I love when a book sends me off exploring various tangents. Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler by Christopher J. Leahy and Sharon Williams Leahy…? I was unprepared for the sheer volume of Livingston-related interruptions. Too many to fit into a standard recap post. I’ve corralled some of them here.

PST!

I selected this book This book selected me (by way of a recommendation from @Historywithher) because of my October 9 John Tyler presentation. But also… (you’re never going to believe this!) I’m giving a presentation on November 17 where I try to make sense of the Livingston family trees. I swear this book deliberately found me.

Livingston family trees

Betram de Nully Delafield

Coming in hot immediately! This book did not waste any time foisting me away from it.

Betram was one of four kids (all sons of prominent, Wealthy Important Guys) who “terrorized” 44-year-old widow Julia Gardiner Tyler in what was referred to as the “flag incident”.

Basically, Betram and his friends blah blah blah Julia’s blah blah you can’t trick me into spoiling this flag on her mantle but you’ll never believe what happened next just read the book. (You didn’t think I was going to spoil it for you, did you??)

Do not look him up. I regretted inadvertently stumbling on the fact that Bertram stillnot going to tell you when I tried to make this family tree:

This. Story. Is. Bonkers.

In any case, I wondered if Betram was related to Alice Delafield Clarkson Livingston … who lived at Clermont.

Yup.

Bertram’s mom was Eliza Bard Delafield. Her brother and sister-in-law founded Bard College and I was just talking to a friend about wanting to go an event there to see Montgomery Place which was home to (you guessed it) some Livingstons (including Janet Livingston Montgomery, widow of Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery, who died fighting Canada).

Margaret Gardiner Beeckman

Julia’s sister married John Henry Beeckman, which made me wonder if he was a Livingston. Margaret Beekman Livingston was a Beekman and I know that the spelling convention sometimes varied.

Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation, by Cokie Roberts; the spelling conventions of “Livingston” don’t vary. At least not like I’ve depicted here. That’s just a goof.

Yes! John Henry Beeckman (1818-1850) rolls up to Robert Livingston the Elder (1654-1728) and Alida Schuyler Livingston. More recently, he rolls up two separate Bee(c)kmans:

Catherine McPhaedres Livingston Beeckman (1788-1863)
Cornelia Beekman Livingston (1693-1742)

Catherine Chew

The Leahys mentioned that Julia Gardiner went to school with the daughter of “a relative of the powerful Livingston family of New York”. Catherine Chew’s mom was Maria Theodisia Duer Chew (1789-1837). Maria’s grandfather was Lord Stirling (William Alexander). Her grandmother, Sara Van Brugh Livingston Alexander, would hang out with Martha Washington and the other general’s wives during the winters of the Revolutionary War.

1776, by David McCullough

The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, by Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky

I have more Livingston family trees, if you want to see how any of these individuals fit in.

James Roosevelts

James I. Roosevelt (aka James I, prounounced “one” /wŭn/ because it’s a Roman numeral and not a letter “I”) showed up. One of Julia Gardiner’s countless suitors was missing from roll call one day and maybe James (or possibly someone else) said the guy might’ve “gone to study horticulture”, lol.

I thought maybe this was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s dad. No, but he’s the uncle of James A. Roosevelt.

I thought maybe James A. Roosevelt was FDR’s dad.

No, I realized that when I found out who James A. Roosevelt’s dad was — Cornelius! CVS Roosevelt! I was barking up the wrong Roosevelt tree. He’s Theodore Roosevelt’s uncle. (Theodore’s mom got into a big argument with CVS Roosevelt at Sunday dinner. Probably about Civil War stuff. She was super into the Confederacy…. just like Julia!)

The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President, by Edward F. O’Keefe

FDR’s dad was James Roosevelt I and you can tell him apart from the first James Roosevelt I because he has a I at the end of his name just like that guy and areyoukiddingme do they do this on purpose?!

He was also known as Squire James, which is far more helpful.

Just a little compare and contrast with these Roosevelts and the Tylers:

John Tyler was 30 years older than his second wife, Julia Gardiner
Squire James was 26 years older than his second wife, Sara Ann Delano
Sara’s stepson James Roosevelt Roosevelt (I’m not f*cking making this up) was 25 and already married when 26-year-old Sara became his stepmom
13 months separated Julia and John Tyler, Jr. and they flirted a bit… before she married his dad
FDR’s birth was horrific and I read that Sara closed up shop afterward ifyouknowwhatimean
Julia wanted very much to limit the number of children she had but her husband had to prove he was virile, despite the risk of mothers dying during childbirth (particularly in the south)… let me tell you, that chapter of the book was absolutely riveting and appalling and left me wanting to learn more

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, by David Pietrusza

But also… back to James Roosevelt I (not Squire James, the other one)…

He was married to Cornelia Van Ness*. You simply must look at this picture. I love everything about it. Their son Charles Yates Roosevelt married Cornelia Livingston Talbot, granddaughter of Robert Livingston… the Robert Livingston whose parents were Philip and Catharina Van Brugh Livingston.

*OMG the Van Nesses are everywhere** now and that’s a whole other thing.
**Including 30-year-old widower and dad of two William Van Ness Livingston… who married Julia’s cousin Eliza and OMG that’s a whole thing. But it’s riddled with spoilers, so just read the book, ok?

Saratoga 1839

Don’t even get me started on this.

I knew what President Martin Van Buren was doing on August 1, 1839 because I just read a letter between two of his sons mentioning it! The letter was lousy with all sorts of fun Easter eggs (about Clermont, the Livingstons, etc.). So much so that it became the basis for a speech I recently gave at Clermont. (A speech I had been procrastinating on writing up until the point that I read the letter!)

Read the letter and my excited ramblings here. ✉️

BTW: the letter mentions Van Ness. See?! Everywhere!!

Baking powder

Eben Horsford invented baking powder, according to this book, which I was skeptical about because I swear Other Heather Rockwood told me that Count Rumsford invented baking powder… so off I went on another tangent.

And nope.

I misremembered our conversation.

You can read all about Eben and Count Rumsford here.

Before he invented baking powder, Horsford was a teacher at Albany Female Academy… where he met his future wives.

Plural.

In any case, his wives were also educated at Emma Willard, which is a nice segue to remind you that I’m related to her through her much older husband. You can learn more about Emma Willard here, where I (coincidentally!!) referenced John and Julia Tyler! 🤯

Eben was a scientist and curious about slavery. Naturally, he conducted a very scientific study whereby he visited one plantation and relied solely on the enslaver to tell him how great it is. Convincing and scientific!

See more … racism

Julia attended the convention where New York Governor Horatio Seymour was selected to run against Ulysses S. Grant. Did I decided to doodle this exclusively because I accidentally stumbled on his grave this spring and I wanted to mention it?

No.

It was also partially because I looked him up and his incredible head of curls seemed fun to doodle. (See??) I think his hair may be even better than his brother-in-law, Roscoe Conkling.

In any case, I looked up Seymour’s campaign posters hoping for some cool typography. I found some cool typography… used to spell out some wildly racist messages (“We shall SEE MORE rads ‘bottled up’ in November”, “The White Man’s Banner”, etc.).

I’m not sure why I was surprised. It’s not like Julia would have been there if their campaign platform was “ALL men are equal: not just the white ones!”

MORE JULIA

My recap post will be ready soonish with more doodles about Julia Gardiner Tyler. But in the meantime, highly recommend you get yourself a copy of Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler by Christopher J. Leahy and Sharon Williams Leahy because it is fascinating and you will love getting to know Julia. Let me know what you think!