among him and two other siblings. Proceeds from the sale of his captain’s commission further augmented his total assets.2
Because of his disappointment in promotion and future advancement possibilities in the British army, Montgomery became disgusted with military service. He decided upon a course of retreat and solitude removed from the vexations of politics and public service, vowing never to marry or take up arms again. Montgomery sought solace and a new beginning in the colonies, where both of his vows would be relinquished within three years. As a repose from his previous turbulent military career, he intended to establish an idyllic lifestyle for himself as a gentleman-farmer. During Montgomery’s wartime service in America, the vastness of the country and the unlimited opportunities it offered impressed him. An enterprising gentleman of modest means, he reasoned, could readily accumulate land and eventually amass an estate. Shortly after his arrival, Montgomery bought a sixty-seven-acre farmstead at King’s Bridge, located in the out ward, some thirteen miles north of New York City.3
While Montgomery settled into his new surroundings during the first winter and spring, he became reacquainted with Janet Livingston. They had met eight years before when he was an ambitious young officer in the British 17th Foot and she was passing into womanhood. During the French and Indian War, Montgomery’s unit traversed up the Hudson River en route to its station at Michilimackinac in Michigan territory. When the soldiers disembarked from their boats near Clermont, the grand Livingston manor, Janet’s father graciously invited the officers to visit. Richard and Janet experienced their first meeting during this occasion. It probably amounted to no more than a formal introduction and polite discourse, and left little impression on either.4
By the time of their second encounter, thirty-year-old Janet had developed into a most eligible lady for courtship and marriage. The eldest daughter in the large family of Judge Robert R. Livingston, one of the most affluent and influential men in New York, she personified a privileged, accomplished, and attractive woman of the time. Montgomery must have been immediately taken with her, as he wasted no time in vying for her affections. Since Janet held the social status of a Livingston, the selection process for her husband was deliberate and discriminating. In her memoirs, she claimed a long succession of suitors before Montgomery, but none had been successful in winning her hand. She rejected the advances of those who displeased her for one reason or another. Janet also wrote of a romantic notion that portended doom for men who sought her affection: “There was a fatality attending most of those who offered themselves.” She related how two suitors broke their necks after falling from their horses and another was lost at sea after establishing a romantic relationship with her.5
Janet’s family withheld approval of other suitors whom they deemed socially unacceptable: “I nearly fell in love with an officer who had only his beauty and his regimentals to boast of—he had neither education nor talents. I saw these defects and yet in despite of all gave him a preference. I would have been his wife could my parents have consented. They detested redcoats and had my happiness too much at heart.” The Livingstons’ estimation of the British soldiers obviously had deteriorated from the French and Indian War, when they cordially welcomed them into their home.6
During that war, colonists generally appreciated the security benefits that British troops brought by pushing French authority out of North America and subduing the Indians. After the conflict, however, numerous colonists came to resent a continued large British military presence. They suspected that the soldiers were an instrument of the ministerial government for coercing provincial submission to increasingly stringent imperial political measures. By the time of Janet’s courtship, many colonists regarded so-called “redcoats,” “lobsterbacks,” or “bloodybacks” with disdain. This dramatic transformation of the Livingston family attitudes toward British troops in the colonies was indicative of the evolution of patriot attitudes concerning British authority in America.
During their unusually brief engagement, Janet still retained her anxiety over foreboding misfortune that she felt could befall a potential husband. Richard lightly dismissed her fears, however, and her sisters offered supportive counsel. After receiving favorable consideration from Janet, Richard followed convention by formally requesting permission for marriage from the parents of the intended bride. In late May 1773, Montgomery wrote to Judge Livingston: “I have been extremely anxious to solicit your approbation, together with Mrs. Livingston’s, in an affair which nearly concerns my happiness and no less affects your daughter. . . . I have ventured at last to request, sir, that you and Mrs. Livingston will consent to a union which to me has the most promising appearance of happiness, from the lady’s uncommon merit and amiable worth.” He concluded with a polite compliment regarding how he would be honored to join the Livingston family: “Nor will it be an inconsiderable addition to be favored by such respectable characters with the title of son, should I be so fortunate as to deserve it.”7
While his prospective father-in-law deliberated over the request for marriage, Montgomery’s social status and former service in the British army were probably areas of some concern. When the patriarch of the Livingston dynasty, Robert Livingston, died in 1728, he divided his vast estate between two of his sons. The elder son, Philip Livingston, received the bulk of the property (about 141,000 acres), known as Livingston Manor. The younger son, Robert Livingston, Jr. (Janet’s grandfather), inherited the adjacent Clermont estate of 13,000 acres. Consequently, the two Livingston branches at Livingston Manor and Clermont constituted one of the largest land-owning families in New York.8
Influence accompanied the affluence of this family, which cooperated in achieving political ascendancy of the province. Judge Robert R. Livingston (of Clermont), Janet’s father, took an active part in colonial affairs. He served as a colonel in the militia, functioned for a time as high sheriff of New York, and represented Dutchess County in the General Assembly from 1757 to 1768. He attained appointment as Judge of the King’s Bench in 1763, which operated as the New York supreme court of those times. In 1765, he attended the Stamp Act Congress as a delegate from Dutchess County. During 1772, he acted as chairman of the New York Committee of Correspondence, part of a network to coordinate colonial vigilance against the British. When New Yorkers divided over the question of remaining loyal to the king, Judge Livingston emerged as a recognized leader of the whig or patriot faction.9
The fact that he had earlier resigned his commission and elected to live in the colonies probably exonerated Montgomery from his British affiliation in Judge Livingston’s mind. Montgomery’s prior association with Whig leaders in Parliament—Edmund Burke, Isaac Barré, Charles James Fox, and other opposition politicians sympathetic with the American colonists—must have enhanced his acceptability with the Livingstons. After family consultations and investigation into Montgomery’s character and reputation, Judge Livingston replied to his future son-in-law on June 21, 1773: “Since we heard of your intentions, solicitous for our daughter’s happiness, we have made such inquiries as have given a great deal of satisfaction. We both approve of your proposal and heartily wish your union may yield you all the happiness you seem to expect, to which we shall always be ready to contribute all in our power.”10
With the formalities completed for his marriage, Montgomery became concerned over how the local press would announce the event. Anti-imperialist fervor of that time disdained any trappings of royalty. Montgomery’s sister, Sarah, had married an Irish viscount, Charles, Lord Ranelagh. The peerage was the only inheritance that befell Ranelagh, as he became strapped to support his large family. This was probably all the more reason for the despoiled lord to cling to his nobility, trying to bolster his familial pride and honor. Montgomery had no desire to be linked publicly to his titled relatives in Ireland during his present circumstances. He felt that it would only subject him to possible embarrassment. just before his wedding day, Montgomery expressed a hope that the journalists would “let me down easy” by not advertising the royal inference. To his chagrin, a New York City newspaper pronounced: “Last Thursday evening was married at the Manor of Livingston, Richard Montgomery, Esq., brother to the Right Hon. the Countess of Ranelagh, to Miss. Livingston, eldest daughter of the Hon. Robert R.
