Trying to find my roots

[Casey McLeay]

I have researched my family and have come up with many lines of families. I have been wanting to understand which Livingstone the Macleays are under. Is Macleay the same as Clee, Clay and Clea? I know the highland Livingstones have the motto "Cnoch Aingeal" and the lowland Livingstones have the motto "Si Je Puis". Could anyone help me understand which one my family is under? I look forward to your replys. Regards Casey Mcleay

[Bachuil]

The Lord Lyon King of Arms OFFICIALLY RECOGNISES the Livingstones of Bachuil, Barons of the Bachuil, as Head of the Highland Clan McLea.  Therefore Bachuil is de facto and de jure chief/head of all Highland Mcleas, Macleas Maclays and other variants of the spelling. All McLeas therefore have as their Chief Alastair Livingstone of Bachuil.  It should be understood that the McLeas are not under any Livingstones as such.  It is just that the Chiefly family have anglicised their Gaelic name M’onlea to Livingstone.  The Livingstones of Bachuil and all highland Livingstones are McLeas.   McLeas have no direct connection with the Lowland Livingstons. (Having said that Lyon has used the word Highland as there are Macleas in Ayrshire that I have not had time to investigate.  Nevertheless in Irish Pedigrees – The Stem of the Dunlevy family, Princes of Ulidia, it says Tuirmach_Teamrach, the 81st Monarch of Ireland had a son named Fiach-Fearmara, who was ancestor of the Kings of Argyle and Dalriada, in Scotland: this Fiach was also the ancestor of MacDunshleibe and O’Dunsleibhe, anglicised Dunlevy, Dunlief, Dunlop, Levingstone and Livingstone.  Although there is some argument about what that ancestry was, it does seem that we have a common heritage.  It also appears that these Ayrshire Macleas may be related to the Dunlops.  This suggests that we are all related.) As far as one can tell all Macleas have a common ancestry and some took the name Livingstone.   The theory behind this name changes is that in 1641 King Charles I granted James Livingston of Skirling, Baron of Biel, Keeper of the Privy Purse a lease of the lands and teinds of the bishoprics of Argyll and the Isles.  In 1648, when the King was a prisoner in England, they both found it wise to assign the lease to the victorious Marquis of Argyll who had been present at the 1647 Dunavertie massacre, in which many McLeas are killed. At this time the McLeas adopted the practice of using the name Livingston when in the lowlands.  JOHN MACONLEA, Baron of the Bachuil, who was born in 1746 at Bachuil was the first of the family known to anglicise the surname as Livingstone.  Many McLeas took the lead from Bachuil in adopting the name McLea, then Livingstone when in the lowlands.  This can be seen as M'Dunslaif of Achnacre becomes McLea of Achnacree and in turn becomes Livingstone of Achnacree.  The Taymouth register refers in 1557 to a John M'Dunslaif of Achnacre  (see also O.P.S., vol. ii. P.155).  Two other versions of how they were disponed are given by Lord Archibald Campbell in Records of Argyll, pp. 114-17) which ties in the two references.  Records of Argyll p115 refer to Livingstones of Achnacree (Donald Livingstone, who saved the Appin Banner at Culloden, was a Livingstone of the Achnacree Livingstones). Therefore to summarise: Macleay is considered the same as MacLea, McLea, Maclay and Mclay any other variants. The McLeas and highland Livingstones have the motto "Cnoc Aingeil” and Ni Mi E Ma's Urrain Dhomh (‘I will do it if I can’). Hope this helps, Niall

[Keith Livingstone Australia]

Casey; my understanding is that the surname Livingston or Levingston was only adopted by highland MacLeays or MacLays in the 1700's when surnames became fashionable. The Culloden memorial stone (1746) in the old churchyard near Appin has "Livingstones or MacLeays-4" listed under deaths in that battle. So the local understanding was that the name was interchangeable at that time. Of course the spellings were all over the place in parish registers. It has been thought that there was an affectionate tie with the lowlander Lords Livingston,possibly forged through mutually shared battles against the English, that was honoured by the MacLeay highlanders who decided that the name was a good one to use as a surname. McLeay is probably Argyll highlander from my understanding, however no doubt the Young Bachuill could elaborate.

