A Classification of American Wealth
History and genealogy of the wealthy families of America - Sponsors

   Livingstons pioneers in American transportation  
 

The Livingstons who played an important if not vital role in the inception of the key players in the express business, American Express and Wells, Fargo & Company, were all descendants of the mainline branch of Manor Lords. Crawford and William Alexander Livingston were brothers and among the initial investors in Livingston, Wells & Co and in Livingston, Fargo & Co, two of the three firms which joined to form American Express in March 1850. Their younger cousin, Johnston Livingston, joined them later but had the merit to stay in the express business for the rest of his life, more than sixty years. His career earned him the largest fortune of any Livingston descendent by the turn of the 20th century.

Crawford Livingston, the railroad builder

The son and namesake of the first Livingston to invest in the express business, Crawford Livingston (jr) was born in 1848, the same year his father died. He inherited a (relatively modest) share of the Livingston fortune and the genes which had made some of his forebears outstanding entrepreneurs. After an early career as a banker and broker in New York, Crawford Livingston headed West to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he became one of the foremost regional railroad developer and utility tycoon. By these means he built a large fortune and contributed to renew the Livingstons' claim to a position in the power elite.

Besides these men, the Livingston family has produced countless successful businessmen, artists, scholars and political leaders, long after the dynasty had passed its height of power and prestige. Men like banker James Duane Livingston (1859-1936), lawyer and National Guard officer Philip Livingston (1861-1938), architect Goodhue Livingston (1867-1951) and more recently congressman Robert Linlithgow "Bob" Livingston (IV) lived up to the standards set by their forebears and managed to keep the name of Livingston in the annals of American Society. Even more numerous are the collateral descendants, Livingstons who do not bear the name, who became wealthy, powerful and prominent in economy, politics and society, well into the 20th century.

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