James Duane Livingston III family papers
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Abstract
Family history narratives, vital records, photographs, and genealogical research documenting the ancestry of James Duane Livingston III (1930-2019), a descendant on his father's side from Robert Livingston (1654-1728), first lord of Livingston Manor on the Hudson River, and on his mother's side from the Boullee family, German immigrants to New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada, in the mid-19th century.
Biographical / Historical
James Duane Livingston III (1930–2019) assembled this collection of family papers, photographs, and genealogical research to preserve for his daughters the biographical details of his own life, and of the lives of their shared ancestors and collateral relatives. On his father's side Livingston descended from Robert Livingston (1654–1728), his six-times great-grandfather, first lord of Livingston Manor, a 160,000-acre patent on the Hudson River. The Livingston family counted such notables as Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), a member of the Committee of Five who drafted the Declaration of Independence, and Philip Livingston (1714–1778), who signed it. William Livingston (1723–1790) signed the U.S. Constitution, and Robert R. Livingston administered the oath of office to George Washington when he assumed the presidency in 1789. James Duane Livingston (1786–1837), a great-great grandson of the first lord of Livingston Manor, was the first to bear that combination of names. They would repeat in his grandson, James Duane Livingston (1859–1936), great-grandson, James Duane Livingston Jr. (1890–1956), and great-great-grandson, James Duane Livingston III, the compiler. (The suffixes "Jr." and "III" are not observed consistently on documents in the collection.)
James Duane Livingston Jr., a native of Indianapolis, married Florence Josephine Boullee (1892–1983), a native of New Jersey, in 1924 in New York City. Together they operated a printing concern on Wall Street. Florence descended from Wilhelm Heinrich Boullee (1821–1882), a country doctor, and his wife, Augusta E. Engelhardt (1827–1898), German immigrants who settled in New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada, in the 1840s, and from Friedrich Jugneit (1837–1901), a Prussian immigrant who served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and his wife, Maria Schmidling (1846– ).
Together James Duane and Florence (Boullee) Livingston had one child, a son, James Duane Livingston III, who was born in Brooklyn. James was a graduate of Midwood High School who went on to Cornell and Harvard Universities and spent thirty-three years as a research physicist for General Electric in Schenectady, New York. He married twice, first (1953) to Nancy Lee Clark, by whom he had three daughters (Joan, Susan, and Barbara Livingston), and second (1985) to Sherry (Hood) Penney (1937–2019).
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This note is drawn from documents and narratives in the collection, and from family trees compiled by Howland Davis and Arthur Kelly in A Livingston Genealogical Register (Rhinebeck, N.Y. : Kinship, 1995).
Arrangement
The collection came to the New-York Historical Society in seven three-ring binders assembled by James Duane Livingston III. With minor exceptions (e.g., moving duplicate photographs from front or back binder pockets to join other copies in folders), the original order of the documents has been retained. Livingston supplied distinct titles for each binder, which the archivist has transferred to the following series titles:
- Series I
- "Old Family Manuscripts (indentures, estates, etc.)," 1718, 1810-1866
- Series II
- "Ancestors & Siblings (Aunt Patsy, Uncle Bob) of James D. Livingston Jr. (1890–1956)," 1872-1999
- Series III
- "James Duane Livingston Jr. (1890–1956)," 1889-1999
- Series IV
- "James Duane Livingston III (1930–[2019])," part one, 1930-1987
- Series V
- "James Duane Livingston III (1930–[2019])," part two, 1965-1970
- Series VI
- "Ancestors of Florence Boullee Livingston: Jugneits, Schmidlings, Boullees, Engelhardts," 1786-1999
- Series VII
- "Florence Josephine Boullee Livingston (1892–1983) & her brother William H. Boullee (1894–1955)," 1892-1983
Scope and Contents
Items in the collection span the years 1718 through 1999 and include
• Assorted documents pertaining to the estate of Robert Cambridge Livingston (1742-1794), indentures and property records of his son, James Duane Livingston (1786-1837), and the title to property belonging to James's son, Charles James Livingston (1821-1871). Includes an early manuscript "Livingston Family Genealogy." (See Series I.)
• Material documenting the ancestry of James Duane Livingston Jr. (1890–1956) and his siblings, Gertrude Channing (Livingston) Kittredge Eaton (1892–1988), and Robert Teviot Livingston (1896–1968). Includes family history narratives, charts, vital records, newspaper obituaries, photographs, and an antique lace handkerchief. (See Series II.)
• Vital, school, and military records of James Duane Livingston Jr. (1890–1956), with two family history narratives by his son. (See Series III.)
• Autobiographical documents of James Duane Livingston III, including a number of grammar and high school report cards, school essays and stories, letters from his first wife, Nancy Lee Clark, and clippings on his career in metallurgy and ceramics research at General Electric. (See Series IV.)
• Additional autobiographical material of James Duane Livingston III, documenting his passion for tennis, his efforts to preserve the Glen Sanders Mansion, a historic house in Scotia, Schenectady County, New York, and his involvement with the Glenville Democratic Committee (also in Schenectady County), and two runs for a Glenville town council seat. (See Series V.)
• Documentation of the German-immigrant ancestry of James Duane Livingston III's mother, Florence Josephine (Boullee) Livingston (1892–1983). Includes a number of baptism, confirmation, and marriage certificates, as well as a series of letters from Friedrich Jugneit (1837–1901) to his daughter, Emily Charlotte (Jugneit) Boullee (1866–1957). With several narratives illustrating the relationships among the Boullee, Engelhardt, Jugneit, and Schmidling families. (Series VI.)
• Biographical documentation of James Duane Livingston III's mother, Florence Josephine (Boullee) Livingston (1892–1983) and her sole sibling, William Henry August Boullee (1894–1955). Includes Florence's baptism and confirmation certificates, her early driver's license, wedding photographs, and awards from the American Legion Auxiliary. William Boullee is represented by a few World War I service records, an end-of-life letter to his sister, and an obituary. (See Series VII.)
A number of James Duane Livingston III's autobiographical and family history narratives scattered throughout the collection shed light on the gathered documents:
• "My Grandparents" [paternal] (Box 1, Folder 16)
• "Ancestors of James Duane Livingston, Jr. (1890-1956), Gertrude Channing Livingston (b. 1892), and Robert Teviot Livingston (1896-1968)" (Box 1, Folder 18)
• "Ancestors and Descendants of James Duane Livingston 1786-1837" (Box 1, Folder 19)
• "Dad" (Box 1, Folder 54)
• "James D. Livingston Jr. (1890-1956) in World War I" (Box 2, Folder 3)
• "Mom & Dad & Me" (Box 2, Folder 13)
• "JDL3 and Tennis" (Box 2, Folder 56)
• "Travels and Travails of Friedrich Jugneit (1837-1901)" (Box 3, Folder 5)
• "My Grandparents" [maternal] (Box 3, Folder 6)
• "Letters from Friedrich [Jugneit]" (Box 3, Folder 16)
• "Wilhelm and Augusta Boullee of New Hamburg, Ontario, and their descendants" (Box 3, Folder 24)
Subjects
Families
Genres
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Use Restrictions
This collection is owned by the New-York Historical Society. The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder. Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day.
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as the: James Duane Livingston III Family Papers, MS 3144, The New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Susan Livingston, 2019, (accession no. MS-2019-042).
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in October 2019.