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 Family
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American Farmer, December 24, 1999
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Livingston Genealogy, Reuben Hyde Walworth
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Beekman Arms
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Dau Catharina and Captain John Rutsen
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Hendrick (Henry) Beekman |
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When Gilbert Livingston fell in love with Cornelia Beekman in 1711,
he had chosen the daughter of a wealthy landowner who was prominent
in the local militia, as well as a popular and well-known politician who
had represented the County of Ulster in the New York Assemblies for
almost 40 years.
Hendrick (Henry) Beekman would be at the height of his power for another 5 years until his death in 1716. Politically, he was on the same side of the coin as was Gilbert's father, Robert Livingston. Both were members of the NY Assembly with interests favoring the large property owner. Both were anti-Leislerians, and both came back into strong favor with the arrival of Governor Cornbury, whose skirts, it might be said, they clung to. Though against Cornbury's interests, both were also strong adherents of the Dutch Reform Church. But where Robert Livingston made waves and made enemies, Henry Beekman seemed able to find a middle ground for his political survival. And, if Henry Beekman never rose as high in wealth or reputation as Robert Livingston, he also didn't have to survive orders for his arrest or have to fight the confiscation of his estates. In this new land continually filling with new immigrants, Henry Beekman already had long roots. He was born in the New York of 1651 into a prominent family; his father, William Beekman, having come to the city in 1647 with Peter Stuyvesant, then Director-General and later Governor. Although Major Henry Livingston, Jr. never knew his grandfather or his greatgrandfather Beekman, he would surely have heard stories through his mother, who was 23 years of age when she lost her father, Henry, and 24 when her 94 year old grandfather, William, died. Johanna came to Henry Beekman as the widow of Joris Davidson. She was the daughter of Cornelia Melyn and Jacob Lugt de Loper, a Swedish ship's captain who died when Johanna was very small. Cornelia remarried Jacob Schellinger, and this is the family in which Joanna was raised. Joanna was in her teens when her grandfather Melyn died, but she must have been raised with the stories of her grandfather's more than 12 voyages between America and Amsterdam attempting to gain undisputed rights to his Patroonship of half of Staten Island. And she would have heard the story of her uncle Cornelis, who died in his 20's in the Staten Island Massacre. And these are the stories that Johanna would have told her young daughter Cornelia who, in turn, would have passed the stories on to her son, Harry Livingston. |
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Henry Beekman was the eldest son of WIlliam Beekman and Catherine De Bough of New York. He came to New York in May 1647, with Governor Peter Stuyvesant, and became a large land holder in the city of New York. In 1658 he was appointed Governor of the Sweedish [sic] colony at Christina in Delaware. He subsequently resigned that office and returned to New York and was appointed Sherriff of Kingston; and was mayor of New York in 1680. He married 5 Sept 1649 Catherine De Bough of New York, and had by her three sons and four daughters, and d. in 1717 at New York in the 95th year of his age. |
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Henry was a judge and a member of the first assembly under authority
of the British King which met in New York City on April 9, 1691. The
delegates from Ulster and Dutchess Counties were Henry Beekman and
Thomas Garton. In 1697, Judge Beekman obtained a Royal Patent for the
lands adjacent to Ryn Beck (Rhinebeck, New York) and by 1713, there was
a mill, a church, a blacksmith shop, and William Traphagen's tavern. In
1766, Traphagen's Tavern was established as Beekman Arms, known as
"America's Oldest Inn." The Beekman Arms is credited by the historians
and the American Hotel Association as being the "Oldest Hotel in America"
in continuous operation. The Inn was built at the intersection of the
Sepasco Indian trail to the river and Post Road, the road from New York to
Albany (Fort Orange), now Rhinebeck's West Market Street and Oak
Street, Route 9.
In its beginning, the Beekman Arms was a one-story stone building constructed with a dual purpose in mind; to provide bed and board for the traveler, and to serve as a shelter for the local residents against Indian attack. Later, during the Revolutionary War, General Washington often watched his troops drilling in the square from a corner window while he awaited for his couriers to arrive with news. Many other famous persons of past and present have also visited the old Inn, including General Montgomery, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, DeWitt Clinton, Benedict Arnold, Martin Van Buren, Vice President Levi P. Morton and of more recent times, Franklin D. Roosevelt (a direct descendent of Wilhelmus Beekman through Gerardus Beekman.) Astronaut James Lovell, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, as well as many present personalities from the stage and screen. The restaurant in the Beekman Arms is one of the finest. The historic Rhinebeck (named by our ancestor, Wilhelmus) contains much of the Beekman history and the largest district of homes on the National Historic Register. |
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Catharina married Captain John Rutsen in 1712. Their son was Colonel Jacob Rutsen, who married Alida Livingson, the daughter of
his first cousin, the daughter of Gilbert Livingston and John's aunt, Cornelia Beekman.
Witnesses, Christian Schults, Hannes Hendrickse, Wilhelmus Heermans. Proved, March 22, 1764.
[NOTE.--Catharine Pawling was the daughter of Colonel Henry Beekman, and was born
September 16, 1683. She married 1st Captain John Rutsen, of Kingston;
2nd, Albert Pawling, from whom the village of Pawling, in Duchess County, is named. Her
father, Colonel Henry Beekman, owned a large tract of land in the southeast part of Duchess
County, of which the lands described are a portion.--W. S. P.]
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(9 Mar 1652)