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

A contemporary list provided by Capt. Stewart for Bonnie Prince Charlie of causualties from the Appin Regiment lists 4 dead and 1 wounded of the McLea clan. McLeas were definitely there. So far I have not seen any proof that McLea's going by the name of Livingstone were at Culloden however. A later book on the Highland clans published in 1845 refers to Donald Livingstone who rescued the Stewart banner at Culloden by  the their Gaelic name Maconleigh and not by the adopted, anglicized Livingstone. I have not seen the stone at Appin, but I assume it was erected after 1746 when it was safe to erect a monument and when many of the McLeas in Argylshire made the decision to use the Livingstone name on a regular basis and were doing so. Our family has been Livingstone for so long that for years when anyone refered to our hero at Culloden who rescued the banner he was almost always refered to as Donald Livingstone of Morvern and not by McLea or Mac On Leigh, the name which unless I am wrong, he went by when he fought at Culloden in 1746. Evidence suggests there was some limited usesage of the lowland Livingstone name by McLeas or Mac on Leighs as early as the 1600's, and that there was some connection between the aristocratic lowland Livingstones that originated at Callender near Falkirk. Not much is known about this except that it was said that McLeas used the Livingstone name when they travelled through the Lowlands and for some reason the Lowland Livingstones at Callendar believed they shared ancestral ties with the highland McLeas. No such connection has been found to exist so far, but that does not rule out altogether the possibility of one existing. More than a few legends have some basis in fact. 

[Keith Livingstone Australia]

Hi. Casey,from all my reading so far, being a Livingston(e) of McLay descent as far as I know, Argyll highland Livingstones only took that surname across the board in 17oo's. Before that they were all variants of the highland Mclay name. There is thought to be an ancient link to the lowland Livingstones of Callander, after whom the MacLays adopted the new surname. Some people think that the lowland Livingstones had very strong clan ties with, or were, McLays, in more ancient times . So you're possibly a highlander! Take the Livingstone DNA (mouth swab!) test and find out!

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

I would assume that many of the McLea's that lived in Argylshire, Scotland in the 1700's changed their name to Livingstone sometime between 1750 and 1770, and prior to that some of the McLeas for one reason or another when they travelled to the Lowlands used the Lowland Livingstone name. Probably there were some McLeas of Argyl origin who for whatever reasons did not change their name to Livingstone, but are none the less our clansmen by the virtue of the fact that these McLeas and those McLeas that became Livingstones are of the same ancestry. Other McLeas from elsewhere in Scotland in the 1700's probably did not particpate one way or another in the name change.

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

It is interesting to note that in addition to Niall's ancestor John Maconlea of Bachuil, other Maconleas on the Isle of Lismore also changed their surname to Livingstone probably around the same time. If the information from the baptismal records from the Island Parish is correct then sometime, in the years following the Battle of Culloden, between 1750 and 1765 the Maconleas made the switch. In addition to John and Dugald Maconlea of Bachuil, there was Malcolm and Donald Maconlea of Creganich, Myles Maconlea of Baillegarth, Donald Maconlea of Cloichlea and Ballevoylan, John Maconlea of Frackarsaig and Neil Livingstone of Archuaran that we know of from early Baptismal records beginning from the year 1759 on the Isle of Lismore.  Across from the Isle of Lismore is Morvern where my ancestor Miles Livingstone and his family originated. The surviving baptismal and marriage records do not start till 1803, but from the 1779 Duke of Argyll's list of Tenants it is evident that the 15 Livingstone families recorded on that list likely also changed their names from Maconlea sometime in the 1750's or 1760's. What few original records exist from the period before the 1760's, none of them refer to our family as anything other than Maconlea, Mclea and the other related spelling variations. Having said that this does not deny the likely possibility that the Maconleas or Macleas used the anglicised name Livingstone when traveling in the Lowlands between 1640 and 1750. Compared to other highlanders, those in Argyll had the advantage of being in close proximity to the lowlands in terms of travel distance. This also explains why the lowland Presbyterian church at the time of the reformation had greater sucess in converting highlanders in Argylshire than in the more remote areas of the highlands.