Edward Livingston (April 4, 1834 – December 18, 1906) was an American businessman and clubman who was prominent in society during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

Early life

Livingston was born on April 4, 1834, in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. He was the youngest of seven children born to

Edward Livingston Edward Livingston (May 28, 1764May 23, 1836) was an American jurist and statesman. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. Livingston represented both ...

(1796–1840) and Sarah Ray (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Lansing) Livingston (1797–1848). Among his siblings, Edward was the only to marry and have children live to adulthood. His siblings were Maria Lansing, Cornelia Lansing, Frances "Fanny" S., Sarah Lansing, Philip Henry, and John Lansing Livingston. His father was an attorney who served as

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

of Albany County as well as the

Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

and

Speaker of the New York State Assembly The speaker of the New York State Assembly is the highest official in the New York State Assembly, customarily elected from the ranks of the majority party. As in most countries with a British heritage, the speaker presides over the lower hous ...

. His maternal grandparents were Cornelia (née Ray) Lansing and John Ten Eyck Lansing, Jr., the former

and

Chancellor of New York The New York Court of Chancery was the highest court in the State of New York from 1701 to 1847. History The New York Court of Chancery was established during the British colonial administration on August 28, 1701, with the colonial governor actin ...

from 1801 to 1814. His aunt, Jane Lansing, was married to

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Rensselaer Westerlo Rensselaer Westerlo (May 6, 1776April 18, 1851) was a United States representative from New York and a member of the Livingston family. Early life Rensselaer Westerlo was born on May 6, 1776 at the Van Rensselaer Manor House in Albany in the P ...

(1776–1851), and another aunt, Frances Lansing, was married to Jacob Livingston Sutherland. His paternal grandparents were Philip Henry Livingston (a grandson of

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

man and Signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

Philip Livingston Philip Livingston (January 15, 1716 – June 12, 1778) was an American merchant and statesman from New York City. He represented New York at the October 1774 First Continental Congress, where he favored imposing economic sanctions upon Great Bri ...

) and Maria (née Livingston) Livingston (a daughter of

Walter Livingston Walter Livingston (November 27, 1740 – May 14, 1797) was an American merchant, lawyer and politician. Early life He was a son of Robert Livingston (1708–1790), 3rd Lord of Livingston Manor, and Maria Thong Livingston (1711–1765), a grand ...

, the 1st

Career

Livingston was a businessman involved in the "importation and sale of railroad materials" including the

Shelby Iron Company The Shelby Iron Company was an iron manufacturing company that operated an ironworks in Shelby, Alabama. The iron company produced iron for the Confederate States of America and was destroyed towards the end of the American Civil War. The company ...

, Detroit Steel and Spring Company, and Brierfield Iron & Coal Co. He entered into various partnerships with Charles L. Perkins, Henry A. V. Post, and Francis Vose, between 1858 and 1880, known variously as Perkins, Livingston & Co. and Perkins, Livingston & Post.

Society life

In February 1892, Livingston, by then a widower, was included in

Ward McAllister Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. He was widely accepted as the authority as to which families could be classified as the cream o ...

's "

Four Hundred 400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401. Mathematical properties 400 is the square of 20. 400 is the sum of the powers of 7 from 0 to 3, thus making it a repdigit in base 7 (1111). A circle is divided into ...

", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into

Mrs. Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the The Four Hundred (1892), Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later ...

's ballroom. Livingston was a member of the Union Club and the

Metropolitan Club The Metropolitan Club of New York is a private social club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded as a gentlemen's club in 1891 for men only, but it was one of the first major clubs in New York to admit women, t ...

, and the

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

Personal life

On Thursday, October 8, 1868, Livingston was married to Frances Clarissa "Fanny" Hazeltine, by the Rev. Dr.

Frederic Dan Huntington Frederic (or Frederick) Dan Huntington (May 28, 1819, Hadley, Massachusetts – July 11, 1904, Hadley, Massachusetts) was an American clergyman and the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. Early life, e ...

at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston. Fanny was the daughter of Mayo Hazeltine and Frances (née Williamson) Hazletine of Boston, and the granddaughter of Gov. William D. Williamson. They lived at 17

East 74th Street 74th Street is an east–west street carrying pedestrian traffic and eastbound automotive/bicycle traffic in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs through the Upper East Side neighborhood (in ZIP code 10021, where it is known as East ...

, and had a large estate, comprising several thousand acres, in Manitou (a hamlet in the southwest corner of Philipstown by the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

in Putnam County. Together, they were the parents of: * Clarisse Hazeltine Livingston (b. 1869), who made her debut in 1887 at which time her father gave her a ball for 600 guests at

Delmonico's Delmonico's is the name of a series of restaurants that operated in New York City, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. The original version was widely recognized as the United States ...

with a cotillion led by Clarisse and Elliott Roosevelt. The ball cost an estimated $15,000. * Edward Livingston, Jr. (1871–1929), who graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1893 and

Columbia University Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestig ...

in 1896. He married Mabel Drake (1875–1915). Livingston "dropped dead of heart disease" on the veranda at the home of his friend, D. S. Herrick, in

Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fro ...

, as he was "about to ring the bell" on December 18, 1906.

References

External links

Edward Livingston papers
at

The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Edward 1834 births 1906 deaths Edward (clubman) Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery