Philip Livingston (1716-1778) · New Jersey Slavery Records

Guidance: This white person has 1 related event in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.

This person is related to Rutgers University history. See our research guide Rutgers University & Slavery for more information about finding university affiliates and archival sources in our database.

This person is mentioned in the Rutgers virtual tour: Around Campus with Scarlet and Black .
Record Title: Philip Livingston (1716-1778)
Identifier: NJS-PER-00016
Given Name: Philip
Family Name: Livingston
Birth Date: 15 January 1716
Death Date: 12 June 1778
Sex: Male
Occupation: Slave Trade; Banking, Insurance, and Commerce; Landowning; Government
Biographical Description: Philip Livingston (1716-1778) was a charter trustee of Queen's College and a slave trader. He came from a wealthy landowning family in upstate New York and moved to New York City to operate the family's mercantile business, which was started by his father Philip Livingston (1686-1749). He invested heavily in slave-trading voyages to Africa and owned several plantations in the Caribbean as part of a vast international mercantile operation that revolved around the exploitation of Africans. These activities made him one of the richest men in 18th-century New York.

A signer of the Declaration of Independence, he held a variety of government roles representing the state of New York, including member of the Provincial Assembly (1759-1769), and state senator in 1777. He married Christina Ten Broeck in 1740. They had nine children, of whom daughter Sarah (1752-1814) would marry her cousin and future Queen's College President, the Rev. John Henry Livingston, in 1775.
Keywords: white person; enslaver; Rutgers University history
Place of Significance: Albany, New York; New York City, New York
Organization: Rutgers University
Relationship to Rutgers: Trustee (Founding 1766-1778)
Enslaver of: Unnamed African man {Livingston household}
Parent of: Sarah Livingston (1752-1814)
Sibling of: William Livingston (1723-1790)
Spouse of: Christina Ten Broeck Livingston
Same As: Philip Livingston (Wikidata); Philip Livingston (Wikipedia); LIVINGSTON, Philip (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress)
Record Contributor: Jesse Bayker
Linked Sources: Author:

Runaway ad for an unnamed African man, by Philip Livingston (Runaway ad for an unnamed African man, by Philip Livingston, New-York Gazette, Revived in the Weekly Post-Boy, November 6, 1752, p. 3.)
Linked Events: Additional Participant in:

1752-10-28 Freedom seeking: Unnamed African man (Role: Enslaver, Advertiser)