(Someone has suggested this post, coming on the heels of Mothers' Day should be dedicated to Margaret Beekman Livingston, the long suffering, often embattled matriarch of her Clermont-Livingston brood, in honor of all mothers who similarly labor.)
**Quoted from Brandt, Clare. An American Aristocracy: The Livingstons. pp. 119, 139. Most of the information for this post was derived from this very readable and fascinating book.
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