The Livingstons of Livingston Manor provides a rich history of one of the most important families in the early history of New York State as well as the fledgling nation. Livingston Manor--granted to Robert Livingston the Elder (1654-1728) via royal charter from King George I of Britain in 1716--embraced 160,000 acres, including nearly all of what is today Columbia County as well as much of Sullivan and Delaware Counties. The primary family estate in Germantown, NY, where the leaders of the clan lived for more than two hundred years starting in 1728, Clermont on the Hudson River, is now a New York State Historic Site. Succeeding generations included "Chancellor" Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813) who served on the famed "Committee of Five" charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence. Other members of the clan also played major roles in New York State as well as nationally. Philip Livingston (1716-1778, known in the family as "Philip the Signer") was a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York and signed the Declaration of Independence; William Livingston (1723-1798) was a Delegate to the Constitutional Convention and a signatory to the US Constitution. Descendants of the Livingstons include the Bush clan, Eleanor Roosevelt (through her mother), and former New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean. First privately published in 1910, this long-unavailable history illuminates several generations of the Livingston clan and their impact on the fledgling and growing United States.
