Retirement to the Countryside 1760-1790

In 1760, when lawyer William Livingston, a member of the prominent Livingston family, was planning to build a country home, he bought 120 acres in what was then sleepy bucolic Elizabethtown, New Jersey, just across the river from his New York home. For the next twelve years, Livingston developed the extensive grounds, gardens and orchards. and oversaw the building of a beautiful fourteen-room Georgian-style home. In 1774, Livingston and his wife, the former Susannah French of New Brunswick, moved to Liberty Hall on a full-time basis with their children and the several people he and his family enslaved. The peace and quiet Livingston sought was short-lived. From 1774 to 1776, Livingston put his retirement on hold and served as a member of the First and Second Continental Congress and as Brigadier General of the New Jersey militia. On August 31, 1776, Livingston became New Jersey’s first elected governor. The ensuing war years were difficult ones for the governor, who spent them on the run from British troops. Finally, after the war in 1783, he was able to return to his home, which was heavily damaged by both British and American troops. Livingston also signed the United States Constitution, in addition to chairing two major committees at the Constitutional Convention. While juggling the demands of governing, Livingston also managed to pursue his great love of gardening and agriculture, utilizing the labor of free and enslaved individuals.. Governor Livingston served as governor for fourteen years until his death on July 25, 1790. He is credited with making the New Jersey governorship one of the strongest political positions in the country.

Interlude: 1790-1811

When William Livingston died, Liberty Hall passed to his son, Henry Brockholst Livingston, who sold the house outside of the family in 1798, as his primary residence was in New York. Liberty Hall had several owners in the following years, the first of which being George Richard Belasise, also known as Lord Bolingbroke, who owned Liberty Hall from 1798 until 1806. In 1806, Thomas Eddy purchased the property but sold it only two years later in 1808 to Thomas Salter, who also only lived at Liberty Hall for a short period.

The Keans Arrive 1811-1833

In 1811, the estate was purchased by Peter Kean, in trust for his mother Susan (Livingston) [Kean] Niemcewicz, Governor Livingston’s niece. They were the first members of the Kean family to live at Liberty Hall.

Susan’s first husband was John Kean, a prominent merchant and plantation owner from Charleston, South Carolina, who claimed ownership of approximately 200 enslaved individuals. John Kean served as a member of the Second Continental Congress and after the war, President George Washington made Kean the first Cashier of the Bank of the United States. John Kean died in 1795.

In 1800, Susan married Count Julian Ursin Niemcewicz, a Polish nobleman living in exile in the United States. Niemcewicz returned to Europe in 1809, when Napoleon invaded Poland. They wrote regularly and warmly, but Niemcewicz never returned to the United States. Susan renamed the estate Ursino in honor of her husband. In 1828, after her son Peter’s death, Susan became the official head of her household, remaining there with Peter’s widow, her three grandchildren, and the free and enslaved people who labored in the home and on the farm.

Enterprise & Expansion 1833-1895

In 1833, John Kean, Susan’s grandson, inherited the estate. John graduated from Princeton in 1834. While on the staff of New Jersey’s Governor William Pennington, he was given the rank of Colonel, a title he used the rest of his life.

Over the next sixty years, Colonel John Kean transformed Ursino from a fourteen-room country house to the fifty-room mansion that stands today. A man of vision and means, he invested his family’s ancestral wealth in banks, railroads, and public utilities including the Elizabethtown Gas Light Company and the Elizabethtown Water Company.

The Colonel and his wife Lucinetta, “Lucy”, had eleven children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. Two sons entered national politics; the eldest, John, served in the House of Representatives and both he and his brother Hamilton served in the Senate. After the Colonel’s death in 1914, the house passed to Senator John Kean. He never married, so upon the Senator’s death the house passed to his brother, Hamilton’s son, Captain John Kean.

Rediscovered Roots 1925-1995

In 1925, Captain John Kean married Mary Alice Barney. The daughter of prominent New York architect John Stewart Barney, Mrs. Kean had a love of art and American history. When Captain Kean inherited Liberty Hall in 1932, the couple researched the history of the house and brought together family antiques to enhance its historic character. After the Captain’s early death in 1949, Mrs. Kean began to transform the house into a museum.

In 1973, Mrs. Kean restored the name of the house to Liberty Hall, in honor of its being declared a National Historic Landmark. It was her dream that Liberty Hall be preserved for the benefit of future generations, and she inspired her children and grandchildren to make that dream a reality. The house stands today as a testament to her energy, vision and passion for history.