Arriving in Baltimore, Maryland, he enlisted in the United States Navy and traveled to South America.

[2] At that time, there were only a handful of English-speakers in Alta California, and Livermore probably also met the American Joseph John Chapman.

On 20 June 1823, Robert was baptized at the Mission Santa Clara into the Catholic faith, given the name Juan Bautista Roberto y José.

[1][2] At about the same time, in Monterey, he requested and was given permission by Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá to remain in California.

[2] In 1834 Livermore and his business partner José Noriega were keeping livestock at Rancho Las Positas, where they also built an adobe.

[2] They first settled in the Sunol Valley, but later moved to Las Positas, as he was making regular trips there to manage his rancho.

Later the adobe structure was rented to Nathaniel Greene Patterson who used it as a small hotel, the first place of entertainment in the valley.

[4] His only participation in the events surrounding the conquest of California was to help carry word from Commodore John Drake Sloat to John C. Frémont at Sutter's Fort that Monterey had been occupied by American forces, and that may have been partly motivated by the fact that Noriega had been captured during the Bear Flag Revolt and was being held at Sutter's Fort.

[2] Their lands were on the route from the southern San Francisco Bay Area to the goldfields and so, a post office was established there in 1851, operating for two years.