“I long to hear that you have declared an independency ... I desire you would remember the ladies” - Abigail Adams to husband John, 1776
At Staatsburgh, portraits of Ruth Livingston Mills’s ancestors feature prominently throughout the house. This was by design, as Ruth’s pedigree—alongside her family’s generational wealth and her impeccable hostessing skills—was one major factor in her quest to become queen of Gilded Age Society. On a tour of the mansion, the accomplishments and prominent offices held by the men in her family are highlighted, as they feature so greatly in American revolutionary history. But the women associated with Ruth’s family—Elizabeth Lewis, Margaret Livingston, Catherine Livingston, and Mary Lincoln—have their own stories of courage, duty, and perseverance amidst the turmoil of revolutionary America.