Colonel Henry Beekman inherited the large Beekman estate from his father, Hendrick Beekman.
Colonel Beekman married two different descendants of Robert Livingston
and Alida Schuyler. His first wife,
Janet Livingston, was the daughter of Robert's nephew, also, of course,
named Robert. Janet and Henry had a daughter,
Margaret, and then Janet died at the too early age of 21.
Two years later Henry Beekman remarried, this time to Gertrude Van Cortlandt,
the niece of the Manor Robert's wife, Alida Schuyler. Henry and Gertrude never had children.
To help with the running of his estate, and his political work as, essentially, ward boss for
Dutchess County, Beekman turned to his sister Cornelia's son,
Henry Livingston, Sr., our Henry's father. A great many
letters from Beekman to Livingston have been preserved and published in the
Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook of xx.
When Beekman finally retired from
New York government, he gave the nod for the two seats he controlled to Henry Sr. and to his son-in-law,
Robert R. Livingston, who built the Clermont estate,
but who is best known as the father of Chancellor Livingston.
When Henry Jr. was a young man, letters from his brother Gilbert
show that he spent the occasional winter at Beekman's mansion in New York City. Henry's first
cousin and Beekman's granddaughter, Janet Livingston, is also known to have spent extensive time
there. Janet became the wife of General Montgomery, under whose command Henry Jr. and several
of Janet's brothers traveled up the Hudson to invade Canada. General Montgomery died in that
expedition.