Biography

1799 - 1872

Of Lehigh County.
From New York, born 1799; Litchfield Law School, 1820;  married 1824, Mary Livingston Greenleaf (cousin) of Lehigh County.  Walter Copake Livingston, the third son of Henry W. Livingston and his wife Mary Masters Allen, was a merchant, and his house at Eleventh and Girard streets, Philadelphia, was in the centre of the fashionable residence neighborhood in the '50s. He was at one time a member of the Senate of Pennsylvania, and was also United States Consul to Marseilles, France. He took his family abroad with him and repeated in France the brilliant entertainments with which he had dazzled Philadelphia society. After the family returned to this country came the crash. Mr. Livingston had become heavily interested in some iron furnaces near Media. The venture proved unsuccessful and the attempt to make it pay swallowed up his fortune. The family property in Allentown was also swept away. Mr. Livingston resided in Allentown part of, the time in the old "Trout Hall," then called "The Livingston Mansion." He died January 31, 1872, aged 72 years. Mr. Livingston married his cousin, Mary Livingston Greenleaf, and had children, as follows: Anne Greenleaf, who died without issue, March 28, 1846. She married Thomas C. Rockhill, formerly Minister to China. Tilghman, who died unmarried. James, who died unmarried. Walter, who died unmarried. Henry Walter. Meta, who died February 28, 1907, aged 75 years, and was unmarried. Marion, who died unmarried, February 1, 1907, aged 68 years. Florence, who died unmarried.
After Mr. Livingston's death, soon followed by that of his wife, two daughters and a son, but three members of the family remained, Marion, Meta, and a brother, who went to sea, and was never heard from again. The sisters moved to 2227 South Clarion street, where they resided until their death. They were buried in the family vault, originally in Christ Church graveyard, but moved years ago to North Laurel Hill Cemetery.
This vault has now been closed for the last time. The stone covering the vault is that of the father of Judge William Allen, and it bears this inscription: "Here Lyeth the Body of William Allen, Late Merchant of this City, who Dyed the 3oth of August, 1725, aged 55 years."
PARENTS: Mary Masters Allen, the third daughter of James Allen, was born January 4, 1776. She was married in Christ Church, Philadelphia, November 27, 1796, to Henry Walter Livingston of Livingston Manor, N. Y. She was so famous for her graceful and profuse hospitality that she was long known in New York society as "Lady Mary." She died at Livingston Manor, December, 1855. Her husband, Henry W. Livingston, son of Walter Livingston and his wife Cornelia, daughter of Peter Schuyler, was born in 1768; graduated from Yale University; studied law and was secretary to Governor Morris when Minister to France. He was a member of Congress from 1803 to 1807, and died at Livingston Manor, Columbia county, N. Y., December 22, 1810.