The Ludlows of Columbia county, New York, spring from Gabriel Ludlow, of English birth and ancient lineage, son of Gabriel and grandson of Thomas Ludlow. Gabriel Ludlow, the ancestor, was born at Castle Cary, November 2, 1663. He came to. New Netherland in 1694, and became prominent in business and public life. He was an early merchant of New York City and in 1699 clerk of the colonial assembly. He was an active churchman, vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church. He married, April 5, 1697, Sarah, daughter of Rev. Hanmer, one of the first rectors of Trinity Church. They had twelve children, among whom three sons:
- Henry, of further mention;
- Gabriel, married (first) Frances Duncan, (second) Elizabeth Crommelin;
- William, married Mary, daughter of Captain George Duncan.
(II) Henry, son of Gabriel, the founder, and Sarah (Hanmer) Ludlow, was born in New York City, where he was educated and spent his active business life. He was a well-known merchant of that city. After his retirement from business he removed to Claverack, where he died. He married and had issue.
(III) William Henry, son of Henry Ludlow, was born in New York City in 1740, died at Claverack, Columbia county, New York, 1803. He was associated with his father as a merchant of New York, later succeeding him. He invested in lands in western New York, and also purchased a large tract at Claverack on which he built, in 1786, a large colonial mansion, where he resided until his death. He was a man of wealth and influence. He married and had several children, two only surviving him, William Broughton, of further mention; and Maria, married James Flemming.
(IV) William Broughton, son of William Henry Ludlow, was born at the Claverack Mansion, Columbia county, New York, in 1788, died there in 1865. He was well-educated and grew to manhood on the homestead to which he succeeded after his father's death. He was the owner of eight hundred acres at Claverack and also agent for the Livingston estate. He lived the quiet life of a wealthy country gentleman, his greatest passion probably being the breeding and development of horses. He married, about 1807, Julia Morris, grandniece of Lewis Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence. They had ten children. Lewis Morris, born in Morrisania, Westchester county, New York, 1726, a graduate of Yale College in 1746, interested in agricultural pursuits, elected to congress in 1775, member of the committee to devise means for supplying the colonies with the munitions of war, sent west to influence the Indians to leave the British and make common cause with the colonists, resumed his seat in congress in 1776, afterwards served in the state legislature. He died in his native town, January 22, 1798.
(V) Robert Morris, son of William Broughton and Julia (Morris) Ludlow, was born at Claverack, Columbia county, New York, June, 1812, died in 1892 at his Claverack home. He lived on the Ludlow homestead farm but spent most of his business life in New York City, where he was engaged in business. He founded Ludlow's Express, the first baggage express company in the city. He was a man of large interests, railroad, express and mercantile. He was a Democrat and a member of the Episcopal church. He married, in 1845, Mary Livingston, born 1813, died 1861, youngest daughter of Robert and Harriet (Livingston) Fulton (see Fulton II). Child, Robert Fulton, of further mention.
(VI) Robert Fulton, son of Robert Morris and Mary Livingston (Fulton) Ludlow, was born June 25, 1846, in New York City. He was educated in the schools of Claverack, New York City, and at Hudson Academy. He was employed for a time in a bank in Wall street, but he was not partial to a business career. He possessed artistic talent which he developed under the best masters, including William Morgan, the famous artist of New York City. He is a well-known portrait and landscape artist, and has done many masterpieces that have been exhibited and won commendation from connoisseurs in art. Among his best known paintings are, "Sunnyside," the home of Washington Irving as he built it. This was exhibited at the Academy of Design in 1889. "Mt. Vernon," the home of Washington; "Washington's Headquarters at Newburg"; "Birthplace of Robert Fulton" at Lancaster, Pennsylvania; "The Clermont," Fulton's first steamboat; (the latter two pictures, together with the compass used by Fulton on his first trip, were exhibited at the Maritime Exhibition at Bordeaux, France, in 1907, held in honor of Robert Fulton), and many others of high artistic value. Among the handsome decorations of the palatial Hudson river steamboat "Robert Fulton" are six portraits of famous men, painted by Mr. Ludlow. He is an untiring worker and entirely devoted to his art. His home at Claverack is a fine mansion of colonial style, built by his great-grandfather, William Henry Ludlow. It is surrounded by tall pines and fine locusts, some of them having been there long before the mansion was built. It contains priceless relics of the ancestor whose name he bears, including the original painting of Robert Fulton. There are also many of Fulton's paintings and sketches done while in London a student under the great artist, Benjamin West, and later while a miniature portrait artist in the same city. Mr. Ludlow is a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, and other professional societies and clubs including the Columbia County Association of New York City. He has been a member of Trinity Episcopal Church of Claverack, and since 1890 senior warden. He is a Democrat in politics.
He married, February 23, 1893, Catalina, daughter of Abraham Fonda Philip, born at Claverack, New York, 1825, died there October 22, 1888, a farmer of Claverack, where he owned a large tract of land. He was an active Republican, but a great admirer of President Cleveland, whom he supported with vote and influence in all his political battles. He was an elder of the Dutch Reformed church and superintendent of the Sunday school. He married Alida Rossman, born January 30, 1830, who survives him, a resident of Claverack. She is a daughter of Daniel and Charlotte (Wilcox) Rossman. Children:
- Catalina, married Robert Fulton Ludlow;
- Frances, married Frank R. Webb, of Hudson.
