nature was much the same two hundred years ago
as at present. It is said of Robert Livingston, first lord of the
manor, that he "was shrewd, persistent and very acquisitive; his zeal
in this direction leading him sometimes to adopt questionable methods
to advance his interests. He always exerted himself to obtain riches
and strove continually to promote his family." But we have scripture
for it that "men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself." In
March, 1711, Lord Clarendon wrote: "I think it unhappy that Colonel
Hunter (Governor of the Province) at his first arrival fell into so
ill hands, for this Levingston has been known many years in that
province for a very ill man.... I am of opinion that if the substance
proposed be allowed, the consequences will be that Levingston and some
others will get estates, the Palatines will not be the richer."

[Sidenote: _ANTI-RENT TROUBLES._]

The anti-rent troubles which occupied the attention of the state for
one hundred and one years began on the Livingston Estate in the Fall
of 1751. The tenants first neglected, then refused to pay rent. The
boundary line between New York and Massachusetts was in dispute, both
Provinces claiming this territory; and the malcontents, taking
advantage of this to get some sort of title to their farms from the
"Committee of the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,"
defied Robert Livingston Jr., the then proprietor, and a hard time he
had of it to deal with both the discontented farmers and the
government of the adjoining Province, New York being slow to take up
the cudgels in his behalf.

From here the trouble spread to the Van Rensselaer and other manors,
resulting in riots and small-sized warfare, with now and then the
murder of a sheriff on the one side or an anti-renter on the other.
The matter got into state politics and finally, in 1846, the tenants
elected their Governor, and in 1852 the Court of Appeals decided in
favor of the tenants, and the trouble was laid to rest.

Among the notables of Columbia County was Samuel J. Tilden, who was
born and raised here, but who early gravitated to New York City. The
local historian also sets great store by the Hon. Elisha Williams who,
during the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century, was the bright
particular star of the Columbia County Bar.

[Sidenote: _FIRST "STAGE-WAGGONS"._]

In 1786 the first systematic attempt to run stages over the Post Road
appears to have been