Why would a Maconlea change his name to Livingstone?

[Andrew Lancaster4]

Hi Donald I wonder if the clansmen of the area felt that they really had an English style surname at all previously? As mentioned in the recent discussion about the Dull MacPheties, it was clearly common in the places where Highlands met lowlands, to say (for example) that your name was Angus Mac Angus or Angus Smith, depending upon what the context was. Livingston may just have seemed a good appropriate English style surname, perhaps because the chiefly family had taken to using it first for whatever forgotten reason. I guess the simplest explanation was perhaps a marriage? On the other hand, MacLeas who had left the region long before may sometimes have decided to use their clan name as a surname. Best Regards Andrew

[Andrew Lancaster4]

An extra point should be kept in mind: all speculations which you'll find about Levingus, the founder of the town of Levingston, are just based on what sounds likely. Especially: 1. He looks like someone in the right time and place to be someone of the party of Saint Margaret. (And she had been in Hungary and had allies spread around Europe.) 2. His name's spelling was a common one in England and other Germanic speaking places. Nevertheless, the name of the town in Gaelic shows that other explanations are possible. Best Regards Andrew

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Andrew, Yes I also wondered if there had been a marriage between these two families in the past. As the connection was well enough remembered during a friendly encounter involving a MacLea soldier in the Lowlands in

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Andrew, How long did the Saxons rule Britain? Over 500 years? The ones in England no doubt continued contact and alliances with their kindred Saxons in what later became Germany, Austria, as well as parts of Hungary and in Bohemia. I went to school with a german girl who claimed to be decendent of a Bohemian princess. Bohemia is somewhere near Slovakia I think. As I understand it the Danes invaded England, Margaret's father fled England and went to Hungary for a time and that is where he made contact with Saxon princes, noblemen and where Baron de Leving first comes into the picture. With Saxon England under seige by her enemies, friends from all over the Saxon world were always welcome. And yes variations of Leving do come up in both among English and the German records. You and ROb have worked hard to convince me of the gaelic connection to all this and perhaps I need to have a more open mind on this subject.

[Robert Alexander Livingstone]

Hi, I was mulling the question and it occurred to me that perhaps the tie between our highland & lowland clans might have something to do with the Stewarts.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Robert, I can not say how long there was alliance with the Stewarts of Appin. Although a number of published clan books suggest that Maconlea-Livingstones were septs of the Appin Stewart this is not a notion shared by our clan chief. They served with the Stewart of APpin Regiment at the Battle of Culloden, but in other highland conflicts for years prior to that, they had fought hand in hand with their close allies Clan McDougall. And there are a number of surviving records which indicate this. While a number of us have different theories about why the Baron changed the name of the clan to Livingstone we are generally all in agreement that there was some sort of connection between the Lowland Livingstones and Highland Maconleas (MacLeas) for many years prior to the wide spread name change of the Highland Maconleas to Livingstone by the latter part of the 1700's. The Lowland Livingstone of Callendar and their kin had a long association with the ROyal Stuarts but as yet I have no knowledge of the ancient Highland Barons of Bachuil having a similiar connection to the Stuart Kings, except that they were loyal Royalists and in the final years of the Stuarts particpated in Jacobite revolts. regards Donald (Livingstone) Clink

[D.W.Livingston]

Ok, so every so often I read something or get in the mood to work on the "changing of the name" issue and I think I have another good scenario that can make us go "Hmmmmm" After my long theory is the information I pulled it from... From 1729 through 1748 the only Livingston(e) births or marriages in Argyll were in the Kildalton parish. Kildalton is on the Isle of Islay, diagonally across from Cambeltown, Kintyre(Cantyre), Scotland. This is the location of the 1648 massacre of Dunavertie. There are two possibilities as to why Livingston(e) is prevalent there. 1.) According to : http://www.scotland-calling.com/touring ... argyll.htm Kintyre

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi David, Yes it is definitely interesting that there are several births of Livingstones predating the 1750's on at Kildalton Parish. We can assume I guess it is an original parish book and not a later copy as is sometimes the case with church records. So far the ones I have seen on microfilm seem to original 18th century parish registers. As John McLea b.1745 was a boy when the McLea's began changing their name in Western Argyll in the 1750's, I would assume it was his father Duncan McLea who made the decision for a widespread change of the name MacLea to Livingstone. While I am really hardpressed to give you a logical explanation for Kildalton, other records would seem to suggest that the Baron in the 1750's orchestrated a wide spread change of our clan name to Livingstone.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi David, The banning of clan names in the 1750's is an interesting thought that you have come up with. Could Duncan Maclea been compelled to change the name of his ancient clan because of some draconian measures to break down the last vestiges of the clan system in Western Argyll? The original Livingstones who had been attainted and exiled in 1715, bear in mind were in their time Jacobite leaders and loyal for centuries to the old Stuart Royal family. I waffle from time to time over this, but it seems to me that the Baron if under pressure from the English to rid himself of his clan's Jacobite past, would only draw more negative attention to himself and his clan if he adopted the name of an old Lowland Jacobite family of such prominence. Inversely I have from time to time thought that Baron Duncan well aware of the tragic demise of Calendar Livingstones (possibly kin?) some forty years earlier and of their death in lonely exile in Europe some years later. While we must concede that the specific reason or reasons he adopted their name may never be entirely clear, it would be reasonable to suspect he was certainly was in sympathy with the Jacobite past of this ancient family and familiar with their history. That much I believe to be true, beyond that your guess is as good as mine.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Regarding the possible friendship and ties between the lowland Livingstones and Clan McLea, there could have a bond with Clan Livingstone in the 1640's when Sir James Livingstone was residing on the Isle of Lismore. If so there would have a been a document as many such documents exist today with Clans undertaking a bond with for example the Campbells. Of course I have no proof that such a bond took place or that such a document exists. THere are of course so many records that have been lost over the years. Archibald Campbell in the 1800's talked about a rare Isle of Lismore history manuscript that once existed in Mull in the early 1800's, that later went missing. Who knows what information it may have contained regarding the history of the Livingstones and other families on the Island. regards, Donald (Livingstone) Clink