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| Margaret Beekman Livingston, a real person |
Margaret Beekman Livingston was a strong
woman. There is no denying that. She raised ten children, nine of whom turned
out pretty well. She was known as a competent business woman, running her
massive estate for twenty-five years after the unexpected death of her husband,
Judge Robert Livingston.
When the British burned down her house and
all of her outbuildings in the fall of 1777 she was able, through sheer force
of will and perseverance, was able to convince Governor George Clinton to
release men from their militia obligations so they could be free to rebuild her
house. She met military and political leaders, from George Washington to John
Jay, and charmed them all.
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| Not that George Clinton |
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| Closer |
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| That's the one |
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| Robert R. Livingston |
On August 15, 1776 Margaret wrote a letter
to her eldest son Robert Livingston where she revealed that under her tough
demeanor was a mother, scared for her child’s safety. A letter that could have
been written by any mother to any child in any time of war. She wrote:
“I hear you are to be with Genl.
Washington but in what capacity I cannot hear – must you too be exposed to the
fire of our Enemies oh my Dear Child Consider your situation with respect to
myself, and my other children Do Not Expose yourself needlessly. You are in the
Civil Department let others be in the Military your country has need of yr
counsel as well as your family”
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| The letter in question |
The British Army had landed on Staten
Island on July 2, 1776, the same day Congress had declared Independence. By
August 1, 1776 the British had more than 32,000 soldiers in New York Harbor
along with a fleet of some 400 ships. Margaret, like Washington, was concerned
with where the British would land next. Which of her sons would be in danger? Would
any of them die like her son in law Richard Montgomery at Quebec? Would she and
her family be in danger if the British came up the river? The British landed on
Long Island a week after she wrote her letter. Robert was not with the army but
her son Henry, a Lieutenant Colonel in the 2nd New York Regiment was
trapped behind enemy lines for a period of time until he could escape to Connecticut.
Which brings up another reason for
Margaret to be concerned about Robert’s safety. If something happened to him
Henry Beekman Livingston would become the “man” of the family. While she had
not kicked him out of the family as she later would he was still considered
disagreeable at best.(Click here to learn about Henry)
Letters like this give us a glimpse into
the real person, the very human, emotional person, who lived beneath the grand
historical veneer that the Gilbert Stuart portrait puts upon her. We talk about
her many accomplishments but can easily forget that she was a living breathing
woman who feared for the safety of at least some of her children.
