Robert Livingston (1654-1728), colonial politician and landowner, was secretary for Indian affairs in New York province and greatly influenced British policy respecting western lands.

Youngest son of an eminent Presbyterian pastor, Robert Livingston was born on Dec. 13, 1654, in Ancrum, Scotland. His father was exiled in 1663 for resisting attempts to Anglicize the Scottish Church. Robert grew up in Rotterdam, Holland, where he received business training and became fluent in Dutch. Following his father's death in 1672, he emigrated to New England and then moved to Albany.

New York had just been restored to the English, and Livingston's background ideally suited him to become an intermediary between Dutch burghers and proprietary officials. From 1675 he was secretary to the commissioners directing affairs in the Albany area and ex officio town clerk. His marriage in 1679 to Alida Schuyler (widow of Nicholas van Rensselaer) allied him with the province's leading Dutch families, and his...