Henry Livingston and Catharine Gibson Lansing
By Mary S. Van Deusen, creator of Henry Livingston Lansing

They lived in only one house in Buffalo. Buffalo seems to change house numbers quite often. From 1840 to 1875, Henry Livingston Lansing and his wife, Catharine Gibson Lansing, lived at, by Buffalo's numbering schemes, "the corner of Delaware and Johnson Place," 106 Delaware and, in 1868, 274 Delaware.

On one side of their home was the Ganson family, including Ganson's brother-in-law, John Sibley, who was married to Mary Young Gibson, the sister of Henry Livingston Lansing's wife. When Mary and Catharine's father was President of the town of Canandaigua, John's father Mark was the Town Clerk.

On the other side was the Johnson Cottage.

After Henry retired from the Buffalo and Erie Railroad, he moved his family to the summer home he'd bought in Niagara-on-the-Lake, an immense house across from the military parade ground, called Woodlawn by Henry and Catharine, and Randwood today.

The house in Buffalo was purchased from the Lansings by the Kent family (thus the Lansing-Kent designation), and that the house was torn down to put up the Touraine Hotel.

Henry Livingston Lansing biography

Henry Livingston Lansing married the boss's daughter, the boss being Henry B. Gibson, the richest man in western NY. Gibson was cashier for the Ontario Bank thru two periods, then let the bank lapse and moved into the bank building. After Catharine Lansing's mother died, she and Henry also moved into the Canandaigua bank building, besides Randwood. Gibson was president of two railroads, the latter of which he merged with the others to form the NY Central. He was only on the Board of Directors for a year before getting on the outs with Erastus Corning. Port Gibson is named for him.

Henry Livingston Lansing was the grandson of Colonel Gerrit G. Lansing and Arthur Breese, both of whom entertained Lafayette on his trip through NY. Lansing served with him at the Battle of Yorktown.

The Colonel's wife was Manette Antill, the great granddaughter of Governor Lewis Morris, and the daughter of Colonel Edward Antill, who was with General Richard Montgomery when he was killed at the seige of Quebec City.  Colonel Antill was sent by General Benedict Arnold to inform Congress of the details of Montgomery's death.

Besides being a military family, the Lansings were a family of lawyers and politicans.  Colonel Lansing's brothers were Chancellor John TenEyck Lansing, Judge Sanders Gerrit Lansing, and Abraham Lansing.  Henry Livingston Lansing's own brother, Judge Robert Ray Lansing, was supposedly the one for whom Lansing MI was named, or so the apocryphal story goes.

Gibson's grandfather was Colonel Bicker, who commanded a series of regiments at Valley Forge during the bad winter. Henry Livingston Lansing was named for his great grandfather, Major Henry Livingston, the father of Arthur Breese's wife Catharine.

Henry Livingston was the author of "Night Before Christmas."

Henry Livingston Lansing was from a military family, and both he and his brother Henry Seymour Lansing (named for Horatio Seymour's father - can you really believe a family naming TWO sons Henry!) began the Military Association of New York, and were both breveted Brigadier General in the Civil War. Henry Livingston Lansing because he worked for the governor putting regiments together. Henry Seymour Lansing because he commanded a battlefield for a short time.