Anne Shippen

Anne Shippen
by Benjamin Trott in 1796
Born
Anne Hume Shippen

(1763-02-24)24 February 1763
Shippen House, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, British America
Died25 August 1841(1841-08-25) (aged 78)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationDiarist
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1781; sep. 1783)​
ChildrenMargaret Beekman Livingston
Parent(s)William Shippen Jr.
Alice Lee Shippen
RelativesWilliam Shippen Sr. (grandfather)
Thomas Lee (grandfather)

Anne Hume "Nancy" Livingston (born Shippen) (24 February 1763 – 25 August 1841) was an American journal writer.

Early life

Shippen was born on 24 February 1763 in Shippen House in Shippensburg. She was a daughter of William Shippen Jr. (1736–1808) and Alice (née Lee) Shippen (1736–1817), a daughter of Thomas Lee and Hannah Harrison Ludwell.

Shippen House was built by her grandfather William Shippen Sr. and although it is now a large house at that time it was 28 feet by 30 feet.[1] She was brought up there when she wasn't being educated at Mrs Rogers's school in Trenton, New Jersey.[2] In 1796 she was painted by Benjamin Trott.[3]

Personal life

Shippen was romanced by the French diplomat Louis-Guillaume Otto, but her father decided that he would marry her to Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston in 1781.[2] Her husband commanded the 4th New York Regiment at the Battles of Saratoga and Monmouth and during the winter at Valley Forge.[4] He was the son of Robert Livingston (1718–1775) and great-grandson of Robert Livingston the Elder, 1st Lord of Livingston Manor.[5]

She gave birth the same year to Margaret Beekman "Peggy" Livingston (1781–1864). The marriage was not a success and Anne returned to Shippen House where she started a journal in 1783. This is the reason that she is remembered as it gives an insight into her social life and later her thwarted attempts to obtain a divorce.[2] She had to live with her parents and her daughter went to live with the estranged husband's mother.[3]

Shippen died in Philadelphia in 1841 whilst living with her daughter.[2]

References

  1. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania". CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on 21 July 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2019. Note: This includes Sarah L. Dahl and William K. Watson (October 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Shippen House" (PDF). Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d "Shippen [married name Livingston], Anne [Nancy] (1763–1841), journal writer | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69341. Retrieved 2 March 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b "Anne Hume Shippen". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Friends of Clermont Historic Site". friendsofclermont.org. Friends of Clermont Historic Site. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  5. ^ Livingston, Edwin Brockholst (1910). The Livingstons of Livingston Manor: Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callendar which Settled in the English Province of New York During the Reign of Charles the Second; and Also Including an Account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the Same Province and His Principal Descendants. Knickerbocker Press. Retrieved 10 August 2017.