Walter Livingston


Walter Livingston was an American merchant, lawyer and politician.

Early life

He was a son of Robert Livingston, 3rd Lord of Livingston Manor, and Maria Thong Livingston, a granddaughter of Governor Rip Van Dam. He was a nephew of Philip Livingston and the grandson of Philip Livingston and Catharina Van Brugh. He was the great-grandson of Robert Livingston the Elder, a New York colonial official, fur trader, and businessman who was granted a patent to 160,000 acres along the Hudson River, and becoming the first lord of Livingston Manor. His paternal great-grandmother was Alida Schuyler, the daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler and the widow of Nicholas Van Rensselaer. His great-grandparents were Pieter Van Brugh and Sara Cuyler.

Life

He was a delegate to the Provincial Convention held in New York in April and May 1775, and a member of the First New York Provincial Congress from May to November 1775. He served as Commissary of Stores and Provisions for the Department of New York from July 17, 1775, until September 7, 1776, when he resigned. He was Deputy Commissary General of the Northern Department in 1775 and 1776.
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In 1777, he was appointed a county judge for Albany County. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1777 to 1779 and 1784–85, and served as Speaker from 1777 to 1779. In 1784, he was a member of the New York and Massachusetts Boundary Commission. He was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York from 1784 to 1787.
He was a member from New York of the Continental Congress in 1784 and 1785. In 1785, he was appointed Commissioner of the United States Treasury.

Residence

In 1774, Walter built a Georgian mansion, on a 500 acre estate called Teviotdale in Linlithgo, New York.

Personal life

He married Cornelia Schuyler, daughter of Pieter P. Schuyler and Gertrude Schuyler, his cousin. Cornelia was the granddaughter of Pieter Schuyler, the first mayor of Albany. Their children include:
He was buried at Trinity Churchyard in New York. His home at Linlithgo in Columbia County, New York, known as Teviotdale, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Descendants

, a Republican U.S. Representative from Louisiana that was the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee from 1995–1999, is Walter Livingston's great-great-great-great-grandson.
Through his daughter Gertrude, he was the grandfather of Fulton Cutting, who married Elise Justine Bayard and were the parents of William Bayard Cutting and Robert Fulton Cutting.