Abraham Fonda Philip was a son of William Philip, son of George Philip, of Columbia county, horn 1752, died 1806, served in the revolutionary war as captain in the commissary department, Albany Company Eighth Regiment. William Philip, son of Captain George Philip, was a merchant of Claverack, surveyor, and a woolen manufacturer at Philmont; he was born, lived and died at Claverack, an active Democrat, and a member of the Dutch Reformed church. He married (first) Christina Storm, born 1788, died 1819; married (second) Catalina Fonda, born 1797, died 1882, daughter of Lawrence (2) Fonda, a farmer of Claverack, son of Lawrence (1) Fonda, of Claverack. William and Catalina Philip had two children: Emma Philip; Abraham Fonda Philip, married Alida Rossman. They were the parents of Catalina Philip, wife of Robert Fulton Ludlow. They have no children. Mr. Ludlow divides his time between his country residence at Claverack and his city home in New York.
(The Livingston Line)
Mary Livingston (Fulton) Ludlow, wife of Robert Morris Ludlow, was the youngest daughter of Robert Fulton, the inventor of the first steamboat, and his wife Harriet (Livingston) Fulton, who was the daughter of Walter Livingston, a descendant in the fourth generation of Robert Livingston, First Lord of Livingston Manor, the lordly domain in Columbia county, granted him by his sovereign. The line of descent is as follows: Rev. John, Robert, Philip, Robert, all of whom will be found elsewhere in this work.
(V) Walter, son of Robert and Maria (Long) Livingston, was born November 27, 1740, died May 14, 1797. He built and resided in his handsome mansion "Tiviotdale" in Columbia county. He was a member of the provincial congress, 1775; deputy commissary general of northern department, 1775; member of assembly 1777-78-79; speaker of assembly, 1778, commissioner of the United States treasury, 1785. He married, 1769, Cornelia, daughter of Peter and Gertrude (Schuyler) Schuyler. She was baptized July 26, 1746, died 1822.
(VI) Harriet, daughter of Walter and Cornelia (Schuyler) Livingston, was born 1786, died 1824. She married Robert Fulton (see Fulton II).
(VII) Mary Livingston, daughter of Robert and Harriet (Livingston) Fulton, married Robert Morris Ludlow (see Ludlow V).
(VIII) Robert Fulton, son of Robert Morris and Mary Livingston (Fulton) Ludlow, married Catalina Philip.
(The Fulton Line)
Mary Livingston (Fulton) Ludlow was the youngest daughter of Robert Fulton, the famous inventor. The Fultons are an Irish family, descendants of Scotch ancestors. The American line follows Robert Fulton, who came to America from Kilmeny, Ireland. He settled in the township of Little Britain, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in the town, now city, of Lancaster. Here he became prominent. He was one of the founders of the Presbyterian church; charter member of the Juliana Library, the third library established in America, and interested in all departments of town life. August 23, 1759, he bought a brick dwelling on the northeast corner of Penn Square, afterward Center Square, where he lived until 1765. He had purchased a farm in 1764, containing three hundred and ninety-four acres, on Conawago Creek, to which he removed in 1765. He was not successful as a farmer and soon returned to Lancaster. During the period on the farm his afterwards famous son, Robert, was born. In 1844 the township of Little Britain was resurveyed and a new township erected and called "Fulton" in honor of the inventor. Not long ago, the present owner rebuilt the Fulton farmhouse, but preserved some of the old features, the original fireplace and the room in which the inventor was born. Robert Fulton, father of the inventor, married Mary, daughter of Captain Joseph Smith, and sister of Colonel Lester Smith.
(II) Robert (2), third child of Robert (1) and Mary (Smith) Fulton, was born on the farm in Little Britain, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1765, died February 24, 1815. He was early left an orphan, his father dying when he was three years old. He early developed unusual talent and from 1782 until 1786 studied drawing and portrait painting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1786 he went to London where he placed himself under the instruction of the famous American painter, Benjamin West, also a native of Pennsylvania, Chester county. Benjamin West at that time was president of the Royal Academy. After leaving Mr. West's studio as a pupil, he opened one of his own and did miniature portrait painting. In 1796 he published a treatise on "Canal Navigation." From 1797 to 1804 he displayed his ingenuity in various projects and inventions. He was the proprietor of the first panorama exhibited in the city of Paris. He experimented on a plunging vessel and interested the great Napoleon in the submarine idea. He also was interested in torpedo experiments and in 1804 was invited by the British government to make torpedo trials. In 1806 he returned to New York, where with the help of Robert R. Livingston he perfected his great project of steam navigation. In 1807 the first boat propelled by her own steam, the "Clermont," was launched at New York, and made the trip to Albany, New York, one hundred and fifty miles in fifteen hours. Later several vessels were built under his direction. He married Harriet, youngest daughter of Walter Livingston (see Livingston VI). Children:
- Robert Barlow, died unmarried;
- Julia, married Charles Blight;
- Cornelia, married Edward Charles Crary;
- Mary Livingston, married Robert Morris Ludlow; their son, Robert Fulton Ludlow, is one of the nearest surviving relatives of the great inventor, whose name he bears. He inherited many of the valued "Fulton" heirlooms, as well as the artistic nature and talent of his grandsire.