MORTON, Levi Parsons [1824-1920] -- American diplomat, 22° vPOTUS

Ellerslie, Rhinecliff, Dutchess Co., NY

Among the finest country-seats of America is Mr Morton's Ellerslie, at Rhinecliff-on-the-Hudson. It embraces nearly a thousand acres, and they are part of a tract which has an interesting history.

Successive owners are shown thus: (n)

It was purchased from (1)the Indians by (2)Gerrit Aartson, Jan Erring, and Aric Rossa in 1686, and patented to them by Governor Dongan in 1688. In 1702 the purchase was divided among these three partners, each receiving two lots. No. 3, included in the Morton purchase, fell to (3)Gerrit Aartson, who deeded it to his son-in-law, (4)Hendrick Hermanse, in 1716. At the death of the latter, in 1750, it became the property of his son, (5)Hendrick Hermanse, Jr. After the death of the latter in 1795, it became the property of (6)Andrew and Gerrit Kip, two brothers, who had married his two daughters, his only children. In 1814 it was the sole property of (7)Andrew Kip, who sold it in this year to (8)Maturin Livingston, husband of Margaret Lewis, only child of Governor ¤Morgan Lewis and his wife, Gertrude Livingston, for $5,000. Maturin Livingston retained the property till 1816, in the mean time erecting thereon a mansion, spacious and beautiful in its day, recently demolished by Mr. Morton, to be replaced by the larger and more stately one now nearly completed [[in 1888]]. Maturin Livingston sold it to (9)James Thompson, Jr., who disposed of it to (10)James Warwick in 1837. The latter, becoming pecuniarily involved, assigned it to (11)William B. Platt, of the village [Rhinebeck], who, in 1841, sold it to (12)William Kelly of New York, for $42,000; the property at this time contained about 400 acres. Mr. Kelly not only added to the number of his acres, but did what money, taste, intelligence, and enterprise could do to adorn them and increase their fertility. The mansion stands in the midst of a fenceless park of 500 acres, and commands a river and mountain view of great extent and beauty; there is nothing to surpass it on the banks of the Hudson; and there are within its territory lakes and rivulets, and every variety of natural and charming scenery. With its lawns, avenues, walks, drives, flower plots, fruit houses, and conservatories, all artistically planned and arranged, and open to the public on week days, under a few indispensable restrictions, there is nothing of which Rhinebeck is so justly proud, because there is nothing for which it is so widely known as Ellerslie Park, the name by which it has its metes and bounds on the map of Rhinebeck. — Tribune, July 2, 1888.

1878

1879-1881

1881-1885

1881/10/24

1884/07/04

1887

1889-1893

1892/10/26

1894-1897