[1] In 1663, his father, John Livingston, was sent into exile due to his resistance to attempts to turn the Presbyterian national church into an Episcopalian institution.

Livingston's father was well known in Puritan Boston, and a merchant advanced the young son enough stock and credit to undertake a trading venture to Albany, New York.

With his business and language skills, in August 1675 he became secretary to Nicholas Van Rensselaer, director of Rensselaerswyck, who died a few years later in 1678.

In 1686, he and his brother-in-law, Pieter Schuyler, persuaded Governor Thomas Dongan to grant Albany a municipal charter like that awarded to New York City a few months earlier.

Appointed as clerk of the city and county of Albany, Livingston collected a fee for each legal document registered.

According to Cynthia Kierner, "Robert Livingston valued public life primarily as a source of private profits.

[2] He offered land on both sides of the Hudson River to Queen Anne's government of England to be used temporarily as work camps for German Palatine refugees, who were to harvest lumber and produce naval stores: timber for masts, turpentine, etc.

Livingston made a substantial profit by selling supplies to the work camps and was paid by the English colonial government.

She was the daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler, vice-director of Fort Orange, giving Livingston an important connection in the community.