Philip Livingston, York, York County

June is winding down with a heat wave, although they're saying today should be the last day of it in this area. I certainly hope so. 

I'm doing my best to ignore both the heat and the threat of thunderstorms. Instead, I'm casting my thoughts back a few months to a much more temperate day, when my best friend Andrea and I went exploring in York County. Today's quest features the first York marker I actually caught; I turned the car down a random street in hopes of reaching the city's Colonial Quarter, and she caught sight of the marker. She's very good at spotting them from the passenger seat, which is extremely helpful since I have to, you know, pay attention to the road.

The odd thing about today's subject is that he isn't from Pennsylvania at all. But he has a marker here, for tragic reasons.

The marker stands at 700 North George
Street, near the cemetery office

Philip Livingston was born in Albany, new York, on January 15, 1716. He was one of several children of Philip Livingston, the second Lord of Livingston Manor, and Catherine Van Brugh, daughter of the mayor of Albany. The Livingston family, which was and is quite sprawling, traces its ancestry to the fourth Lord Livingston of Scotland. The family migrated to New York in the 17th century.

Our Livingston was a graduate of what is now Yale University and, in adulthood, became a very successful merchant thanks in part to his father's connections; he made a fortune in provisioning, real estate, and - unfortunately - the slave trade. (The major down side to writing about colonial America is that there was a lot of that kind of thing happening.) He married Christina Ten Broeck in 1740 and they had a large family, raising nine children between their forty-acre estate in Brooklyn Heights and their Duke Street townhouse in Manhattan.

Livingston did a number of good things in New York City. He was one of the organizers of the New York Public Library, which opened in 1754, and founded the first Chamber of Commerce, which opened in 1770. He was also, in 1756, the founding president of the New York chapter of the St. Andrew's Society, which was the first benevolent society in the state. (A benevolent society is a specific kind of non-profit which gives money and assistance to certain groups of people, and its membership is usually limited in some way; in the case of the St. Andrew's Society, members must be of Scottish lineage, and the money they raise is used to benefit those who are also of Scottish lineage, such as their scholarship program.)

All this is quite interesting, of course, but what does it have to do with Pennsylvania? Well, we're getting there. Starting in 1754, Livingston began involving himself in political matters. He first served as a delegate to the Albany Congress, helping to negotiate with the Native Americans and try to deal with the French and Indian War, including fundraising for the troops. From 1763 to 1769 he was a member of the provincial house of representatives, and served as Speaker in 1768. He also, in 1765, was part of the Stamp Act Congress and helped to create the first formal protest to the British crown. He and his brother William both served as delegates to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. (If William Livingston's name sounds familiar to you, well spotted! He later signed the Constitution.)

The Olive Branch Petition, which Livingston signed in 1775, was a final effort to come to a peaceful understanding with King George, but as you can imagine, it didn't go over so well. Livingston wasn't originally on board with completely breaking away from Britain, which was a common viewpoint at the time; he just wanted them to lighten up on the colonies. Eventually, though, he jumped ship and became an advocate for the new nation, and in July of 1776, he put his name on the Declaration of Independence.

He and his family had to flee New York City when the British forces occupied it, and fortunately they had a third house (in the community of Kingston) where they could go. Remember how I said he had two properties in New York City? Following the Battle of Long Island, the Brooklyn Heights estate became a meeting point for General George Washington and his officers, where they planned the evacuation of Long Island. Both of Livingston's houses were subsequently taken over by the British - the Brooklyn Heights estate became a Royal Navy hospital, and the house on Duke Street was used as a barracks.

While all this was going on, Livingston was suffering from a condition called dropsy. (Dropsy, or hydropsy, happens when the body accumulates too much water and the soft tissue swells up as a result. Today it's more commonly known as edema, and it sometimes occurs as a result of congestive heart failure.) Despite this, he accepted an appointment to the New York Senate after the state adopted its new constitution in 1777, and he was also still a sitting member of the Continental Congress. In May of 1778, he took his seat there in York. He never went home again; he died quite suddenly during the sixth session of the Continental Congress, on June 12, 1778.

Rather than take him back to New York for burial, he was instead given honors in the City of York. Livingston was interred at Prospect Hill Cemetery, the oldest and largest cemetery in the area. It is a remarkably peaceful place, with winding walking paths and beautiful vistas; he's one of a number of historic persons resting in the grounds, which is also home to a series of informative signs explaining the rich background of those interred there. Livingston's towering granite headstone, seen at right, stands not very far from his historical marker. It was erected by one of his grandsons, the son of his daughter Catherine, and the epitaph reads as follows:

Sacred to the memory of the Hon.
Philip Livingston,
who died June 12th, 1778, aged 65 years
While attending the Congress of the United States at York
Town, Penn., as a Delegate from
the State of New York.
Eminently distinguished for
his talents & rectitude, he deservedly
enjoyed the confidence of his
Country & the love & veneration
of his friends & children.
This monument erected by his grandson Stephen van Rensselaer.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Author unknown. "Philip Livingston, 1716-1778." Signers of the Declaration of Independence: Short biographies on each of the 56 Declaration signers. UShistory.org.

Bielinski, Stefan. "Philip Livingston." The New York State Museum, 2002.

Livingston, Edwin Brockholst. The Livingstons of Livingston Manor: Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callendar which Settled in the English Province of New York During the Reign of Charles the Second; and Also Including an Account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the Same Province and His Principal Descendants. Knickerbocker Press, 1910.

Philip Livingston at FindAGrave.com

Official website of Prospect Hill Cemetery

Philip Livingston at the Historical Marker Database (he has other markers too, especially in his home state of New York, but that's the link for this one)

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.