Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/487

 LIVINGSTON

LIVINGSTON

of Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Livingston and Sliermau, appointed to draw up the Declaration of Independence, but was obliged to return to his duties in the provincial assembly without signing the instrument. He was a member of the com- mittee that drafted the state constitution adopted at the King- ston convention in 1777. He was chan- cellor of the state un- der the new consti- tution, 1785-1801, and in that capacity he administered the oath of office to President Washington, April 30, 1789. He was secretary of foreign affairs for the Unit- ed States, 1781-83, and was chairman of the state convention at Poughkeepsie in 1788, to consider the adoption of the U.S. con- stitution. He declined the office of U.S. minister to France proferred by President Washington in 1794, and in 1801 the portfolio of the navy from President Jefferson, who also offered him the mission to France, which latter he accepted, re- signing liis chancellorship. While in France he formed a strong friendship with Napoleon Bona- parte; and he made the initial movement that resulted in the purchase of Louisiana from the French in 1803. He travelled through Europe after resigning his office as U.S. minister in 1803, and while in Paris he became interested in the invention of the steamboat of Robert Fulton, whom he assisted in his enterprise with his coun- sel and money, eventually becoming his partner. Tlie first steamboat, owned by Livingston and Fulton, was built in France and was launched upon the Seine but was a failure, and on return- ing to America they had another steamboat, the Clennoyit, built and launched on the Hudson in 1807, which was a success. This boat was named after the Livingston home in Columbia county, N.Y. He retired from public life and resided at Clermont, whei-e he engaged in agriculture and stock raising: was the first to introduce pow- dered gypsum in agriculture, and also introduced merino sheep west of the Hudson river. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the regents of the University of the State of New York in 1793. He was a founder of tiie American Academy of Fine Arts in New York in 1801, and was its first president; was president of the New York Society for the Promotion of Useful Arts, and upon the reorganization of the New York Society library in 1788, he was ap-

pointed a trustee. He published many essays and addresses on fine arts and agriculture. His statue, with that of George Clinton, forming the group of the two most eminent citizens of New York, was placed in the capitol in Washington by act of congress. In the selection of names for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Ameri- cans, New York universitj', made in October, 1900, his was one of the thirty-seven names in " Class M, Rulers and Statesmen," and received only three votes — his votes in the class equalling those for Richard Henry Lee and Stephen A. Douglas, and exceeding those for Martin Van Buren, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, John J. Crittenden and Henry Wilson. He was married to Mary, daughter of John Stevens, of New Jer- sey, and they had two children, Elizabeth S., who married Edward P. Livingston, and ]\Iargaret M., who married Robert L. Livingston. He died suddenly at Clermont, N.Y., Feb. 2G, 1813.

LIVINGSTON, Walter, delegate, was born in 1740; son of Robert and Maiy (Long) Living- ston, and grandson of Philip Livingston, the signer. He was a delegate to the provincial congress held in New York in April and Maj', 1775; and was appointed one of the judges of Albany county by the convention held at Kings- ton, N.Y., in 1777. He was a delegate to the Continental congress, 1784-85; and in 1785 he was appointed commissioner of the U.S. treasury. He was married to Cornelia, daughter of Peter Schuyler. He died in New York city, May 14. 1797.

LIVINGSTON, William, governor of New Jer- se}', was born in Albany. N.Y., Nov. 30, 1723; son of Philip and Catharine (Vnn Brugh) Livingston. He was graduated from Yale college, A.B., 1741, A.M., 1744; studied law in the office of James Alexander, 1741-46, and was ad- mitted to the bar, Oct. 14, 1748. He was married in 1745 to Susannah, daugh- ter of Philip French, of New Brunswick, and granddaughter of Maj. Anthony Brockhalls, formerly governor of New York. He establisli- ed the Independeiit Reflector in New

York in 1752. He was a commissioner in 1754 to adjust the boundary line between New York and Massachusetts, and subsequently between New York and New Jersey. With the assistance of his brother. Philip Livingston, his brother-in-law, William Alexander, and a few others, he estab-


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