Embarrassing confession
- Heather Rogers
- 13 hours ago
- 2 min read
I served on the Friends of Clermont board for five years. Clermont was home to seven generations of Livingstons, the most famous being Robert Livingston.
Sorry.
Robert R. Livingston, aka The Chancellor…
(I'm sure you know that.)
Which brings me to my confession: I never much paid attention to the Livingstons before joining the board. Since then, I’ve noticed Livingstons everywhere. But every time I try to make sense of their family tree, my head spins.
I’m getting ahead of myself.
A while ago, I read a new book about President William Henry Harrison, a man I’d previously read 176 pages about. It didn't take many pages of Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation by Peter Stark to realize I was detesting Harrison more by the minute. He did some truly horrific things, but I’m not going to get into that here.
Despite the best efforts of Judge John Cleves Symmes, Harrison eloped with Symmes' daughter, Nancy. Judge Symmes was married to his third wife, Susan Livingston Symmes (stepmother to Nancy, as well as her travel buddy and close friend).
Naturally, I had no choice but to find out if Susan Livingston Symmes was related to The Chancellor.
She was!
[Hooray!]
Here’s my messy sketchbook:
You see what I mean, right?
Everyone is named Robert Livingston!
Luckily the Roberts Livingston had fun nicknames.
If we follow them all the way through The Chancellor and zip through a few more generations, eventually we get to Eleanor Roosevelt!
Get this! There’s another one.
Yeah, that’s right.
I found him when I dug up an old Livingston family tree I’d doodled a while back (about mid-way down this page). Robert Livingston’s daughter Elizabeth Livingston married Robert Livingston. Robert L. Livingston. I haven’t found out much about this guy yet. Most disappointingly, I didn’t find a fun nickname.
Here’s how he fits in:
To bring this back full circle…
William Henry Harrison & Eleanor Roosevelt had something in common: they both had bounties on their heads.
William Henry Harrison a 50 beaver bounty for being a terrible monster. And Eleanor Roosevelt had a $25,000 bounty… but she didn’t waiver in her convictions.
There are more Livingston family trees where these came from!
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