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Livingston, William

congressman, governor, author, was born Nov. 30, 1723, in Albany, N. Y. In 1758 he was elected a member of the assembly. He purchased a tract of land in Elizabethtown, N. J.; built a house called Liberty Hall, and removed there in 1773, where he resided during the remainder of his life. He was elected a delegate to the continental congress in 1774; re-elected in 1775; and was recalled June 5 to command, as brigadiergeneral, the state militia. He succeeded William Franklin (deposed) as governor in 1776, and held the office until his death.

In 1787 he was a delegate to the constitutional convention. He was the author of a poem called Philosophical Solitude; and also Review of the Military Operations in North America; and Digest of the Laws of New York. He died July 25, 1780, in Elizabeth, N. J.